Sarah Healy

Crafting a Manifesto for Climate Education Through Art: Engaging Unexpected Territories

Sarah Healy (with Kathryn Coleman, Sarah Durcan, Karina Larsen) – Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia

Abstract:

This 90-minute workshop is a collaborative initiative by SWISP Lab, Science Gallery International, and Entertainment and Culture for Climate Action (ECCA, the UN’s Climate Change umbrella for initiatives in the film & television, gaming, music, and visual arts sectors). We invite art educators and researchers to collaboratively create a manifesto for climate education through art, intended for COP30. Aligned with the InSEA Congress themes of “Unexpected Territories,” “Shifting Grounds,” and “Permanence,” the workshop aims to position art education as critical to climate education. We begin by examining why, despite decades of IPCC warnings, climate education remains absent from many curricula. Drawing on data from The University of Melbourne SWISP Lab’s youth-centred research, we will discuss art educators’ ethical responsibility to address intergenerational environmental crises and empower students to navigate social and ecological challenges. We will then explore the concept of the Anthropocene as a framework to understand humanity’s impact on the planet’s ecosystems. Although the term remains debated, the Anthropocene offers a compelling perspective to reimagine education as a pathway to build ecological awareness and resilience. Drawing inspiration from SWISP Lab’s “Hacking the Anthropocene” project, participants will examine “tipping points”—key moments that spark critical ecological insight and understanding. The workshop culminates in the creation of a draft manifesto through Surrealist-inspired methods, including automatic writing and the Exquisite Corpse technique. This process allows participants to generate bold, collective statements on the transformative role of art in climate education. The resulting manifesto will reflect diverse perspectives and provide actionable principles for integrating climate literacy into art education.

Outcomes: • A draft manifesto for climate education through art, to be further refined and presented at COP30. • Creative methodologies for engaging art educators in climate discourse. • An invitation to participate in a follow-up online session hosted by the InSEA South East Asia and Pacific Region. This workshop advances scholarly dialogue on art education’s role in cultivating ecological consciousness and capacity to act.

Speculative Pasts and Pedagogical Imaginaries: A Symposium on Learning Through Art for Future Nows

Sarah Healy (with Kathryn Coleman, Peter J. Cook, Abbey MacDonald) – Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia

Abstract:

This 90-minute symposium-style session introduces Speculative Pasts and Pedagogical Imaginaries, the fifth volume in the Learning Through Art (LTA) series. This collection explores how art education can foster relationality, integrity, and responsibility as we collectively navigate an uncertain future. Rooted in speculative and futures-oriented pedagogies, the volume captures diverse metho-pedagogical approaches that challenge power dynamics, promote equity, and encourage rethinking art’s role in curricula and knowledge frameworks. The session will be hosted by book editors Kathryn Coleman and Peter Cook. The contributing authors (to be invited when registration for the Congress is confirmed) will make a short presentation, each offering unique insights into art education’s potential to act as a threshold for “learning, unlearning, and learning anew.” Themes span Indigenous conceptualisations of time, art education as a catalyst for acting responsibly, and speculative pedagogies that reimagine how we relate to and interpret pasts, presents, and futures. These contributions highlight art education’s capacity to create “response-able” spaces for inquiry and possibility in the Anthropocene. In alignment with the symposium’s speculative approach, attendees will actively engage by generating creative responses to each presentation. These speculative responses—whether visual, written, or performative—will contribute to a live mapping of the pedagogical possibilities emerging from the symposium’s discussions. Curated into a pop-up InSEA World Congress exhibition, this mapping will capture the collective imaginings of participants, revealing a dynamic landscape of future directions for learning through art. Through this participatory format, the symposium aims to expand the book’s themes into a collaborative exploration of speculative futures in art education with congress participants. Together, we will investigate the question, “What if?” – challenging dominant narratives and diversifying art education. This symposium promises to be a generative space where scholarly discourse and creative practice converge to (re)envision art education’s role in just futures.