Bradford Climate Symposium

On Monday, 27 February from 10am to 4pm at Bradford Cathedral, a number of prominent speakers will convene to inspire and support conversation, networking and knowledge sharing towards how the arts and culture sector can implement change in their practices to align themselves more closely with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The symposium will host a number of discussions, panels and performances from local, national and international artists and speakers from across the creative industries. Speakers will include Pakistan’s humanitarian 'architect for the poor' Yasmeen Lari and Naho Mirumachi from Kings Water Hub sharing global perspectives on our water crisis. We’ll have performances by Sufi musician Sarah Yaseen, exploring faith and climate, in conversation with Bradford Cathedral and Eco-Sikh UK; BBC 1xtra future figure 2022 Adjei Sun and writer and former Young Poet laureate Selina Nwulu sharing poetry on social and environmental justice. Climate-related case studies will be presented from organisations from across the UK, including Kew Gardens, Factory International, Arts Catalyst and Invisible Dust. Seetal Solanki from Ma-tt-er will explore climate literacy; Ling Tan from Low Carbon Chinatown will discuss our future footprints with environmental and sustainability manager Feimatta Conteh; and we’ll have moments of respite with Climate Yoga by Kin Things.

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council is committed to developing and supporting sustainability focussed work in the arts and culture sector. As the council continues to implement its 10-year arts strategy, as outlined in Culture is Our Plan (including in the lead up to Bradford City of Culture 2025) they welcome the many opportunities to invite local, national and international individuals and organisations to join them in their commitment to make Bradford a convening city for climate conversations, collaboration and exchange.

The symposium will welcome and engage an audience of regional and national arts and culture stakeholders, including individuals and organisations, policy makers and educational institutes.

learn more about the programme

Parvinder Marwaha, Curator and Producer

Parvinder works in cultural and climate advocacy and programming, exploring core systems of gender, faith and race. In her role at the British Council, she specialises in UK, EU Europe and South Asia relations to promote cultural exchange through architecture, design and fashion programming. Some of her projects include ‘Gender Ecologies’, a cross-artform programme which looks at the intersection of gender and climate in Bangladesh and Pakistan; ‘Circular Cultures’ which supports dialogue in sustainable practices across nine countries in EU Europe; and supporting emerging talent and thinking in programmes like ‘DesignKind’, which explores the connections of race and climate justice.

She enjoys promoting dialogue and collaboration through practices of food and ritual. Her project ‘chai breaker’ uses chai (tea) as a catalyst to collaborate with artists and designers to open up conversations from decolonisation to gender equality.

Website: @parv.marwaha | Linktree

Email: parvinder.marwaha@hotmail.co.uk

Instagram: @parv.marwaha