Creative Boardroom Collaborate4Climate Exhibition Launch

Creative Futures Academy, the Institute of Directors Ireland and the Institute of Directors Northern Ireland are delighted to announce the Creative Boardroom: Collaborate4Climate Exhibition which launched on Thursday 21st November 2024 at the NCAD Gallery on Thomas Street, Dublin 8.

Oonagh Buckley, Secretary General, Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications officially opened this exhibition at 6pm.

Funded by Creative Ireland’s Climate Action Programme and the Shared Island initiative, Creative Boardroom: Collaborate4Climate is an urgent call to action in the face of one of the most pressing challenges of our time: climate change. In an era defined by unprecedented environmental challenges, this exhibition serves as a platform for exploring how collective action can drive meaningful change.

The programme aimed to impact participants’ behaviours and attitudes using an iterative process known as Design Thinking. Students from NCAD and IADT together with Chartered Directors used empathy-driven exercises to share diverse perspectives and gain a deeper understanding of complex climate-related issues and the underlying challenges that prevent behavioural change.

Oonagh Buckley, Secretary General, Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications who launched this programme noted: “We’re really interested in this programme because one of the most important parts of the work of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications for the future will be around the circular economy. Government can require people to do this, but the government does not have the ingenuity to design products, for that, we need the private sector. We need people at the level that the Institute of Directors speaks to focus on this and what they can do to be part of the solution so that we all work together to achieve this outcome’.

Louise Allen, Director CFA said “Creative Boardroom: Collaborate4Climate has been instrumental in supporting an understanding of the challenges we face, empowering Creative Future Academy students with the agency to be heard. Through mentorship and collaboration with Chartered Directors, student voices were integral to finding solutions and bridging generational divides to help encourage ecologically responsible behaviours within spheres of influence such as the boardroom”.

Caroline Spillane CDir, Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Directors Ireland noted “Embracing ESG and climate change is not just about meeting targets, but values. Taking an intergenerational approach, the Creative Boardroom: Collaborate4Climate project provided a dynamic and creative outlet to address the complex climate challenges we are all facing. Since January this year, Chartered Directors (from across Ireland) and students (from NCAD and IADT) came together to create dynamic solutions utilising design thinking. We were delighted to be a partner in this all-Island project facilitating an intergenerational approach”.

Kirsty McManus, Nations Director, Institute of Directors, Northern Ireland agreed ‘The Creative Boardroom programme has provided IoD Chartered Directors from NI and Ireland with an excellent forum to come together to work on a shared ambition to create actionable solutions for our planet. For many, the scale and complexity of the climate challenge is overwhelming, but by working intergenerational, pursuing collaborative solutions and sharing the talents, experience and desire to do the right thing, the collective Chartered Directors from across the island have played a huge part in providing focus to the boardroom for this issue. IoD NI and IoD Ireland will work to ensure this is the start of future shared working’.

Sarah Glennie, Director NCAD comments ‘Sustainability and the climate crisis is a significant area of academic practice and research in NCAD. As we plan towards a major refurbishment of the NCAD campus to address our spatial needs and carbon footprint, we continue to embed circular and sustainable teaching and learning practices across our schools of design, education, fine art and visual culture for current and future generations of students and practitioners.’

The exhibition will run from 22nd November to 6th December and is open to the general public from 11am to 6pm daily, Monday to Friday. A digital version of this exhibition is available on our website.

For more information visit:
www.creativeboardroom.collaborate4climate.ie

Highlights of this exhibition include:

• Ireland’s Climate Crisis How are we doing on a comparative global scale?
• Emboldening Creative Climate Champions -The intergenerational learning journey. Directors and students learned about four key systems impacting Ireland’s climate responsibilities—food, transport, textiles and the built environment—and then worked together to explore positive ways forward.
• Disruptors & innovators – The student journey. Students used their learnings to explore solutions relevant to their third-year Graphics Design coursework. These solutions focused on areas relevant to themselves and their peers
• Tackling the climate in the boardroom: The director journey – identify the common barriers blocking change in the boardroom, before imagining and developing new ways forward
• The North, South Journey. We live on a shared Island and while we share a common climate goal, policymakers, oversight bodies, support mechanisms and legislation differ significantly. Directors North and South took time to share their lived experience, challenges and hopes for the future.

For media inquiries, interviews, or additional information including imagery, please contact:

Pace Borza-Butterly, CFA Communications, [email protected], 086 1036616