Drawn picture. Earth. Green background.

On the Front Line of the Climate Crisis

Building Youth’s Climate Citizenship and Climate Activism Through Art-Based Co-Research

The project organises events and platforms where young people collaborate with art educators, artists and researchers making artwork and planning campaigns about climate change.

project aims to listen attentively to young people’s fears, concerns, hopes and wishes relating to climate change as well as enhance their participation as equal decision-makers in a crucial matter that especially affects their future.

Youth-focused art-based research project that aims to influence decision-makers to act against climate change.

About the project

On the Front Line of the climate crisis is a youth-focused art-based research project that aims to influence decision-makers to act against climate change. The project organises events and platforms where young people collaborate with art educators, artists and researchers making artwork and planning campaigns about climate change. The project’s activities are carried out in Lapland, Eastern Finland and in the Tampere region.

On the Front Line of the Climate Crisis project aims to listen attentively to young people’s fears, concerns, hopes and wishes relating to climate change as well as enhance their participation as equal decision-makers in a crucial matter that especially affects their future. The project offers youth an active role as climate citizens by organising art-based action events and using different social media platforms. In collaboration with the youth, virtual online campaigns, climate change rallies, place-specific art interventions and performance art will make visible and represent their climate-related concerns.

The project started in September 2022, and it will last until the end of 2025.

This project has adopted youth-focused co-research and art-based action research approaches to its theoretical framework. With the collaboration of young people, art educators, artists and researchers, this project produces community-based, site-specific artworks that highlight young people’s emotions, hopes and dreams about climate change and a sustainable future. From the perspectives of democracy and political participation, this research produces valuable information on young people’s participation. Furthermore, it reveals the barriers and bottlenecks relating to young people’s efforts to politically influence matters that are important to them. The project is funded by Kone Foundation.

This will be great!

The arts-based work fosters young people’s participation in social decision-making on issues that concern them and their future. The project promotes young people’s learning about well-being and active citizenship. From the perspective of democracy and equal political participation, the research provides valuable insights into young people’s involvement and empowerment and the problems they perceive as obstacles to their own empowerment.

The project focuses on

The project will bring together researchers, artists and young people to create community-based and site-specific artworks in the action areas, expressing young people’s feelings, hopes and dreams for climate change mitigation. The project will also produce advocacy campaigns aimed at decision-makers and the general public. The research approaches will be youth-centred co-research and arts-based action research.

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Minun paikkani – Mu báiki – My Place

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The “On the Front Line of the Climate Crisis” research project highlights young people’s views on climate change. Young people from Lapland, North Savo, and South Savo use texts, photos, and videos to tell their stories about places that are important to them. They hope that these places will not disappear in the future. Stop and look. The landscapes in this work are yours too. The video work was produced as part of the research project “Front Lineof the Climate Crisis: Co-research and Arts-based Interventions in Youth Climate Activism and Climate Citizenship Building.”

Experiences and articles

Contact details at Juvenia

Email: jarmo.rinne@xamk.fi

GSM: +358 44 590 0300

Email: aki.lintumaki@xamk.fi

GSM: +358 40 571 6685

Project partners

Professor Timo Jokela, University of Lapland, Faculty of Art and Design

Professor Mirja Hiltunen, University of Lapland, Faculty of Art and Design

Master of Arts Korinna Korsström-Magga, doctoral researcher at University of Lapland, Faculty of Art and Design

Facts

Project name:

On the Front Line of the Climate Crisis: Building Youth’s Climate Citizenship and Climate Activism Through Art-Based Co-Research

Project duration: 1.9.2022–31.12.2025

Info

Lead partner: Juvenia – Youth Research and Development Centre, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences
Partial partners: University of Lapland

Budget

Financier and main source of funding: Kone Foundation
Total budget: 337 800 €
Xamk part of the total budget: 260 500 €