The 2025 Arts & Climate Incubator
Toronto, Canada
Tuesday-Saturday, June 3-7, 2025
10am-5:30pm
Fee: $500 USD
Leader: Chantal Bilodeau
Overview
The Arts & Climate Incubator is a 5-day intensive for artists, activists, scientists, students, and educators who want to engage or further their engagement with climate change through artistic practices. This year, we are thrilled to offer the program in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts and York University. All sessions will take place on the campus of York University at 4700 Keele St, North York, Ontario, Canada.
What Does the Incubator Offer?
Part think tank, part workshop, the Incubator brings together 15 to 20 participants of all ages and backgrounds to investigate the potential of the arts in creating a more just and regenerative future. Participants interact with guest speakers from fields such as climate science, psychology, activism, and urban design, who provide expertise on local issues. A group of local artists working at the intersection of arts and climate is invited for a panel discussion. The rest of the time is divided between group conversations, creative exercises, and field outings. Topics tend to include:
Assessing where we are as artists and as a society
Learning about local climate challenges
Centering climate and environmental justice
Creating work that acknowledges loss but leaves room for the possibility of a thriving and inclusive future
Embracing climate grief as a path towards hopeful engagement
Increasing personal and collective resilience
Engaging communities in climate action
See the preliminary schedule.
Note: The Incubator is not structured to support the development of individual works. It is a space to explore ideas, deepen our collective thinking, challenge and support each other in expanding our reach and impact, and create community.
Who Should Apply?
All disciplines are welcome and individuals from traditionally underrepresented populations and communities are encouraged to attend. The Incubator is an inclusive environment that supports diverse perspectives. There is a limit of 20 participants. Availability is on a first come, first serve basis.
Fee
The full tuition for the program for $500 USD/person. Participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation. Dorm rooms are available if you would like to stay on campus. Book by May 1 for the Early Bird Rate.
Scholarships
We have a limited number of scholarships available for full-time undergraduate and Master’s students. International students are encouraged to apply. (Please check the visa requirements for your country.) Scholarships cover the cost of tuition; participants are responsible for their travel and accommodation. To be considered for a scholarship, please submit your application by April 28, 2025 at 11:59 pm EDT.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us by clicking the email icon on the bottom right corner of the page.
Carbon Footprint
In line with our value to keep our carbon footprint as low as possible, we offset our carbon emissions through ClimeCo.com.
“ I was grateful for the way in which the creation and sharing of art transformed our environment into a definitively and almost sacredly creative space. ”
“ I thought the structure of each day flowed beautifully and was easy to follow. Even the time to just sit and discuss what we learned with our fellow Incubatees was truly magical and brought out positivity and light towards something that doesn’t always get that sort of energy.”
Facilitator
CHANTAL BILODEAU is a playwright and translator whose work focuses on the intersection of storytelling and the climate crisis. She is the founder of the Arts & Climate Initiative and in her capacity as artistic director, has spearheaded local and global programs for nearly two decades, getting the theatre and educational communities, as well as audiences in the U.S. and abroad, to engage in climate action through live events, talks, publications, workshops, artist convenings, and a distributed theatre festival. Her plays have been presented in a dozen countries and translated into French, Norwegian, Greek, and Portuguese. Her main project is a series of eight plays – including, to date, Sila (2014), Forward (2016), and No More Harveys (2022) – that look at the social and environmental changes taking place in the eight Arctic states. She is a Creative Core member of the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University and an incoming PhD student in English at the University of Victoria, BC. In 2019, she was named one of “8 Trailblazers Who Are Changing the Climate Conversation” by Audubon Magazine.
Guest Speakers
Guest speakers will be announced as they are confirmed. Please see previous Incubators for a sense of what to expect.