Creative Climate Forum – Full Day Access
About this Event
Registration is FREE and open to all. Priority will be given to those active in climate work from most impacted communities.
Join us for the Creative Climate Forum!
A day-long, immersive gathering on Thursday, September 24th, from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM at Pier 57 during Climate Week NYC. This free and public event welcomes artists, youth, educators, community members, advocates, and anyone ready to explore creative tools, build new connections, and take action for a more just and sustainable future. Through performances, panels, workshops, and immersive installations, we activate the power of imagination and collaboration to respond to the climate crisis—together.
What to Expect:
- Live Performances with climate artivists
- Powerful panels on fast response and systemic change
- Workshops on climate storytelling, justice, care, and community mobilization
- Morning and afternoon nature walks with climate leaders
- An all-day immersive Climate Action Room featuring interactive installations
- A vibrant networking celebration to end the day
Thanks to funding for this program from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Environmental Justice Grants program.
Agenda
🕑: 09:00 AM - 09:30 AM
Opening Remarks
🕑: 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM
IN CONVERSATION: Dismantling, Disrupting, and Deprogramming
Info: This conversation examines how cultural narratives, media strategies, and creative interventions can disrupt dominant climate narratives, dismantle harmful systems, and unlearn extractive ways of thinking.
Through bold ideas and grounded examples, speakers will explore how to shift public imagination, strengthen collective agency, and mobilize action toward a just, regenerative future for people and planet.
Opening remarks by: (INVITED) Marilyn Moore, Office of Environmental Justice, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Tara DePorte, Founder and Executive Director, Human Impacts Institute, Live performance with AnkhLave Arts Alliance, Guests include: Jessie Bluedorn, Founder, The Carmack Collective & Carmack Productions, Thais Lazzeri, Founder and Director, Fala Impact Studio, Jason Mangone, U.S. Executive Director, More in Common, and Lina Torres, Co-Founder, Movilizatorio
🕑: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
MORNING WORKSHOP 1 – Culture Igniting Change
Info: This workshop explores how culture can catalyze narrative change, inspire collective action, and build lasting momentum toward a more just and sustainable future. Carmack Collective and Carmack Productions will share innovative approaches at the intersection of philanthropy, cultural production, and creative practice—illustrating how artists, storytellers, and cultural institutions can help transform public imagination into meaningful impact.
🕑: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
MORNING WORKSHOP 2 – Cultural Strategies for Dismantling Colonial Narratives
Info: This session examines how creative and strategic cultural work can challenge colonial narratives and open space for more just, inclusive, and liberatory ways of thinking and acting. Join Seeding Sovereignty and Thais Lazzeri of Fala Impact Studio to explore the role of culture in reframing power and possibility.
🕑: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Morning Walk — Dismantling, Disrupting, and Deprogramming
Info: WALK 1 – Deprogramming by Design: This walk looks at how design shapes perception and behavior, and how creative interventions can help deprogram harmful systems and assumptions. Grey Area Collective will lead participants through ideas that reveal the hidden influence of design on everyday life.
WALK 2 – If Words Could Change the World: This walk invites participants to reflect on the power of language, narrative, and storytelling to shift how people understand and respond to the climate crisis. Climate Writers Collective and the Climate Imaginarium will share how words can shape culture, imagination, and action.
WALK 3– Mobilising for the Future: This walk focuses on youth-led organizing, collective power, and the role of movement-building in shaping the future. Sunrise Movement will bring participants into conversation about how people power can drive long-term transformation.
🕑: 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Lunch Break
Info: Grab a local lunch at the Pier 57 Food Court and enjoy a special screening of exclusive sneak peeks from NATURE’s upcoming series. It’s a warm moment in the day to share a meal, connect with one another, and get an early glimpse of the stories NATURE is bringing to life.
🕑: 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM
IN CONVERSATION — Regenerating, Restoring, Reconnecting
Info: This panel explores how culture, community, and storytelling can help regenerate what has been broken, restore what has been overlooked, and reconnect people to each other and to the natural world. Speakers will share pathways for healing, repair, and collective action that move us toward a more just and life-affirming future for people and the planet.
Guests include:
-Artichoke Dance - enjoy a live dance performance from Artichoke Dance inspiring us towards Collective Power for a regenerative planet.
-Joshua Amponsem, Co-Executive Director, Youth Climate Justice Fund
-(INVITED) Juan Carlos Jintiach, Executive Secretary, Global Alliance of Territorial Communities
-Madeleine McGillivray, Climate Communications and Policy Coordinator, Seeding Sovereignty
-Amy Westervelt, Investigative Climate Reporter, founder of Drilled, and founder and executive producer of Critical Frequency.
🕑: 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
IN CONVERSATION: How Media Builds a Love of Culture, and Community
Info: Curated by PBS NATURE, this session explores how public-media storytelling can help audiences deepen their connections—to one another and to the living world. Through narratives grounded in relationship, responsibility, and reciprocity, participants will consider how media can cultivate curiosity, care, and the collective imagination needed for a more regenerative future.
Join a family-friendly conversation with:
-Maggie Baird, Founder and President, Support + Feed, Host of WETA's Climate Kitchen, Ana González, Senior Producer, Terrestrials, Radiolab for Kids, WNYC Studios, Sal Perez, Vice President and Executive Producer, Sesame Street Productions, Sesame Workshop, Sophie Shrand, Creator and Host, Science With Sophie and Sophie's Great American ELECTRIC Road Trip on PBS NATURE, and Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, Host, PBS NATURE’s Going Wild podcast and Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom on NBC.
🕑: 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
AFTERNOON WORKSHOP 1: Climate Storytelling in the Age of Disinformation
Info: Explore how credible climate storytelling can cut through misinformation, strengthen public trust, and keep attention focused on what matters most. Tory Stephens, Grist, and Amy Westervelt will share strategies for telling urgent stories with clarity, rigor, and impact.
🕑: 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
AFTERNOON WORKSHOP 2 : What About Our Kids?
Info: Nellie AV Chaban, managing director of DearTomorrow and climate psychologist Leslie Davenport lead a reflective conversation on the responsibilities we hold to future generations. This session asks participants to consider what it means to act with care, urgency, and hope for the children who will live with the consequences of today’s choices.
🕑: 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
KEYNOTE – A Big, Bold, and Beautiful New World
Info: Invited guests include:
-(INVITED) Introduction by Diya Vij, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs
-Diya Vij opens this final gathering by inviting us to imagine the cultural architectures of a just and livable future. Her words will ground us in the power of public imagination and the essential role of the arts in shaping what comes next.
-Live Performance – Spoken Word from the Climate Writers Collective and Climate Imaginarium
A stirring spoken word performance will transform climate reality into rhythm, voice, and shared breath.
-Keynote – Kumi Naidoo, Global Artivism Network
Kumi Naidoo offers a keynote that resonates with decades of struggle, solidarity, and hope, illuminating the path toward collective liberation. -Closing Thanks – Tara DePorte, Founder and Executive Director, Human Impacts Institute, closes the day with reflections that weave together the voices, visions, and energies shared
🕑: 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Creative Climate Happy Hour
Info: The Creative Climate Happy Hour sponsored by THIRTEEN / PBS NATURE will celebrate the closing of the Human Impacts Institute’s 2026 Creative Climate Forum – Collective Power, with drinks from Harlem Hops, a local BIPOC-women-owned brewery, appetizers from local vendors curated by Maggie Baird, and sunset views over the Hudson River. Hosted at the beautiful Pier 57 Living Room in Manhattan, the evening will feature sneak peaks at NATURE’s upcoming programming, live performance, and offer up a warm and uplifting closing moment for networking, celebration, and collective reflection.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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