Climate change, the environment and sustainability within public art practice is ever evolving and there is much to learn. Many artists now strive towards an environmental responsible arts practice and as a public art consultancy FrancisKnight are committed to more regenerative ways of working.

It was heartening to listen to conversations across the design and construction chain ongoing commitments to net zero. It raised questions too. Why is there is still an emphasis on lowest price rather than lowest carbon and how does that affect our work as public art consultants?

We (including our artists) are part of that design chain. If carbon contributions are judged across the whole life of a project, as they should be, we can contribute to those contributions and savings.

Collaboration is at the centre of this, as often the artists FrancisKnight work with are integrated with design teams to use resources efficiently and maximise value. This approach informs and shapes future public art commissions, making capital budgets work more effectively and creating opportunity to explore alternative uses of scheme elements; for example, landscaping, functional elements, route ways and embedding on surfaces as well as stand-alone artworks.  The outcome offers a layer of interpretation that influences development plans, making them truly evocative of place.

Towards the end of the month, we also attended the Festival of Place: Climate Resilience, six sessions across two days learning how to turn big challenges into practical, future ready solutions. A couple of inspiring projects, such as The Phoenix in Lewes and The Waterfront Project, Toronto, showcased innovative and bold approaches to doing things differently. These are large projects, but the discussion that resonated with us most was ‘How to test and scale innovative projects to drive progress towards net zero?’

This is something we are working on within our public art practice. It is something we believe in and want to do. Watch this space as we evolve to develop an innovative approach to when, how, and why public art is commissioned.