Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Israel.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I spent the first half of my career as an architect, mostly in my own practice. In 2008, I decided that if climate issues weren’t solved, nothing else mattered. I decided to try a greener practice, but found that what we really needed were clients who were making green choices. An architect can only recommend options, but ultimately the client decides, so we need people who are informed and motivated about climate. This applies to our electorate, as well!! I decided that, to create culture shift, people need to be educated without using fear, which generally leads to despair and apathy. Climate is so huge, it’s easy for people to give up and shut down. And we need to get in front of people where they are. I decided to use public art, and then evolved to adding design experiences to empower people and help them think about complex problems. We now offer programs and workshops for team building and sustainability training to businesses, K-12 & higher education, and communities. Our public art projects continue as well, and sometimes the training programs participate in creating public art.
Has it been a smooth road?
Launching a new concept is never easy, especially when you are a pioneer. We have had a great reception to our methods and projects all along, but there has been very little funding for public education for climate and public art, although that is changing. Sometimes people want something innovative, but they are shy about being the first to try it. I believe that we were just a little early, so the past year things have really taken off. Sometimes the early phases feel like throwing spaghetti on the wall, but it’s necessary to test things when everything is new. The most difficult part of starting up is that EVERYTHING falls on the CEO!!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Climate Creatives story. Tell us more about the business.
We are known for creative communications, participatory public art and our proprietary innovative methods to teach people in all settings about sustainability issues. We use hands-on, fun exercises which are a cross between team building and design workshops, layered with educational concepts. We make the experiences fun, so people will engage and take away some messages that are hard to seed with data, text, and photos – all of which can turn people off. What sets us apart is that we design everything we use and it’s all multi-layered and multi-functional. We combine systems-thinking with design-thinking for a broad and deep dive. I don’t know of anyone else who does what we do
Here’s a sample of our favorite projects:
•Our workshops have been used by diverse organizations including Harvard Business School for a leadership exercise
•We have consulted to Newton South High School classes on how to use integrate our STEAM (Science Technology •Engineering Art and Math) exercises into their classes.
Some of our participatory public art projects are:
•Rising Waters: marking the landscape with future flood levels (photos of the installation in Panama was shown at the UN this past June);
•MISSING: make missing pet posers for endangered species, which we launched with Harvard Museum of Natural History, and
•ASK, sponsored by the German Embassy and Transatlantic Climate Bridge.
We love collaborating- we have partnered with over 90 organizations to reach 400,000+ people over 4 years in real life – “analogue”- and who knows how many on-line with over 20 listings and stories.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
People are waking up to climate, design-thinking is now highly valued, art for process is becoming more valued, and systems-thinking is on the rise, so we are just now coming into a period when people understand what we do!! Being a pioneer can be tough, but the next 5 years will have tremendous growth as more organizations, municipalities and schools look for tools to align their communities. As we shift from raising awareness to helping people implement change, we are tested and ready to help!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
People are waking up to climate, design-thinking is now highly valued, art for process is becoming more valued, and systems-thinking is on the rise, so we are just now coming into a period when people understand what we do!! Being a pioneer can be tough, but the next 5 years will have tremendous growth as more organizations, municipalities and schools look for tools to align their communities. As we shift from raising awareness to helping people implement change, we are tested and ready to help!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ClimateCreatives.com
- Phone: 6172762490
- Email: Susan@ClimateCreatives.com
- Facebook: www.facebook/climatecreatives
- Twitter: @susan_israel
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