The Power of Arts, Science and Society in Tackling Water Challenges

We understand our water crisis better than ever. So why is action still so slow?

We know more than we ever have about how climate change is reshaping our water systems - the floods, the droughts, the melting ice, the pressure on the water we all depend on. Yet translating that understanding into collective action remains a critical challenge.

The arts have a unique role to play in closing that gap. By connecting scientific knowledge with emotion, culture and lived experience, creative practice can deepen public engagement, broaden participation and inspire action in ways that data alone cannot.

This event brings artists, scientists, decision-makers and communities into the same room to ask how we communicate water challenges more effectively, and how we build the shared commitment that change requires. Through dialogue across disciplines and sectors, we will examine how evidence and creativity can combine to shape more resilient, equitable and sustainable water futures.

Expect film, live performance, new sound work and an exhibition alongside research and policy discussion - followed by an evening reception.

What's on

• The premiere of In Freshwater - a new film by Sima Gonasi, with repeat screenings during the reception
• The launch of the decade of cryospheric action - a keynote from John Pomeroy on what the next ten years demand of us
• GULP! - live performance from Adam Ledger
• Beneath the surface - new sound work from Annie Mahtani, on the sound of water beneath the surface
• The Great Thaw - a guided walk through the temporary exhibition with the team behind it
• Panel discussions bringing artists, researchers and decision-makers into direct conversation
• An evening reception, approximately 17.00 – 20.00, for conversation and connections across disciplines