Climate Storytelling, Arts, & Engagement

Carefully balancing hope and urgency, DearTomorrow has shown to be effective in getting people to engage in the climate struggle, and it is a privilege to be able to support their work and growth.  DearTomorrow offers a unique approach to climate organizing and communications through a combination of storytelling, art-making, future imaging and long-term thinking, and community building. Their approach moves away from merely disseminating information or motivating feelings of fear and guilt around the climate crisis; instead, it uses personal connections as motivators to bridge the psychological distance between the present and future. 

With Earth Rising’s support over the past year DearTomorrow has been able to further expand their impact and reach, as well as refine their community engagement strategies. During the course of their first grant, this included hiring additional staff to help grow their museums and educational programming strategy, adapting DearTomorrow Futures Workshops to meet the needs of new audiences and communities, participating in various storytelling sessions and programs, as well as revamping their external communications strategy, including social media and public relations. 

For the current grant period, DearTomorrow is partnering with the Wolverhampton Art Gallery (UK) on a year-long community engagement project, as well as developing a similar community-led partnership and mural arts initiative with the Jersey City Department of Cultural Affairs.

The first climate arts and engagement exhibition at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery was in fact launched just last week. This installation includes a three meter globe and soundscape to physically immerse the local community in letters from across the world. The exhibition will be followed by partnerships with local organizations where they will engage in conversations to discover their climate stories, visions for the future, and ideas for climate commitments. These programs will feed into a larger DearTomorrow community-led exhibition, running alongside the high profile, UK Wildlife Photographer of the Year in November 2022

Overall, DearTomorrow is growing and expanding their offerings, doing more workshops, and reaching more people, which ultimately means getting more people involved as climate activists.