Working in the field of arts and climate consciousness, Ben Twist is living his dream – thanks in part to his time at Salzburg Global Seminar
When Ben Twist received an invitation to take part in the Salzburg Global Seminar program Beyond Green: The Arts as a Catalyst for Sustainability in 2016, he was slightly mystified. “I had not heard of Salzburg Global before, and I have never found out how they heard about me and our work at Creative Carbon Scotland,” he told Salzburg Global Seminar. “But I am very glad they did!”
Creative Carbon Scotland (CCS) is an Edinburgh-based arts and sustainability consultancy, and Twist is the founder and director. Initiated by the Edinburgh Festivals, with the Federation of Scottish Theatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network (SCAN), CCS describes its vision “of a Scotland where the essential role of culture in the transition to a sustainable society is fully understood and harnessed by both the cultural and sustainability worlds.”
Twist has long been involved in the arts and creative economy in Scotland, counting close to 40 years of experience as a director and producer of theater, opera, and musical theater. In 2008, he decided to make a pivot. “All the time, I was perhaps most interested in the work that the arts and culture can do for society,” he said. “I had always been fairly green, and I thought culture and theater needed to do more work and play a larger role.” Passionate about self-development, Twist decided to further his studies at his alma mater, the University of Edinburgh – he already held an M.A. in mental philosophy – and in 2010 graduated with an M.Sc. in carbon management, setting up CCS shortly thereafter. In the years since, the team has grown to 10 people, plus a doctoral researcher, and in 2018 Twist completed a Ph.D. on how to influence complex social systems to bring about more sustainable practices in society – something he has put very much into practice.
When attending the program in Salzburg in February 2016 – part of the Culture, Arts and Society series – Twist had an interaction that flipped a switch in him. Fellow participant Frances Whitehead, civic practice artist, principal at ARTetal Studio, and professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, presented a keynote that strongly resonated with him. “I had often thought that as a theater director, I had a range of skills that were useful in many other areas, but they weren’t really recognized,” he said. “Other people don’t know what theater directors do, and this isn’t really recognized by many people in the arts. So when she spoke and told us about her piece ‘What do artists know?’ it made lots of sense.”
The two got along well during their time in Salzburg and continued conversations after returning home; Twist was able to get Whitehead to present, via video link, to draw interest in the CCS’s Embedded Artist Project. After working on the development of a few small projects together, the partnership has grown even further. “Slowly, these have got larger and larger,” said Twist. “The most substantial so far has been in the Cultural Adaptations Creative Europe project, where there were four embedded artists in four cities in Europe.”
The project, a 30-month, four-city action-research project co-funded by the European Union Creative Europe Program and the Scottish Government, half of which is focused on embedded artist projects within climate change adaptation projects in the four cities, poses the questions: How must our culture adapt to the impacts of climate change? And how can culture and creativity help create a positive future?
Launched within one year after the program, Twist – whose favorite part of his job is the people he gets to meet and work with – said, “This is now a large part of our work and very successful.” And he foresees a wide range of further projects as more organizations discover what rich contributions the embedded artist can make. “We have grown quite a big program of embedded artist projects now,” he said.
Presently, CCS is recruiting an embedded artist to work with them and arts funding body Creative Scotland on a project to develop a Climate Emergency and Sustainability Plan for Creative Scotland to help it and the cultural sector in Scotland reach net zero by 2045 and also adapt to climate change impacts. Another Scotland–specific project of CCS, Seas of the Outer Hebrides, is also looking to obtain an embedded artist who will work with local residents to produce a powerful, community-led vision for marine stewardship in the Outer Hebrides. Twist is excited. Asked about where he sees CCS going with the involvement of Whitehead, he simply poses – “Where to start?!”
Of his Salzburg group, Twist said people “pop up from time to time,” and several attended CCS’s Cultural Adaptations conference. He is most grateful for the invaluable connection with Whitehead. “Salzburg Global helped change the direction of Creative Carbon Scotland,” he said. “The work which grew out of the Beyond Green [program] accounts for nearly half of our income and a large part of our staffing.”
