The art of climate change coming to Whangārei

Elemental; Whenua - a still from a video by Rona Ngahuia Osborne and Dan Mace.

The role art can play in highlighting a changing world due to climate change will be on show in Whangārei next week.

Reconnecting Northland, New Zealand's first linked conservation initiative taking whole landscape approaches to tackling environmental, social and cultural issues, is bringing Arts + Climate Innovation: The Role of the Arts, to Whangārei Quarry Gardens.

The touring talkfest will include updates by climate specialists and works by leading Northland artists using the power of the arts as an agent to inspire climate action.

The evening will feature outdoor art installations, live performance and the latest in climate science and conservation.

Climate scientists Professor James Renwick and Dr Craig Stevens will talk about the science, alongside works by Tai Tokerau painter and sculptor BJ Natanahira, graphic designer Emma McLean, award winning artist and director Dan Mace and artist and textile designer Rona Ngahuia Osborne.

''We're pioneering a new culture of communities building their own responses to environmental challenges, and this cultural change is at the heart of what both art and science do. This event will be an important showcase of our work in Northland," Eamon Nathan, from Reconnecting Northland, said.

"Climate change will affect all of us. Connectivity conservation is a direct response to climate change. When it comes to a project this big, art and science are equals in creating the action and responses we need.''

Creative Northland is the regional arts organisation funded to develop and grow the region's arts and cultural sector.

"The power of transformative change lies in the hands of the creative community. As the climate changes we need the arts even more to help us process what's going on and help us cope with our collective challenges,'' Creative Northland general manager Hinurewa te Hau said.

The organiser of Arts + Climate Innovation: The Role of the Arts is Sarah Meads, the founder of Track Zero which brings together the arts, science and other sectors to inspire climate change action.

Registration is essential for the free Reconnecting Northland event, November 12, from 5pm-8.30pm: trackzero-whangarei.eventbrite.co.nz.