Kildare County Council is pleased to announce an open call for artists and/or creative partners to work with communities in Maynooth and Maynooth University on Climate Design Lab, a creative climate action project with the aim of exploring human-centred design thinking principles and approaches as a progressive and dynamic model for community engagement and behavioural change.

The Climate Design Lab is based in Maynooth town, the lead decarbonising zone (DZ) for County Kildare. The project will support the co-creation and design of innovative solutions for addressing climate change that encourage positive behaviour change in a creative, practical and human-centred way. Using principles from Design Thinking and Behavioural Economics i.e. ‘Fun’ and 'Nudge Theory', the Lab will involve collaboration between local residents and Maynooth University students, directed by experts in Design, Climate and Creativity from the local authority and the university. 

The Climate Design Lab is supported by Creative Ireland’s Creative Climate Action Ignite Fund. The Creative Climate Action Fund II, launched in 2023 supports creative, cultural and artistic projects that build awareness around climate change and empowers citizens to make meaningful behavioural changes.

The Climate Design Lab utilises human-centred Design Thinking principles with Fun Theory as a progressive and dynamic model for community engagement. Throughout 2025 the Lab will develop products (innovations) that meaningfully shift the public’s understanding of climate change, and of their responsibility in its mitigation.

The Climate Design Lab will bring together community groups from across Maynooth, with creative partners, to work creatively and collaboratively to examine decarbonisation in their communities, identify themes that matter to them and promote localised behaviour change.

It is intended that the positive experience of creatively engaging with The Climate Design Lab will support individuals within communities to shift perspectives to find new ways to respond to old challenges, and empower community-based champions in the Climate Conversation. It is envisioned that the innovations piloted in the Maynooth Decarbonisation Zone will be replicable in towns and villages across Ireland in their efforts to address climate change locally.

The Lab will use creativity to empower communities by provoking conversation, increasing understanding, and making actions relatable and achievable to individuals within communities. It is intended that the Climate Design Lab will have long-lasting impact in the community in terms of the individual and also the actions of the Local Authority and the University which include the Maynooth Decarbonising Zone and wider Kildare Climate Action Plan, Demonstrator House, research and monitoring programmes including public space maintenance to enhance biodiversity, Grass to Gas, IRESI, ReNEW and other programmes. 

Kildare County Council Climate Action and Arts Service teams now welcome applications from qualified creatives and artists for a number of opportunities within the Climate Design Lab project. 

Applications are welcome from creative partners/collectives with a track record of using creative processes to prompt new perspectives and approaches to exploring complex issues within communities. The successful applicant(s) will have a proven ability to actively listen and collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders and have strong evidence of a creative collaborative practice. 

The Climate Design Lab will bring together community groups from across Maynooth, with students and communities from Maynooth University to work creatively and collaboratively to examine decarbonizing in their communities, identify an aspect that matters to them and explore and enable localised behaviour change.

Kildare County Council is seeking creative partners to work with up to 10 focus groups representing the breadth of communities in the Maynooth Decarbonisation Zone (DZ) to: build an awareness of the Climate Design Lab; foster public engagement; and encourage artistic innovation. The collaborations will support learning and doing together and will emphasise the ‘Fun’ element in climate change awareness to empower communities in decarbonising Maynooth.

This call is open to the artist(s)/creative(s) from a diverse range of disciplines including, but not limited to: advertising, architecture, film, graphic design, music, performing arts, photography, product design, software and computer game development, visual arts.

The creative collaborative partner(s) can be an individual artist or collective organisation. This project would best suit creative partners whose creative practice is collaborative, often participatory and involves people in the co-creation and co-design of the work. Proposals should outline a methodology for in-person community engagement which might include workshops, events and talks. Projects might also consider innovative and interdisciplinary ways to activate public interest in a range of creative mediums and skills.

The award (€12,000) will include all fees, materials, equipment and associated costs. Engagement with focus groups and communities will be scheduled in consultation with the Climate Design Lab lead team (Kildare County Council Climate Action and Maynooth University School of Business between February 2025 and November 2025.

We suggest that applicants try to submit their information early in case of technical difficulties. Should they arise, please email arts@kildarecoco.ie and we will endeavour to respond as soon as possible. 

Applications are assessed taking the published assessment criteria into consideration. Assessment Criteria:

·      Track record working professionally in chosen art forms(s) / creative practice(s)

·      Artistic merit, innovation and collaborative nature of the proposal

·      Feasibility: Budget and proposed timeline

Applications are assessed in a competitive context and with consideration of the application form and the supporting materials submitted.

All applicants will be advised of the panel's decision by email.

The Climate Action team and Arts Service are not in a position to provide feedback on individual applications.

Grant aid provided by Creative Ireland and Kildare County Council must be acknowledged in all publicity material associated with the project. Kildare County Council reserves the right to publicise the awarding of residencies.

Kildare County Council reserves the right not to award bursaries/grants at its discretion.

You can apply for additional costs if there are access needs relating to your application. These can be personal access costs or costs for making your work accessible to others. Personal access costs might for example include costs towards additional time needed to complete your project or additional assistance required to deliver your proposed project. Costs for making your work accessible to others might include having an ISL interpreter, using an audio description service, making your content compatible with screen readers or producing materials in other formats such as in Braille or audio. Any such requirements should be outlined in your application and a budget and breakdown of costs should be provided. These costs may be above the maximum award amount for this grant and should be noted as an additional expense.

 

Your attention is also drawn to safetocreate.ie, where you will find more information about the Safe to Create Dignity at Work programme which aims to impact change on the culture and practices of the arts sector in Ireland to provide safer working conditions for artists and arts workers.

If you need help to complete and submit your application we want to hear from you. For further queries/information on the Climate Design Lab Call Out for Creative Collaborators please email emdonnelly@kildarecoco.ie