VIF, a new program to mobilize culture around biodiversity issues

VIF, projet pour le vivant et la Biodiversité is a winner of the France 2030 “Alternatives vertes 2” program, which supports innovation in all its forms, in support of the ecological transition of cultural players.

VIF is supported by COAL in collaboration with Marguerite Courtel, co-founder of Les Augures, and Antoine Vallier, co-founder of darwin data, in partnership with the Institut Michel Serres.

Based on specific case studies, this program will produce an exemplary biodiversity reference framework for cultural players, methodological tools to help cultural professionals improve their skills, meetings and dialogues with nature conservation experts, while exploring the role that artists can play in preserving the living world and the potential of culture-based solutions.

For the past 15 years, the COAL association has been proposing emblematic initiatives to foster a culture of ecology and life. Drawing on this experience, COAL has identified the sector’s strong need for skills and support on biodiversity issues, and the need to propose a genuine reference framework on the subject for the sector.

It has become essential to create a platform for dialogue between the visual arts and biodiversity stakeholders. Today, COAL has teamed up with experts in biodiversity, biodiversity footprint measurement and the transition of cultural industries to create the VIF program.

Background

• Biodiversity is threatened by massive human-induced extinction, with a quarter of all species likely to disappear by 2050.
• The institutional and regulatory framework is becoming clearer: while the ecological transition is now framed by international and European regulations, the cultural sector must seize the opportunity to structure its strategy and anticipate future requirements.
• More and more artistic initiatives are emerging outside traditional cultural venues, encouraging a reconnection with the living world. But professionals still lack the training to limit their impact on nature.
• At the same time, local authorities and managers of natural sites are seeking to combine raising awareness of biodiversity issues with promoting their natural heritage.
• The cultural sector has a key dual role to play: reducing its own impact and supporting a paradigm shift towards a better cohabitation with the living world.
• In this context, the VIF program aims to promote skills development through decompartmentalization, meetings and the creation of working groups between cultural professionals and biodiversity experts.

Objectives and actions

Using concrete case studies, the program aims to create a biodiversity reference framework for cultural players, develop methodological tools and encourage exchanges with nature conservation experts, while exploring the role of artists in preserving the living world and the potential of “culture-based solutions”.

→ Identify best practices and experiments in favor of biodiversity implemented in cultural organizations.

→ Structuring and deploying a space for dialogue between cultural players and those involved in preserving the living world in order to decompartmentalize the sectors.

→ Identify and measure the impacts and dependencies on biodiversity of a representative sample of visual arts projects in natural and urban environments.

→ Design a self-diagnosis tool for the benefit of the CCI sector, taking into account impacts and dependencies on the cultural sites themselves as well as on their value chain.

→ Design collective training and support courses and action methodologies for museum, heritage and visual arts professionals.

The VIF program is supported by the French government as part of France 2030’s “Supporting Green Alternatives 2” program, operated by Banque des territoires – Caisse des Dépôts.