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In the face of accelerating climate breakdown, artist residencies are emerging as critical sites for experimentation, care, and transformation. More than temporary retreats, these residencies have the potential to function as laboratories for sustainable practices—places where public, professional, and private lives intersect, and where alternative modes of living and making can be tested, modelled, and shared.

The Nordic Alliance of Artists’ Residencies on Climate Action (NAARCA.art) was founded on this premise. Initiated in 2021 during COP26 at Cove Park in Scotland, and co-led with Saari Residence in Finland, NAARCA brings together a network of residencies across the Nordic region and Scotland. Over five years, the alliance seeks to develop long-term, transdisciplinary approaches to climate action through four interconnected strands: Commissions, Residency Exchange, Knowledge Production, and Pedagogy.

Between 2021 and 2024, NAARCA facilitated eight residency exchanges, two major art commissions, a series of texts and podcasts, and the creation of two toolkits: Creative Climate Champions, aimed at engaging young people, and a Sustainability Toolkit for Artists’ Residencies, designed to support institutions in rethinking their operations and values. 

As the alliance enters its next phase in 2025, its focus shifts towards deepening the work already begun—supporting artists through expanded exchanges, building capacity among residency staff, and translating the accumulated knowledge into accessible, practical tools for the wider field.

For this issue, .ART’s Head of Partnerships, Daria Kravchuk (DK), spoke with Alex Marrs, who co-leads NAARCA as part of her role at Cove Park, a rural residency centre on Scotland’s west coast renowned for its commitment to interdisciplinary practice and environmental awareness. In our conversation, Alex reflected on the alliance’s collaborative methodologies, the challenges of embedding sustainability within institutional structures, and the evolving role of residencies as both cultural and ecological actors.

DK: Can you tell us a bit about your role at Cove Park and how you first became involved with NAARCA?

AM: As Senior Producer, I develop and deliver Cove Park’s national and international Awarded Residencies, partnerships, and special projects including programme development, fundraising, communications, and administration.

I became involved in NAARCA in January 2022 just after its formation during COP26. Over the course of this project, I’ve managed many of the administrative functions of the alliance including budgets, contracts, and communications. Participating in the Knowledge Production subgroup, I oversaw the production of our Testing Grounds podcast and worked with my colleagues to deliver the Writing Commissions programme and sustainability toolkits. Currently, I’m focused on coordinating NAARCA’s Residency Exchange programme for 2025 and 2026. 

DK: What personally motivates you to work at the intersection of art, residency practice, and climate action?

AM: Art has the transformative power to evoke emotions and provoke thought which makes it an effective medium for raising awareness and inspiring action on climate change. Residencies are particularly unique with the arts sector, as they have the opportunity to test, practice, and evaluate new types of behaviour and sustainable lifestyles in a safe environment where private, professional and public life intertwine. 

What motivates me to work at this intersection is how cross border collaboration significantly helps me (and our small Cove Park team) from feeling overwhelmed and immobilised by the most pressing global issue of our time. The ethos of ‘we’re all in this together’ is our driving force to create innovative solutions to sector-wide sustainability issues and we hope that our advocacy work resonates with our communities and thus drives real progressive action. 

DK: NAARCA brings together residencies from across the Nordic region and beyond. What do you think makes this alliance unique in the broader landscape of climate-focused initiatives?

AM: Our geographical context is unique as NAARCA aims to build a long-term, sustainable bridge between Scotland, Nordic countries, and the Arctic region, an area that is already experiencing the most severe effects as it is warming 4x faster than the global average. The project stems from a common concern and frustration in relation to the ways in which the environmental crisis is impacting the arts sector, and the ways in which the sector is responding to the crisis. There has been years of discussion at the level of arts organisations, but not enough of that talk is put into practice. Change is hard work that requires safe spaces, solidarity and support. This is where artists’ residencies have not just a unique opportunity, but a responsibility. More than most public-facing, production-heavy and audience-driven institutions, we can lead the way to practice new and innovative ways to live and work sustainably. 

DK: Artists’ residencies are described as ‘testing grounds’ for new ways of living and working sustainably. How have you seen this play out in practice at Cove Park or within NAARCA projects?

AM: As a testing ground for sustainable living and working, we have been working with our transient, artistic community on how to include our local, rural community in their  process of experimentation and co-learning. For example, in 2024 NAARCA commissioned artist Nikhil Vettukattil hosted a vegan BBQ for members of our local community and shared his process for developing ‘Cantina’ – a project exploring a healthy, affordable, climate-friendly diet in the Nordics. 

Just last week, we hosted an open studio event as part of Demelza Kingston’s photography residency where she demonstrated how she uses ‘invasive species’ such as Rhododendron and Knotweed as a photographic developer.  Inspired by Demelza’s practice and Cove Park’s landscape, chef and food artist Anna Poppy created a unique tasting menu with locally foraged, ‘invasive’ ingredients. Favourites included Lichen custard tarts with pickled wild mushroom & wood sorrel, Knotweed gazpacho with chilled black grapes, and Gorse honey & almond milk panna cotta. These creative tasting events showcase alternative ways of cooking and eating, aiming to inspire locals and other residents to explore what can be reused, adapted, and transformed – often from their own backyards. 

We also often channel ideas or issues that our artists are grappling with into our creative learning and engagement programme for children and their families. For example, multidisciplinary artist Juliana Capes is passionate about access to the arts and works extensively with visually impaired audiences. Through creative workshops with young people in our community, she showcased how to be intersectional and accessible in creating art projects that are also exploring climate issues. This resulted in a collaborative film, ‘Rainforest Days’ – a suite of short responses to Scotland’s rainforest made entirely from footage filmed locally and includes descriptive audio/creative captioning by pupils in Helensburgh and Lochgilphead. 

Lastly, the NAARCA project has empowered us to think creatively about how we challenge the status quo. One example is our Sustainable Travel Policy, which encourages visitors to travel to Cove Park using public transport. While our rural location is surprisingly well-connected, the nearest bus stop is at the bottom of a steep hill with no safe walking path to our main building. To address this, we collaborated with artist Heather Marshall last month to deliver an art and activism workshop called Creative Campaigners. Together, we built our own symbolic bus stop and launched an intergenerational campaign urging local bus companies to consider adding a stop directly at Cove Park.

DK: What are some of the main challenges you’ve encountered in trying to implement climate action across such geographically and culturally diverse residency contexts?

AM: Our residencies share a common ethos, approach, and ambition, but they operate in very different contexts and with varying capacities. As a result, we’re learning that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.

For instance, sustainable procurement and waste management differ significantly between Scotland and Svalbard. In Scotland, we have access to a wide range of locally made materials, whereas in Svalbard, nearly everything must be imported. Another contrast became especially clear during a paper-making workshop we developed at Cove Park and later tested at Artica as part of our Creative Climate Champions Toolkit.

The workshop was originally designed to transform everyday scraps into handmade seed paper using fallen leaves and flowers…easy done in Scotland. However, this approach wasn’t feasible in Svalbard, where there are no trees. We therefore adapted the workshop to suit Artica’s unique environment, which included a visit to Svalbard’s recycling centre to highlight the complexities of waste management on the archipelago.

Although collaborating across our diverse contexts presents many challenges, it also strengthens the project. The success of the Creative Climate Champions Toolkit lies in its adaptability to different environments. To ensure its relevance across regions, we tested all workshops with each of our partners.

Language remains a significant challenge, particularly in relation to our pedagogy projects. We are actively seeking additional funding to fully translate the toolkit into all the languages used across our network, including two Indigenous languages. This is essential to making the toolkit truly accessible to the diverse communities we serve.

 DK: Have there been any unexpected lessons or shifts in thinking that have emerged from working collaboratively across institutions?

AM: One of the unexpected shifts in thinking that has emerged from this collaboration is our evolving approach to slow and sustainable travel. Last year, Emma Henderson (Cove Park’s Curator of Engagement) and I slow-travelled from Scotland to the Saari Residence in Finland for a week-long symposium. The event focused on internal programme evaluation, planning, and presenting the Alliance’s activities to the Finnish Artist Residency Network and the Nordic-Baltic Residency Forum.

The journey took about three full days, including two overnight stays, as we travelled by bus, train, and ferry. It was a very enjoyable experience, but I’m not sure I would have had the confidence or comfort to undertake it alone, as a woman. 

This personal hesitation speaks to a broader issue evidenced in the The Guardian report, ‘Violence against women on UK trains rises by 50% in two years’ (August, 2024). While slow travel aligns with our environmental values and offers a more mindful, less carbon-intensive alternative to air travel, it also exposes a significant disparity in who can safely and comfortably participate in it. Currently, NAARCA is represented entirely by women, and 75% of Cove Park’s residents are women (2024 Equalities Survey). This demographic reality brought to light an often-overlooked layer of complexity in sustainability discourse: the intersection of gender, safety, and mobility.

For women and other marginalised genders, the risks associated with long-distance overland travel, especially across unfamiliar or rural areas, can be substantial. Concerns about personal safety, access to secure accommodation, and the emotional toll of navigating these spaces alone are real and valid. These factors can act as barriers to participation in the very practices we are trying to promote.

As we continue to advocate for sustainable practices within the arts and cultural sectors, it’s crucial that we also advocate for infrastructure, policies, and support systems that make slow travel more accessible and safer for everyone. This includes better lighting and security in transit hubs, affordable and safe lodging options, and community-based networks that offer support and solidarity for solo travellers.

In this way, our journey was not just a logistical choice… it became a lens through which we could examine the inclusivity of our environmental commitments. True sustainability must be intersectional, taking into account not only ecological impact but also social equity and lived experience.

DK: Could you highlight a commission, residency exchange, or project that particularly embodies NAARCA’s approach to climate action?

AM: Absolutely! There is an exhibition of NAARCA commissioned artist Rikke Luther currently running at Founding NAARCA partner, Art Hub Copenhagen. Dust & Flow – Mud in the Earth System by Rikke Luther, runs until 16 August 2025 at Room Room. NAARCA supported the development of a short film in which Rikke Luther explores newly forming mud landscapes and their social, political, and biochemical impacts on both human and marine life. Filmed during her NAARCA residencies at Baltic Art Center (Sweden), Skaftfell Arts Center (Iceland), and Artica Svalbard (Norway), Luther interweaves cutting-edge scientific research with our culturally limited understandings of history and time. The film’s sharp, well-researched, and unexpectedly comedic script accompanies stunning visuals of these rapidly transforming environments. I believe this project exemplifies NAARCA’s aims to support new work that translates complex scientific language and concepts into a medium that is accessible and engaging for a global audience. 

DK: How important is public engagement and education in NAARCA’s work? Can you share examples of how you’ve connected with wider audiences beyond the art world?

AM: Pedagogy and public engagement are central to NAARCA’s mission. As part of this commitment, we commissioned the Creative Climate Champions Toolkit and delivered seven workshops with school groups across Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Scotland, engaging participants aged 5 to 15. Artist Nikhil Vettukattil’s commission extended this work through community food workshops held in Norway, Scotland, Greenland, and Finland. Additionally, NAARCA’s initiatives have been shared with the Scottish mental health charity Jean’s Bothy, broadening the impact of our work.

Our Testing Grounds podcast continues to reach a global audience, attracting listeners beyond the art world and helping to bridge the gap between the creative and environmental sectors.

DK: In your view, what role should artists and cultural institutions play in responding to the climate crisis?

AM: We actually have two podcast episodes that explore this question in very interesting ways. Check out Testing Grounds episode 3: Skaftfell Art Center – The Tensions of Environmental and Cultural Sustainability for Artists and Institutions; and episode 4: Baltic Art Center – Artists’ Role in an Age of Climate Crisis. 

In my view, artists and cultural institutions have a vital role to play in responding to the climate crisis. We must lead by example, using our full range of tools and talents to build awareness, advocate for change, and apply pressure on local and national governments. While inspiring individual action is always valuable, our greatest impact lies in harnessing our collective power to drive broader systemic change through sustained and creative advocacy work.

DK: What are some practices or models you’ve seen in NAARCA that you believe could inspire broader change in the arts sector globally?

AM: Knowledge sharing and transparency! Having spent my career in nonprofit cultural institutions, I’ve seen how a scarcity mindset, fueled by a competitive and often precarious funding landscape, can lead to  skepticism and a reluctance to share resources or insights between organisations. This culture of protectionism for the sake of your own grant reporting or donor cultivation can stifle innovation, collaboration, and collective progress.

NAARCA challenges this norm by fostering an open, collaborative environment where knowledge is treated as a shared resource rather than a competitive advantage. Whether through open access toolkits, transparent documentation of processes, or cross border partnerships, NAARCA models a way of working that prioritises mutual support and sector-wide learning.

This kind of openness not only builds trust but also accelerates impact. When institutions share what works…and what doesn’t…they help others avoid duplication, adapt successful models, and build on each other’s progress. In the context of the climate crisis, where time is of the essence, this kind of collective intelligence is not just beneficial…it’s essential.

My hope for the future is that Cove Park can embrace this spirit of transparency with other arts organisations across Scotland. However, having just navigated a highly competitive multi-year funding application process with Creative Scotland, I’m not sure we’re quite there yet in our local sector. The current funding landscape often makes it difficult to prioritise partnership over competition, but I remain optimistic that this can change and NAARCA is an excellent example of what can be accomplished when institutional guards are down and bridges are built. 

DK:  Why have you decided to choose .art as an online address of NAARCA? 

AM: We chose it for its relevance to our project and residencies and also because we’re international and not geographically specific.