Together with partners BFI, London Councils and Arts Council England, our local sustainability and climate resilience programme Sustains Us co-hosted the Shaping Heat Resilience workshop as part of this year’s London Climate Action Week (LCAW) programme.
The event marked the launch of the UK-wide Cool Off in Culture campaign, highlighting cultural venues as welcoming places of refuge during heatwaves.
Taking place in the middle of a severe, record-breaking heatwave, London’s experience of this extreme climatic event brought into sharp relief the need to take action to meet the new challenges posed by a changing climate.
Cool Off In Culture campaign promotes refuge during extreme heat events
The Cool Off in Culture campaign is one of the outcomes of the Creative Sector Climate Resilience Workshop at LCAW 2025, which brought together representatives from London cultural organisations to explore how the sector can adapt to climate risks.
Working alongside Sustains Us, partners and collaborators who have helped build the Cool Off in Culture campaign and accompanying Heat Adaptation Guide include, British Film Institute (BFI), Julie’s Bicycle, Arts Council England , LIVE (Live music Industry Venues and Entertainment), London Councils, Bloomberg-Associates, Shade the UK and LIVE + BREATHE.
Together, this collaborative partnership involving artists, designers, geomappers, researchers, policymakers, community activists, arts institutions and funders, has created a range of practical tools that were presented at the event, including:
Illustration from the Heat Adaptation for Cultural Venues Guide
The Heat Adaptation Guide for Arts and Culture Venues
Developed by Shade the UK and co-commissioned by Sustains Us and the BFI, this is a practical guide covering steps venues can take to reduce heat risk, including details on a variety of improvements that can be made to buildings, operational checklists and examples of how well-adapted venues can provide safe and accessible spaces. Download the Heat Adaptation Guide for Cultural Venues here.
This guide joins a suite of guides produced by Shade the UK that includes a guide to reducing overheating in offices and in homes.
The Cool Off in Culture Map
Hosted by Julie’s Bicycle, members of the public can use this online map to find cultural venues offering cooled spaces across the UK. Almost 80 venues are already listed, with information on whether spaces are free to access, what cooling provision is available and relevant accessibility details. Sign up to put your venue on the map here.
Free Cool Off in Culture marketing toolkit:
Venues can now access a free toolkit with a suite of assets that can be used to promote venues as cool and welcoming spaces, including customisable social media posts, stickers, posters and stylised maps etc, created by the clean air non-profit LIVE+BREATHE and designed by Fiona Quadri and KIILU from Rosko Studio. Download the free Cool Off in Culture marketing toolkits here.
How culture can support a more climate-resilient neighbourhood
Joining as the event’s keynote speaker was Kamal Kishore, Head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), who delivered an inspirational speech that spoke to the power of partnership working and the important role cultural institutions can play in tackling the risks posed by extreme climatic events.
In particular, Mr Kishore highlighted cultural institutions’ unique ability to communicate risk in more human terms, to draw on the cultural intelligence accumulated by communities, and to share this knowledge about what works across borders.
He also underlined the collaborative, partnership-based approach that is needed to make initiatives like this one happen, and how they can serve as an example to be replicated in other contexts:
“This campaign is possible because of a collaborative partnership that draws together local government, national cultural institutions, and private companies. This initiative shows how climate adaptation can work in practice – it is a model that has clear potential for replication in other countries and contexts.”
Read the UN Special Representative’s essay ‘How Cultural Spaces Offer Cool Escape From Heat’ based on his keynote speech here.
A resilient, sustainable & welcoming South Bank for all
The Cool Off in Culture campaign reflects our continued commitment to supporting a resilient, sustainable and welcoming South Bank and Waterloo.
Cultural venues are central to the life of our neighbourhood, and with the right adaptation measures, they can also play an important role in helping people to take refuge during these ever more common periods of extreme heat.
As a convener and co-funder of the South Bank & Waterloo Sustains Us programme, South Bank Employers’ Group is proud to join in these collaborative nationwide efforts to place culture at the heart of the development of climate adaptation strategies. We are grateful to all the organisations and individuals who contributed their time, insight and expertise to shape a campaign that is practical, collaborative and rooted in the realities of the sector.
Follow the work of the South Bank & Waterloo Sustains Us programme at sbwsustainsus.org
