Why the arts are essential in addressing climate change? | Ben Twist | TEDxHeriotWattUniversity

Climate Change is real, it is happening every passing minute, and it is going to change our closing future and the way we live. Culture and Arts then, are in the roots of this major social transition. Ben Twist has been working in achieving a positive change through methods that touch our lives more intimately, and understands not just the physical and economic, but also the social impacts of the oncoming changes.
Ben has over 25 years’ experience of producing events and running permanent and temporary venues in the cultural sector to combine with his MSc in Carbon Management.
As a theatre director and producer he was the Associate Director at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, Artistic Director at Manchester’s Contact Theatre and has directed as a freelance throughout the UK, Europe, North America and New Zealand.
As Chair of the Scottish Arts Council Lottery Committee he facilitated partnerships with diverse organisations from property developers to community arts groups.
He is Chair of Scotland’s leading contemporary classical music group Hebrides Ensemble and Vice-Chair of the Edinburgh Sustainable Development Partnership.
As well as directing Creative Carbon Scotland, Ben is currently working on his PhD at the University of Edinburgh and with Aberdeen Performing Arts, looking at social practices through a complexity theory lens in order to transition to a more sustainable society.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx