Design a Climate Action Mural

Meet climate scientists and artists, and create designs for murals drawing attention to climate change as part of this year's Grantham Climate Art Prize for 11 to 25-year-olds.

“Art has the potential to inspire minds and touch emotions in a way that science alone often finds challenging,” says Martin Siegert, Visiting Professor at the Grantham Institute.

That’s why the Grantham Institute has been running a biennial project, the Grantham Climate Art Prize, to engage young people who will be most affected by climate change, in making bold, hopeful statements about the need to urgently tackle the climate crisis.

This year’s art prize theme is 'Palette for the Planet: visions of a cooler, greener future world'. Young people who participate in workshops will create images of their vision of a carbon neutral future. A climate scientist will invite young people to draw on the Grantham Institute’s 9 things you can do about climate change, which include reducing energy use, taking active travel, eating less meat and dairy, and protecting nature and green spaces.

Meanwhile, artists will talk about ways of creating a design for an impactful, eye-catching public mural. Entry will involve submitting designs online via our sponsor Octopus Energy’s competition website (details will be shared at workshops). Ahead of COP28 three lucky winners will be selected to be painted as murals by professional artists, and they and six runner-up designs will also be displayed on billboards in the streets and in public transport hubs.

The last prize in 2021 resulted in eight murals across UK cities designed by young people and painted by professional artists. The murals highlighted biodiversity loss as a result of climate change and photographs of them were exhibited: in the Natural History Museum’s Real World Science Network of museums; in a digital display of artwork in the Green Zone of COP26 (the United Nations climate change conference) in Glasgow; on billboards across London for two weeks; and, in social media, regional and national media.

(Image shows a prizewinning mural by Colin Li)

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