St. Patrick’s Day Community Art Project
Create a Snake for Peace, Unity & Hope

We are thrilled to share the Climate Action Policy and Plan for Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, which influenced the ethos and actions behind our recent art project, St. Patrick’s Community Art Project.

This policy reflects our ongoing commitment to embedding environmental responsibility into every aspect of our work at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre — from artistic programming and public engagement to our day-to-day operations, activities and projects.

What is a Climate Action Policy?

At Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, we recognise our responsibility to protect and support the environment through thoughtful, sustainable practices while upholding high standards of artistic excellence. Our Climate Action Policy sets out a collaborative approach involving staff, board members, artists, and the wider community to help us reduce our environmental impact and work towards a more sustainable future.

Over the past two years, we have taken proactive steps to build a framework for monitoring and improving our environmental practices. This includes tracking energy consumption, improving waste management systems, and encouraging more sustainable personal and organisational actions.

Sustainability in the St. Patrick’s Community Art Project

Environmental awareness was at the heart of the St. Patrick’s Parade Community Art Project. Throughout the project, we focused on reducing waste and creating artwork in a more environmentally conscious way. This involved reusing art materials wherever possible, minimising waste through recycling and upcycling, and choosing sustainable supplies.

As a result, an impressive 95% of all materials used in the project were reclaimed, scrap, or upcycled materials. Even more encouraging is that the project’s final creation — a nine-metre-long snake — has been passed on to another community and will be reused again during the Leap Scarecrow Festival this autumn, continuing its creative journey while extending the life of the materials used.

What next?

We hope to take this forward by inviting artists and the wider public to engage with us to reduce our environmental impact and shape a more sustainable future together.