Understanding the state of climate engagement before the PST ART CIP was a priority. The charts in this section give a baseline of existing climate work. Data indicated that many venues had taken some prior climate action, but it was primarily informal and without a clear policy.
While practices like health insurance and DEI policies were often standard at partner organizations, climate policies were less common. Many venues had demographic procurement policies, but climate-related procurement policies were rare.
While many partner venues were participating in some form of climate impact reporting, there was little consistency of approach. Project teams also didn’t always have transparency into how or if their institution participates in reporting initiatives.
Few partner venues were participants in leading climate initiatives in the art world, including Bizot, The Climate Toolkit, and the Gallery Climate Coalition. The ones that did participate in these initiatives usually took part in only one.
As a result of participating in the Climate Impact Report, almost all reporting projects implemented some kind of climate action. About half of the project teams created project-specific climate policies or structures. The majority of teams made sure to set an achievable scope.
While specific participation varied widely, 54% of projects participated in or collaborated with an external climate initiative.
PST ART, and the support provided by Getty, created an opportunity for deeper engagement. Of the participating projects, 86% said that they engaged their audiences in climate conversations for PST ART. This included about half of reporting projects engaging climate in their thematic exhibition content, as well as messaging, wall text, and events.
Internally, exhibition and install teams were almost always involved in the CIR, followed by curatorial departments. Leadership was engaged in 60% of CIRs, suggesting this is a priority for other organizations looking to embed climate work in their operations. External stakeholders were also asked to engage in PST ART CIRs. Nearly half of reporting projects indicated that they included their fabricator in the CIR process in some way, and 43% of reporting projects involved their artists.
