Bringing poetry & science together to imagine a better possible future
“Hot Poets can credibly claim to be the UK’s leading literature & climate change organisation.” ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND, 2023
Hot Poets is an ambitious, award-winning, internationally focused arts organisation, working to powerfully communicate climate change science and action through spoken word poetry. We do this by creating dynamic arts and science collaborations and partnerships with top climate change organisations and world class artists – exploring beyond the climate crisis to the science and imagination needed to save our world.
Hot Poets works in partnership with leading climate change, academic, government and arts organisations at a global and grassroots level, including the UNFCCC’s: Resilience Frontiers, The Met Office, London School of Economics, RSPB, UCL, Southbank Centre, The Gaia Foundation and 3M.
Founded in 2021 by UK Artists and change makers Liv Torc and Chris Redmond, Hot Poets has generated £250,000 of project funding, worked in five continents, with over 50 artists, facilitating UN spaces and shows at Adaptation Week in Botswana (2022) and South Korea (2023) and in the Blue Zone at COP26 in Glasgow (2021), COP27 in Sharm El Sheik (2022) & COP28 in Dubai (2023).
Learning from world renowned global experts, we have researched, written and filmed 30 poetry commissions and published 2 books, with subjects as diverse as Whale Poo to Climate Litigation. Our poems have been viewed, heard and seen live over 5 million times.
Working with the UNFCCC
The success of Hot Poets brought Artistic Director’s Liv Torc and Chris Redmond into partnership with the UNFCCC’s Resilience Frontiers, a progressive arm of the UN’s climate change mission, focused on manifesting a better possible future for the planet, led by Youssef Nassef, Director of Adaptation at the UNFCCC.
“We can create a sustainable society and the types of desirable futures we want beyond 2030. But we need to think a bit differently. We need to think, a bit less through a problem / solution mentality and more through one of creative design of the future.” Youssef Nassef, Director, UNFCCC
In 2022 the UNFCCC nominated Liv and Chris, alongside 50 other interdisciplinary thought leaders worldwide to join the Resilience Frontier Initiative, and co-create visions of desirable climate-resilient futures beyond 2030, taking them to Adaptation Weeks in Botswana (‘22), COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, and COP28 in Dubai, writing and performing on the spot poetry about the talks and debates as they happened. Liv (now a UN Consultant) returned to Adaptation Week in South Korea (‘23) as the lead facilitator for a three day UN brainstorming process.
In 2023 Hot Poets worked in partnership with the Resilience Frontiers to create a new scientifically accurate and artistically powerful collection of spoken word and participatory poetry films based on the eight pathways towards a resilient future – showcased at COP28 on the RF Pavilion. Our participatory Haiku Futures project received 3000 submissions worldwide, with hundreds of participants’ future ideas being discussed on the global stage at COP28.
Our Vision
To forge a strong and mutually beneficial relationship between the spoken word poetry scene and key organisations working on the front lines of climate change action and innovation, whereby spoken word poetry films and live performance will deliver to a wide range of audiences, complex scientific messages about climate change that cut through the doom and denial and work positively to imagine better possible futures.
Our Values
- Championing the power of the human voice to achieve positive change
- Being an honest broker between arts and science
- Communicating complex science accessibly, accurately and with creative integrity
- Bringing powerful, relevant and entertaining poetry and spoken word to greater and more diverse audiences
- Celebrating diversity and collaborating equitably
Our Aims
- To form exciting and mutually beneficial partnerships between the arts, environment, charitable, education and corporate sectors, locally, nationally and internationally
- To speak powerfully to a range of audiences about a new accurate, scientific and hopeful vision for our world, extending our reach from the hundreds of thousands into the millions
- To build our collection of dynamic, original and inspirational spoken word that can be used across multiple platforms, live and digital in the public, science, arts and corporate sectors
- To empower and elevate new and marginalised voices, along with developing creating opportunities for mass participation and engagement – bringing new diverse voices and ideas into the climate change conversation
- To work with schools and education settings to re-frame how climate change is taught, focusing on science, creative innovation and the empowerment of young people.
- To make spoken word a serious component in the fight against climate catastrophe
Hot Poets Gallery
