Human Impact Institute
Culture for Impact is an annual recognition by the Museum for the United Nations - UN Live to celebrate cultural initiatives that unleash the power of popular culture to address major societal challenges and inspire positive change.
Join us for an engaging conversation between Tara DePorte, Founder and Executive Director of the Human Impacts Institute (HII) and Annesofie Norn, Head of Comms and Lead Curator at UN Live.
Human Impacts Institute is a climate arts-based nonprofit dedicated to amplifying the voices of artists, activists, and community leaders in addressing the climate crisis. One of their standout initiatives is the Creative Climate Awards (CCA), a month-long arts festival in NYC showcasing the work of emerging artists from across the globe. These artists, often from BIPOC and climate-impacted communities, use a wide range of mediums to explore the inequalities of climate change and inspire action. Since its launch, the CCAs have featured over 60 public art exhibits at iconic locations, engaging communities with limited access to arts and climate solutions through exhibitions, guided tours, and masterclasses.
Through Tara's perspective, we’ll explore the power of art to drive change, and how transforming data into human stories fosters empathy and reimagines our collective response to the climate crisis.
UN Live: What do you believe is the power of popular culture to change hearts and minds?
From the Creative Climate Awards (CCAs)
Tara DePorte: Culture possesses an unparalleled ability to transform hearts and minds by fostering empathy, connecting people on an emotional and intellectual level, and communicating shared experiences through creative expressions and storytelling. At the Human Impacts Institute, we believe that cultural engagement brings diversity to the climate conversation and amplifies marginalised voices often left out of mainstream narratives.
By harnessing culture, we encourage people not just to think about solutions but to feel deeply connected to them, bridging divides between communities and aligning heritage with modern social and environmental challenges. Creative expressions — whether through art, music, or storytelling — become powerful tools for uniting people under a shared vision for a regenerative planet. Especially in a divided world, culture helps bridge the gaps, grounding us in the collective action needed to protect our environment and one another.
UN Live: What drew you towards using art as a platform to spark positive change?
Tara DePorte: The Creative Climate Awards (CCAs) serve as a dynamic platform to spark positive change by uniting artists worldwide to address the climate crisis through creative solutions. CCA was inspired by its unique ability to amplify underrepresented voices, particularly from the most climate-impacted regions, and to transform their experiences into compelling works of art that drive action. Stemming from its unique power to use art as a catalyst for meaningful dialogue, CCA aims to shift the narrative from statistics to human stories that resonate deeply with diverse audiences.
By empowering artists to create community-centred works, we aim to foster a global cultural movement that elevates climate justice and connects local realities to a universal call for change. This initiative affirms our belief in the power of culture to motivate, educate, and mobilise people towards a more sustainable and equitable future.
UN Live: Building on behaviour change science, we know that popular culture such as art can change norms, behaviours and opinion. What has been the impact of your initiative so far?
Tara DePorte: Through the Creative Climate Awards, we have collaborated with over 253 artists representing 55 countries, providing a platform to challenge conventional perspectives and inspire collective action. This initiative brings together diverse voices, including musicians, dancers, and poets, particularly from underrepresented communities, to showcase their talents and share their stories. By leveraging our collective partnerships, we attract a global reach spanning tens of thousands of audience members to engage with climate-focused artwork that transcends geographic and cultural boundaries.
The month-long exhibition, held annually from mid-April to mid-May, creates a vibrant space for artists, climate experts, performers, and the public to connect through interactive sessions, panel discussions, and artist talks. This dynamic fosters meaningful conversations around environmental justice, climate anxiety, and highlights the urgent need for climate action. By bridging creativity and advocacy, the CCAs align with the Human Impacts Institute’s mission to inspire environmental stewardship and empower communities, while cultivating a legacy of intergenerational dialogue and action.
UN Live: Can you share a couple of examples of when you experienced that your initiative made a real impact for someone?
Tara DePorte: One of the most powerful moments we experienced was during the 2024 Creative Climate Awards gallery, where a woman of Aymara descent interacted with our Voices of Resilience poetry installation. This collaborative project from our Artivism and Amplifiers fellowship programme features poetry that explores climate and gender issues through the lens of Indigenous wisdom and land connection. The poems were written in Aymara and translated into both English and Spanish. When the woman heard the poem in her native Aymara, she became emotional and began crying. This heartfelt response highlighted the deep connection she felt to the work, which speaks to the struggles and resilience of marginalized communities in the face of environmental degradation. For her, the poem was not just art—it was a reflection of her own experiences and a reminder of the power of language to heal and inspire.
“One of the parts about CCA was the location in DUMBO. There was a completely out-of-this-world feeling between what was happening outside with all the tourists and the reality of the subject matter in the gallery: CLIMATE CHANGE.” Daniel Lanzilotta, 2024 CCA Artist.
UN Live: What are you hoping that others can learn from your initiative, and what is your dream for the initiative?
Tara DePorte: Through the Creative Climate Awards (CCAs), we aim to provide a platform that inspires and fosters engagement, inviting audiences to connect deeply with art that reflects pressing global themes. Each year’s theme is carefully chosen to resonate with current challenges and opportunities, focusing on what the world needs to see more of—hope, resilience, and action. The 2025 theme, “Inspiring Futures,” seeks to shift perspectives from despair to hope, and ultimately, to meaningful action by showcasing how art can spark transformation within individuals and communities.
We hope others recognise the importance of forging deep connections with their environment and harnessing the power of creativity to envision bold possibilities, inspiring collective care and action for our planet. The initiative aims to empower individuals to dream bigger, foster empathy, and build stronger, interconnected communities. Our dream is for the CCAs to build a global movement where art becomes a force for environmental stewardship, cultivating shared purpose and inspiring lasting positive change for generations to come.
UN Live: Core to UN Live is building empathy and global belonging, how do you see your initiative building on that?
Tara DePorte: The Creative Climate Awards align with UN Live's mission to foster empathy and global belonging by transforming data into deeply human stories. Through art, we create a bridge between audiences and the lived realities of those most impacted by climate change, fostering understanding and shared responsibility. Our initiative challenges the narrative of separation—between 'us and nature' or 'us and those suffering'—by emphasising interconnectedness and creating spaces where people can come together through shared experiences. We celebrate diversity, crafting something both beautiful and moving that inspires collective action and fosters a sense of unity.
By providing a platform for artists to share diverse perspectives, we offer audiences a lens into unfamiliar worlds, enabling them to see through the eyes of others and recognise their role within a global ecosystem. This process nurtures empathy and a sense of belonging, vital for inspiring collective climate action. Stories told through art resonate uniquely, creating ripples of awareness and change across communities worldwide.
UN Live: What does it mean to you and the Human Impacts Institute to get highlighted on the 2024 Culture for Impact List?
Tara DePorte: Being featured on the 2024 Culture for Impact List represents a global acknowledgement of our commitment to leveraging culture, creativity, and environmental advocacy to drive meaningful change. This recognition aligns deeply with our mission to amplify the voices of underrepresented communities, foster transformative dialogue, and inspire climate action through arts and education.
The inclusion affirms the value of our efforts in bridging environmental justice and cultural empowerment, highlighting the importance of storytelling, collaboration, and empathy in creating a more equitable future. It inspires us to further expand our impact and engage more communities to address systemic challenges and uplift those most affected by global crises.
UN Live: At its simplest, what is your message for the world?
Tara DePorte: Our message for the world is to create a future where humanity lives in harmony with nature. Achieving this vision requires collective action to stand up for our rights and the rights of those who cannot speak for themselves—whether they are marginalised communities or the ecosystems sustaining us. Through art, science, and culture, we can foster a shared understanding that everyone deserves a clean, healthy environment and a relationship with nature that is respectful and regenerative rather than exploitative.
We would like to thank the Human Impacts Institute for sharing their work on Creative Climate Awards with us!