I’m honoured this week to be interviewed by The Design Trust (UK) about how my long term ecosocial art practice evolved into a fulfilling, rewarding and sustaining livelihood. This is such a great supportive community for all creatives interested in understanding the business, marketing and strategic side to working in the creative sector!
A free online conversation with Anne-Marie Shepherd of The Design Trust
‘THE DESIGN TRUST DIALOGUES
with Ecoliteracy Educator,
Cathy Fitzgerald on Friday 10 June at 1pm (UK).
The Design Trust Dialogues is our series of FREE interviews celebrating the incredible people in our creative community.
We ask each interviewee the same eight questions and are always enlightened and inspired by their answers.
Our third conversation is with Dr Cathy Fitzgerald @haumea_ecoversity
Cathy is an Ireland-based New Zealander. Since the late 1990s, she has been inspired by the developing art and ecology field.
Through her ongoing creative forest restoration practice, she reviewed ecological art practice research for her PhD. Having a prior background in science gave Cathy an advantage to understand the challenges and potential of bringing art and ecology together in these increasingly urgent times.
Cathy has experienced first hand that key ecological and sustainability understanding for personal, collective and planetary wellbeing are not yet widely understood or available across the creative sector.
She is deeply passionate that more informed creatives are urgently needed to inspire audiences towards more just and sustainable living in ways that science and politics can not achieve.
In 2019, with ecophilosopher Nikos Patedakis she designed an innovative programme of online essential ecological literacy (ecoliteracy) and Earth-aligned values courses. These courses are for mid-career creatives in all fields, art educators, curators and cultural policy developers and became the online Haumea Ecoversity.
Cathy’s online training venture is also a story of a small creative startup, supported by her Carlow Local Enterprise and County Arts Offices.
Hello! Kia Ora! My name
is Cathy Fitzgerald.
I’m a New
Zealander, living in rural
Ireland, the home of my ancestors, these past 25 years. Since 2019, I have offered ecoliteracy training to 250+ creative professionals in Ireland and internationally.
“In these urgent times, I’m passionate
about bringing ecoliteracy including
new ecological thinking, values,
language and head-heart-body
practices in empowering
transformative learning
to the creative and wider cultural
sector. Creative and cultural sector
professionals have a crucial
leadership role if informed and
supported. They can employ their
social inclusivity and creativity skills
to inspire diverse communities to
envision and embrace new
understandings, values and actions
for a more beautiful and just world.
Dr Cathy Fitzgerald
Ecological artist for the ongoing Hollywood Forest Story (begun 2008), Advisor for Creative Drummin Carlow Bog project, Accredited ESD* Earth Charter educator | researcher | advisor & mentor.
In 2022, Cathy was nominated by Earth Charter International, UNESCO Chair for ESD as Earth Charter Focal Point Communicator for Ireland.
*ESD is the UN-mandated shift in global formal and lifelong learning toward Education for Sustainable Development
