The Climate Imaginary: The Art Shaped Hole in the Climate Crisis — with Kendra Fanconi

On the second episode of our Below the Radar series: The Climate Imaginary, Steve Tornes and Alex K Masse sit down to talk with Kendra Fanconi, artistic director of The Only Animal. Kendra’s work with The Only Animal—a theatre company based in Vancouver—arises from a deep engagement with place and unfolds in collaboration with the natural world. Together, they discuss the process of making theatre in the anthropocene, The Only Animal’s Artist Brigade cohort of 100 climate-engaged artists, and the role that artists play in re-imagining the climate crisis. Through collectively traversing climate grief and anxiety, they talk over how collaboration brings forward new ideas and lessons on sharing with our natural world. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/the-climate-imaginary/193-kendra-fanconi.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/193-kendra-fanconi.html Resources: The Only Animal: https://www.theonlyanimal.com/ SCALE, Sectoral Climate Arts Leadership for the Emergency: https://scale-lesaut.ca/about/#values Shifting Baseline Theory (Diminishing Baseline Theory): https://news.mongabay.com/2009/06/proving-the-shifting-baselines-theory-how-humans-consistently-misperceive-nature/ The Only Animal’s Artist Brigade: https://www.theonlyanimal.com/the-artist-brigade/ Art and the World after this by David Maggs: https://metcalffoundation.com/publication/art-and-the-world-after-this/ 1000 Year Theatre: https://www.theonlyanimal.com/2021/11/17/the-thousand-year-theatre/ Museum of Rain: https://www.theonlyanimal.com/2021/11/17/museum-of-rain/ Bio: Kendra Fanconi is the Artistic Director of The Only Animal, a 16-year-old company that is uniquely dedicated to theatre that springs from a deep engagement with place, and towards solutionary outcomes for this climate moment. She is known for her love of the impossible. Selected Credits for directing/writing: World premiere of Slime, written by Bryony Lavery, tinkers, based on the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel by Paul Harding, Nothing But Sky, a living comic book (Jessie for Significant Artistic Achievement), NiX, theatre of snow and ice, at the 2010 Cultural Olympiad and Enbridge Festival, Alberta Theatre Projects 2009, (Winner of Betty Mitchell Award and Vancouver’s Critic’s Choice Award for Innovation). Current projects include 1000 Year Theatre and Museum of Rain. Kendra leads the Artist Brigade, bringing arts and artists to the front lines of the climate movement. Kendra is a founding member and a coordinating circle member of SCALE, Sectoral Climate Arts Leadership for the Emergency, where she is a conduit for the Artist Mobilization Working Group, fondly known as the Art Mob. Kendra lives on Shíshálh land on the far left coast of Canada, and is a farmer, a forager, and mother to two kids who are real characters. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Tornes, Steve and Alex Masse. “The Climate Imaginary: The Art Shaped Hole in the Climate Crisis — with Kendra Fanconi.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, November 8, 2022. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/the-climate-imaginary/193-kendra-fanconi.html.