Panel Discussion | Entangled Life – Beyond Words: Communicating sustainability at Pallas Projects/Studios

Event Details

Panel talk: Beyond Words: Communicating sustainability

6-8PM, Wednesday, 3rd September

Bookings via EventBrite.

Lisa Fitzsimons (Strategy and Sustainability Lead at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA))
Noel Kelly (Chief Executive Officer of Visual Artists Ireland)
Gareth Kennedy (Artists and lecturer in Sculpture and Expanded Practice at the National College of Art and Design)

Communicating an ecological approach is complex, especially when it comes to visual art, and also reaching our neighbourhoods and communities. It’s a nuanced space where values, habits, and systems intersect.

This cross-disciplinary panel explores how artists, galleries and art institutions communicate their efforts in ways that are honest, hopeful, and engaging. A view of the behind-the-scenes decisions that institutions employ, with the aim of supporting sustainable exhibition-making, artistic practices and choices, and leading-by-example strategies. Whether the art is transdisciplinary, embedded in social action and deeply rooted in natural ecology, or sustainability is an underlying concern in an artist’s practice (or in an art programme), there’s value in making the invisible work visible.

How do we give space to small actions and highlight the relevance of what often goes unseen? How do we communicate this work in ways that resonate with others? And how can we do all of this without leaning on narratives of doom while remaining factual? Beyond Words: Communicating sustainability is about language and strategies that are hopeful and grounded. It’s about exploring approaches to communicating the quiet labour of care, the strength of collective effort, and the possibility of change toward a sustainable art ecosystem.

We invite the wider community and communities of interest to join us in this open conversation, and share their insights and perspectives. Time is set before and after the talk to gather informally. Participants will be encouraged to ask questions and share their thoughts and experience in a relaxed exchange, blurring the usual roles of panellist and audience.

Biographies

Lisa Fitzsimons is the Strategy and Sustainability Lead at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), where she leads the implementation of IMMA’s five-year strategy and produces Earth Rising, an annual festival exploring the intersection of contemporary art, ecological innovation, and community resilience.
With a background in brand and communications leadership across cultural, corporate, and non-profit sectors, she is passionate about using storytelling to deepen understanding, shift mindsets, and inspire action. Her work bridges strategy, creativity, and public engagement, demonstrating how cultural institutions can be powerful platforms for climate communication and change.

Noel Kelly is the Chief Executive Officer of Visual Artists Ireland, a role he has held since 2007, He is a Life Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, and serves on the International Programming Panel for Cukrarna, Ljubljana. He acts as policy expert on a number of local government committees. His governance portfolio includes previous board roles with the Irish Visual Artists Rights Organisation (IVARO), The Butler Gallery, and the Royal Dublin Society. Under his stewardship, VAI launched initiatives such as Get Together, the national day for visual artists; the Social, Economic and Fiscal Status Survey; the Payment Guidelines for Visual Artists, and Job Seeker Allowance for Visual Artists. Noel’s advocacy focuses on equitable treatment of artists and expanding networking and development opportunities that support artists at every career stage. His most recent project is that development of The Visual Artists’ Bill of Rights, research into workspaces in Ireland, and the on-going development of a green approach to the visual arts.

Visual artist Gareth Kennedy’s work explores the social agency of the handcrafted in the 21st century and generates ‘communities of interest’ around the production and performance of experimental material cultures. Informed by an anthropological approach these works draw on the layered histories of a location. Projects are embedded, evolve over time, and are enacted by diverse publics and individuals. His practice to date includes public art commissions, workshops, education projects, exhibitions, residencies and collaborations. He is a lecturer in Sculpture and Expanded Practice at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. Since 2020, he is lead coordinator of NCAD FIELD, a site beside the college which through radical pedagogies is being appraised as a novel ecology, a taskscape and an experiment in the urban commons. Kennedy runs accredited courses at undergraduate level and together with artist colleagues Seoidin O’Sullivan and Mark Clare, runs the Creative Futures Academy Professional Certificate and Diploma in Art and Ecology. In 2024-25, he is an Urban Fields artist in residence as part of L’Internationale Museum of the Commons Climate Assembly and was the resident artist on the Rhizome Residency with Kilkenny Arts Office which formed part of research into the Roots for the Future Climate Art Assembly. He is a member of the All-Island Climate and Biodiversity Research Network.