Young Environmental Leaders

(YEL) Young Environmental Leaders

Turner Contemporary is committed to operating sustainably and to help advocate for protection of the environment, the gallery took part in Artswork ‘Creative Development Network Programme’ with a focus on the environment in acknowledgment of the gallery’s location on the coast during the time of climate emergency.

Using Thanet’s unique coastal environment and harnessing artist’s and children’s concerns for the environment, we partnered with 3 local organisations: Rise Up Clean Up, Crab Museum and Spacer to raise awareness of UNESCO’s Ocean Literacy and find ways to take proactive steps to protect our beautiful coastline. Using our YAL structure (Young Art Leaders) we used this to help 5 local primary schools develop their own Young Environmental Leaders, supporting children to advocate for the environment.

The 5 local Primary Schools Participating were:

• Palm Bay Primary School
• Cliftonville Primary School
• Holy Trinity St Johns School
• Chilton Primary School
• Christ Church CE Junior School

Schools are doing fantastic work with their pupils to foster care and respect for the environment. To support this, we used the Creative Development Network to connect local environmental organisations with our local Primary schools. This project created a unique ecosystem where pupils, teachers and local organisations worked collaboratively to learn about the coastal environment and in turn, implement Ocean Literacy within the school curriculum.

During the project, everyone met on three occasions to help develop a supportive network and foster the legacy of young environmental activists within their schools.

All 3 organisations have used the learnings from the project to develop their own school offer, thus further advocating Ocean Literacy within the school curriculum.

To further the legacy of the project, The Crab Museum have created the zine ‘Crab Museum’s guide to being a scientist’ which was written by the YEL’s who took part in the project.

Crabs are incredibly diverse. They are tiny, huge, cute, scary, vulnerable, indestructible and millions of years old. They affect all of our lives in ways many of us don’t even realise – from maintaining the oceans, to helping us with important new medicines. In fact, crabs may well have already saved your life!

Crabs can teach us about biology, climate change, evolutionary history and much much more. But, with the right frame of mind, they can also teach us about ourselves. This is why we created Crab Museum – to roll science, humour and philosophy into a unique and satisfyingly baffling day out.

Visit the Crab Museum and discover the secrets of these remarkable animals, from the forgotten story of the giant Margate crab to what the extinct Sooty Crayfish has in common with fidget spinners.