Environmental impacts and AI in arts and culture

Join us online for an insightful panel discussion exploring environmental impacts and AI in arts and culture. After the panel discussion there will be time for reflection and audience conversation.

About our panellists

The panel discussion brings together panellists from the Sussex Digital Humanities Lab,  and Culture for Climate Scotland, who will share practical insights and expertise into the diverse ways they have engaged with AI, its environmental impacts and how it relates for cultural organisations and sustainability.

The panellists include:

• Joseph Walton, Principal Research Fellow at the Sussex Digital Humanities Lab
• Piera Morlacchi, Head of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group at the University of Edinburgh Business School, Founding director of the Imagination Lab (ILab) and recent project of the ILab: Sphaerosymphony
• Matthew Belsey, Environmental Reporting and Data Manager at Culture for Climate Scotland

The Sussex Digital Humanities Lab is an interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence at the University of Sussex that investigates the interactions between computational technology, culture, society and environment.

The Imagination Lab (ILab) is a network of people passionate about reimagining research and education by exploring the vast potential of imagination at the cross-roads of art and technology.

The Sphaerosymphony is an immersive, interactive installation that transforms real-time air quality data into a powerful visual and auditory experience. It’s a creative air pollution awareness project from the University of Edinburgh, which featured at 2025’s Edinburgh Science Festival. You can read more about this project in this article: The Lancet-Respiratory Medicine ‘Sphaerosymphony: turning air quality data into music’.

What’s on the agenda?

The event will start with the panel discussion before opening the session to conversations and reflections with the audience.

Whilst this session encourages some level of active engagement (eg asking questions to our panellists), it will be possible to simply listen in. We welcome discussion on the topic throughout the session.

Time: 2pm-3pm

Date: Thursday 2 July

Location: Online

The workshop will take place on Zoom (captions available).

The event will be recorded.

Why should I attend?

Learn about the environmental impacts of AI and to explore its intersections with the cultural sector in Scotland with several experts who can share their insights and perspectives on this topic. You will have the opportunity to ask questions directly to the panellists and explore ways to implement meaningful community and sustainability initiatives within your cultural organisation.

Do you need support to attend this event?

Culture for Climate Scotland is committed to ensuring that our events are accessible for everyone, regardless of their disability, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, economic status or caring responsibility.

We will make any necessary adjustments to our events so that no one is excluded. These adjustments will, most likely, differ from event-to-event and person-to-person, so we need your help to get it right. In the past, we have provided quiet spaces, British Sign Language interpreters and internet dongles for portable internet access. We now provide access packs including ear defenders, sensory supports and reading overlays at in-person events.

Some adjustments may take more time to arrange than others, so we appreciate you giving us as much notice as possible about what you need so that we can support you to get the most out of this event.

Please inform us of your accessibility requirements for this event during the registration process. If you have any questions or concerns, please send an email to [email protected] or telephone +44 (0)131 243 2760 and speak to a member of staff.

This is part of a series of webinars designed for Scottish cultural organisations, especially our Green Arts Initiative members and signatories to the Green Arts Charter.

Previously, we hosted webinars such as communicating about your environmental actions and digital carbon emissions for Scottish cultural organisations.

If you want to diver further into community work for cultural organisations, we recommend watching: SPRINGBOARD 2025: Place-based work driving transformational change on Vimeo.

Image credit: Graphic adapted using a photograph by @alma-grigoritas-images from Canva.