The INTAC Sustainability Jams provide an opportunity for participants to collaborate online in imagining approaches to harnessing art and design creativity for activating sustainable changes to address the climate crisis. In a short time frame of 3 weeks, groups of participants from around the world select topics to research, responding with presentations that elucidate issues, propose solutions and motivate change.
Working in a group of 4 to 5 participants from a mix of institutions and with similar expressed interests, each team discusses their topic and selects a particular focus. They share their knowledge and experience, strategizing how to design an outcome which informs and motivates the eventual viewers. Communicating with each other online, they create a visual presentation that will be shared virtually and in subsequent public exhibitions. They are free to use images, texts, graphics, audio and video, and to propose creation of products or actions for the viewers to implement.
Sustainability Jams were held in 2022 and 2023 with the participation of over 15 universities. A third iteration is planned for the spring of 2025.
The Miro presentation whiteboards which document earlier Jams may be viewed online via these links:
Visual Catalyst Workshops were created by INTAC professor Dr Juha Suonpää at Tampere University of Applied Sciences and these became the precursors of the Sustainability Jam format. These are documented on a related INTAC website created by the TAMK students.