The first MATCH project Capacity Building Workshop in Athens, taking place from October 3 to 5, 2025, is bringing together participating artists, cultural practitioners, and project partners for the first time. Hosted in the historic city of Athens, this inaugural gathering sets the tone for a deep, collaborative exploration of the urgent intersections between climate crisis and culture.

Framed by the legacy of Western civilization – with its entanglements in colonialism, capitalism, and consumerism – this event  invites participants to critically examine the systems that have driven environmental degradation and social inequality. Through workshops, discussions, and site-based reflections, the event will consider how cultural practice can respond to planetary limits and contribute to building regenerative futures.

Athens itself will serve as a living metaphor: a palimpsest of history and memory where new meanings can be inscribed. Participants will engage with the city as a layered landscape, tracing its evolving narrative and reflecting on how its past informs our collective imagination of the future.

Central to this dialogue is a renewed engagement with the legacy of Raymond Duncan, whose radical vision for sustainable living, manifested through the founding of the Duncan Center, prefigured many of today’s ecological and economic discourses. 

The workshop will also draw on previous initiatives by the Duncan Dance Research Center, including MOVING GROUND and PLANT, reinforcing its long-standing dedication to cultivating the relationship between culture, sustainability, and social imagination.

Finally, participants will be introduced to the ongoing CRIA (Cultural Climate Change Response Impact Assessment Tool) research. CRIA will provide a framework for assessing the cultural sector’s responses to the climate emergency-continuing to inform and shape the program beyond the Athens event.