The most successful media event of my career happened by coincidence. I was directing popular theatre presentations for delegates at the 2005 UN Climate Change meetings in Montreal. The youth delegation was comprised of young people selected from around the world for their varied expertise or notoriety. I was fresh out of university, having just completed a writing gig with Parks Canada where my crowning achievement was setting Parks' mountain pine beetle key messages to a script entirely quoting Beatles lyrics. I had spent the rest of the summer working on an oil spill clean up operation in Northern Alberta with my parents' company. I applied to the UN youth delegation on a lark, thinking anything UN related would be good for my resume. I spent the two months prior to the conference cramming like never before. We online blogged & shared information through Taking It Global!
Two weeks were spent drafting the International Youth Declaration on Climate Change. Then the larger group went home, and I moved into a B&B in Old Montreal with the main youth delegation. We were there as observers, without an official intervener status. But, the organizers assured us, our presence meant a lot and could help push the negotiations forward.
Traditional media experts handled the official media requests. Without a journalism background, my granola crunchy experience as a facilitator and popular theatre artist were outside of the traditional NGO roles at the UNFCCC. I was put in charge of "public theatrical demonstrations", to take place within the Palace de Guy Favreau, a public concourse in front of the escalators where delegates entered the meeting hall. We were beyond a check point with security as strict as any airport. The Montreal metro had a bomb threat the week prior to the conference so they were on high alert.
Art in the centre of the UNFCCC proceedings had never occurred before. Each day we held a planning session & I would submit official paperwork to UN Security advising them in advance of what would take place. There were clear rules: no placards, no singling out specific countries or their leaders, generally don't be an idiot. The planning meetings were interesting, varied based on who showed up. Sometimes we would have young radicals with persistent recommendations: "Let's paper mache George Bush's head & light sh*t on fire - it's symbolic!" "There isn't a space on the security form for 'light sh*t on fire', so I'm going to veto that one." I dryly responded. Being the director of no one knew what came with its perks.
