Sabrina Candido – Skills Bootcamp: Future Climate Leaders
Get to know our Skills Bootcamp: Future Climate Leaders alumna Sabrina
is a
Skills Bootcamp: Future Climate Leaders
alumna and currently works as a Sector Development Officer at , a sector support organisation for the city's creative arts sector. Their work focuses on supporting organisations and freelancers to build a healthy, sustainable cultural sector in Plymouth.
1. What motivated you to undertake this course?
I was motivated to join this course as I had a personal interest in seeing how art can relate to climate change and contribute to climate action. I see the arts as a great way of translating what science cannot.
Alongside a personal interest, I also wanted to understand how I can be a professional who contributes to a sustainable planet through my work and practice.
Plymouth Culture are one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs), which means we are required to align with specific principles set out by them, one of which is sustainability. As there is a need from our funder that we tackle this issue in our delivery, I wanted to learn how we could do that.
2. How did you apply the learnings from your course to your workplace?
The main benefit I gained from this course is the confidence to lead on sustainability projects within my organisation.
The course helped me in a range of areas, from understanding why I'm doing the carbon calculations that our funder requires and recognising their importance, to being inspired to start a collaboration project with Art and Energy called "Let's Make Change", created to support Plymouth-based creative freelancers in developing bold, imaginative projects that respond to the climate crisis. The structure of
Future Climate Leaders
, combining self-directed learning, inspirational talks, and collaborative group work, strongly influenced the format of our project.
What's great about the course is it is based on developing a project with a clear objective. It’s not just about completing a test; its aim is to create something that is useful in the end.
3. What support did you receive?
The professionals that came to talk to us were at the top of their specialism. We could see the quality of how carefully curated the guest speakers were, and how much work went into selecting them.
I've done other climate change courses before and often felt frustrated in those spaces because I didn’t feel like I was learning. What I needed was to build confidence in my understanding of sustainability.
The practical nature of this course made learning easier, and now I feel confident and able to be the champion of sustainability within my organisation.
4. What had the greatest impact on you during the course?
My favourite part of the course was certainly the practical activities, as they really helped me to internalise the learning.
I understand more when I'm practising what I'm learning, so this was incredibly valuable for me. I can get distracted in some learning environments, but everything on the course really caught my attention because of this practical mix.
I would absolutely recommend the course. It was a very enjoyable way of learning, and I feel proud that I've taken it.
Sustainability can be a heavy subject, but this course helps you gain confidence to talk about it and makes you feel that you can make a difference, no matter what work you do.
About Skills Bootcamps
Our Skills Bootcamps are funded by Devon County Council and Cornwall Council through the Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee, helping everyone gain skills for life.
Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and an offer of an interview with an employer upon completion.