No longer confined to classrooms or traditional outreach, Europe’s ocean literacy movement is increasingly embracing art, sound, and sensory experiences to reconnect people with the ocean in ways that data alone cannot achieve.
This shift was particularly visible at this year’s European Maritime Day in Cork, Ireland, where EU4Ocean partners demonstrated how creative and emotional formats can draw in wider audiences to marine issues.
Why creative approaches matter
Ocean literacy has traditionally relied on facts, data, and policy messaging. While essential, these tools do not always reach people who feel distant from the ocean or overwhelmed by technical language.
Research shows that immersive, multisensory experiences – including sound, touch, visual art, and storytelling – can deepen understanding, strengthen emotional connection, and encourage people to engage more actively with environmental issues.
For Nicolas Gharbi, Director of Public Affairs and Advocacy at TBA21, this emotional dimension is essential for real change.
“Neurosciences demonstrate that emotions are the key for action. Data is not enough; art creates meaning, context, and empathy, which are needed to shift from knowledge to action,” he told Euractiv.
This matters especially in Europe, where many citizens live far from the coast. Sensory approaches offer alternative pathways to experience the ocean’s presence, even in inland regions, through soundscapes, installations, and tactile or participatory activities.
A cultural turn
This blend of art and emotion is increasingly recognised within the EU’s wider efforts to restore and protect its waters. Gharbi underscores why this shift is necessary. “Building synergies across disciplines is the only way to address global challenges.”
His view highlights the need to bring artistic, scientific, and policy perspectives together to create more impactful forms of public engagement – helping people connect with the ocean not only through information but through shared meaning and emotion.
Art also reaches across geographies because ocean issues extend far beyond the shore. As Gharbi notes, “Ocean issues are never only about the ocean. They involve governance, justice, memory, and survival that resonate across territories, whether coastal or landlocked.”
Cultural institutions are already playing a concrete role. In Venice, Ocean Space – led by TBA21 -Academy hosts exhibitions, research, and public programmes designed to deepen public understanding of the ocean.
Art historian and philologist Valeria Bottalico describes it as “a planetary centre for exhibitions, research and public programmes catalysing critical ocean literacy and environmental advocacy through the arts. The educational programme considers the Ocean as a physical, social, and aesthetic connector.”
Within EU4Ocean, collaborations with cultural partners like TBA21 have helped create installations, performances, and sensory experiences that make marine issues resonate both emotionally and intellectually.
These partnerships also feed into EU-level work, including initiatives such as Bauhaus of the Seas Sails and the NEB Lab Ocean, where cultural actors contribute to conversations on coastal regeneration and sustainable futures.
From experience to action
A persistent question for ocean literacy practitioners is how emotional, or sensory engagement translates into tangible action. Observations suggest that creative experiences often serve as gateways to deeper involvement – from citizen science to school projects, local clean-ups, or community-led initiatives.
Gharbi points to TBA21’s long-term collaboration with the Alligator Head Foundation in Jamaica as a clear example of this dynamic.
“With a collaborative approach to protecting fish stocks, restoring habitats and regenerating local economies, AHF supports local communities that depend on fishing as a livelihood… Through a residency programme for artists, biologists, designers and others, we explore themes related to the ocean and engage with urgent ecological, social and economic issues.”
He underscores the deeper ambition behind this work, which speaks directly to the future of ocean literacy: “TBA21 seeks to reinvent the culture of exploration in the 21st century while inciting new knowledge, communicative strategies and dynamic solutions for the environmental challenges facing the world we inhabit.”
Meanwhile in Europe, Ocean Space shows how creative approaches can also advance inclusion. Bottalico points to Abedecarium. The Ocean in Sign Language, a long-term project co-created with the deaf community, demonstrating how participatory, sensory-based methods can open ocean knowledge to groups that are often underserved.
A more inclusive blue future
As Europe accelerates efforts to restore its ocean and waters, ocean literacy must continue evolving to reach people in varied and meaningful ways.
Creative and sensory approaches are helping bring marine issues into new spaces – inland schools, cultural venues, community centres, festivals, and public squares – expanding the movement beyond traditional audiences.
Bottalico emphasises that these programmes play a crucial societal role: “Educational programmes aim at creating new conscious identities, giving access to information to all, so everyone can take part in the global debate as a right for democratic citizenship.”
By weaving together art, science, culture, and emotion, Europe’s ocean literacy landscape is becoming more inclusive and impactful – strengthening public understanding and building the foundations for a more engaged community of ocean citizens across the continent.
(BM)