Culture for Climate: A preliminary study into how Australian performing arts organisations are responding to the global environmental crisis
View/ Open
Author(s)
Beer, Tanja
Hassall, Linda
Lazaroo, Natalie
Meyrick, Julian
Marquet, Kathryn
Manton, Willow
Barfod Dye, Sophie
Year published
2023
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Despite the radical impact of climate change on Australian communities, there has been very little research in the Australian performing arts sector’s response to the climate crisis and aspiration to do so. While cultural organisations are embracing greener strategies in other countries, we are yet to fully grasp what the definition of climate leadership means in the Australian cultural context. The environmental impacts of the Australian performing arts sector are yet to be adequately researched, documented, and disseminated. Furthermore, there have not been any systematic attempts to examine how organisations are pursuing ...
View more >Despite the radical impact of climate change on Australian communities, there has been very little research in the Australian performing arts sector’s response to the climate crisis and aspiration to do so. While cultural organisations are embracing greener strategies in other countries, we are yet to fully grasp what the definition of climate leadership means in the Australian cultural context. The environmental impacts of the Australian performing arts sector are yet to be adequately researched, documented, and disseminated. Furthermore, there have not been any systematic attempts to examine how organisations are pursuing ecological values and processes, or the policies supporting them to do so. Many companies do not have publicly accessible environmental policies or climate action plans. This makes it difficult to determine how sustainability is being addressed across programming, practice and policy structures. This report explores how a small selection of Australian performing arts organisations are currently responding to the global ecological crisis. The study was conducted at Griffith University in 2022-2023 with the intention of highlighting leaders in the field. The research aims were: 1. To examine how the Australian performing arts sector is currently addressing environmental issues through programming, practices and policies; 2. To identify industry leaders at the intersection of live performance and environmental advocacy, and investigate examples of best practice; 3. To begin to draw from these examples strategies for artists and organisations to lead on the climate agenda, including identifying resources and support structures required to facilitate the transformation. This report provides an overview of the research context and results, from interviews with 13 performing arts companies across Australia, and a desktop study of publicly available information and email exchanges with various companies. The snapshot detailed in this report aims to provide an impression of sustainable advocacy, implemented at small, medium and large performing arts company levels across Australia. A summary of the key findings is as follows: Programming: • Performing arts organisations are demonstrating a strong desire to tell ecological stories and embrace environmental themes, especially in a local context. • Performing arts organisations are showing how ecological programming can be successfully integrated into seasons of performances across a range of genres and disciplines. • The potential to positively impact communities (e.g. through site-specific creation, civic engagement, arts-science communication and educational initiatives) is a key driver in many companies to make ecologically-focused work. Practice: • Performing arts organisations are grappling with a variety of ethically-focused, sustainability initiatives across a range of production processes, from embracing small scale, resourceful aesthetics, to using sustainability tools and consultancies to facilitate positive change. • There are still many challenges to overcome in this area, including transitioning to greener production practices and materials (some that may be at odds with conventional practices). • There is a clear and strong desire to share resources and materials across companies but an absence of support structures enabling them to do so. Policy: • Performing arts companies are requesting training, tools and resources to support them to create environmentally sustainable policies and processes across their organisations. • Policy designs are used as a starting point to evidence an organisation’s sustainability commitment with a focus on: the reduction of emissions; best practices in sustainable design and procurement; becoming an agent of change; and the sharing of knowledge. • Companies engaged in this study believe that resources and investment in climate justice should be integrated into Australia’s national cultural policy, and that this would foster sector-wide change. Our study indicated that while an ecological focus is emerging across the Australian performing arts sector, there is a clear need to investigate policy frameworks and funding models to support the transition to sustainable practices. While the report demonstrates that the work currently being accomplished is emerging, especially in the smallto-medium sector, this information could be made more publicly visible. This is perhaps the most startling discovery of the study. While performing arts organisations all over the world are beginning to actively cite their sustainability credentials, Australian performing arts organisations appear more hesitant to showcase their eco-initiatives. This is a missed opportunity. Moreover, based on our broader contextual review of publicfacing ecological commitments, it appears that Australia’s major cultural organisations are less active in pursuing formal sustainability practices and policies, and fomenting organisational change compared to other parts of the world, such as the UK or Canada. This is not surprising when one considers that most Australian companies have had little government funding or access to resources to pursue their eco-initiatives. Sustainability goals have fallen as an extra burden on organisations already stretched to the limit due to the impacts of COVID-19 in a historically underfunded industry. It is our hope this pilot study is recognised as urgent and timely, and that its findings will act as a foundation for future research into the Australian performing arts sector’s response to the existential threat of climate change. Further work is obviously needed to collectively understand the vital role the performing arts can play in advancing Australia’s environmental, cultural and social prosperity. The ambition of the project is to foresee the impact the climate crisis will have on the cultural sector and to showcase not only how climate action can be enabled at individual and organisational levels, but also how it is perceived by those who are leading this transition already.
View less >
View more >Despite the radical impact of climate change on Australian communities, there has been very little research in the Australian performing arts sector’s response to the climate crisis and aspiration to do so. While cultural organisations are embracing greener strategies in other countries, we are yet to fully grasp what the definition of climate leadership means in the Australian cultural context. The environmental impacts of the Australian performing arts sector are yet to be adequately researched, documented, and disseminated. Furthermore, there have not been any systematic attempts to examine how organisations are pursuing ecological values and processes, or the policies supporting them to do so. Many companies do not have publicly accessible environmental policies or climate action plans. This makes it difficult to determine how sustainability is being addressed across programming, practice and policy structures. This report explores how a small selection of Australian performing arts organisations are currently responding to the global ecological crisis. The study was conducted at Griffith University in 2022-2023 with the intention of highlighting leaders in the field. The research aims were: 1. To examine how the Australian performing arts sector is currently addressing environmental issues through programming, practices and policies; 2. To identify industry leaders at the intersection of live performance and environmental advocacy, and investigate examples of best practice; 3. To begin to draw from these examples strategies for artists and organisations to lead on the climate agenda, including identifying resources and support structures required to facilitate the transformation. This report provides an overview of the research context and results, from interviews with 13 performing arts companies across Australia, and a desktop study of publicly available information and email exchanges with various companies. The snapshot detailed in this report aims to provide an impression of sustainable advocacy, implemented at small, medium and large performing arts company levels across Australia. A summary of the key findings is as follows: Programming: • Performing arts organisations are demonstrating a strong desire to tell ecological stories and embrace environmental themes, especially in a local context. • Performing arts organisations are showing how ecological programming can be successfully integrated into seasons of performances across a range of genres and disciplines. • The potential to positively impact communities (e.g. through site-specific creation, civic engagement, arts-science communication and educational initiatives) is a key driver in many companies to make ecologically-focused work. Practice: • Performing arts organisations are grappling with a variety of ethically-focused, sustainability initiatives across a range of production processes, from embracing small scale, resourceful aesthetics, to using sustainability tools and consultancies to facilitate positive change. • There are still many challenges to overcome in this area, including transitioning to greener production practices and materials (some that may be at odds with conventional practices). • There is a clear and strong desire to share resources and materials across companies but an absence of support structures enabling them to do so. Policy: • Performing arts companies are requesting training, tools and resources to support them to create environmentally sustainable policies and processes across their organisations. • Policy designs are used as a starting point to evidence an organisation’s sustainability commitment with a focus on: the reduction of emissions; best practices in sustainable design and procurement; becoming an agent of change; and the sharing of knowledge. • Companies engaged in this study believe that resources and investment in climate justice should be integrated into Australia’s national cultural policy, and that this would foster sector-wide change. Our study indicated that while an ecological focus is emerging across the Australian performing arts sector, there is a clear need to investigate policy frameworks and funding models to support the transition to sustainable practices. While the report demonstrates that the work currently being accomplished is emerging, especially in the smallto-medium sector, this information could be made more publicly visible. This is perhaps the most startling discovery of the study. While performing arts organisations all over the world are beginning to actively cite their sustainability credentials, Australian performing arts organisations appear more hesitant to showcase their eco-initiatives. This is a missed opportunity. Moreover, based on our broader contextual review of publicfacing ecological commitments, it appears that Australia’s major cultural organisations are less active in pursuing formal sustainability practices and policies, and fomenting organisational change compared to other parts of the world, such as the UK or Canada. This is not surprising when one considers that most Australian companies have had little government funding or access to resources to pursue their eco-initiatives. Sustainability goals have fallen as an extra burden on organisations already stretched to the limit due to the impacts of COVID-19 in a historically underfunded industry. It is our hope this pilot study is recognised as urgent and timely, and that its findings will act as a foundation for future research into the Australian performing arts sector’s response to the existential threat of climate change. Further work is obviously needed to collectively understand the vital role the performing arts can play in advancing Australia’s environmental, cultural and social prosperity. The ambition of the project is to foresee the impact the climate crisis will have on the cultural sector and to showcase not only how climate action can be enabled at individual and organisational levels, but also how it is perceived by those who are leading this transition already.
View less >
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© Griffith University, released March 2023.
Subject
Other creative arts and writing
Arts and cultural policy
Cultural and creative industries