Organisations

Holland: Conference on the future sustainability of European culture organisations

Culture Futures, Open Calls, , , , ,

This post comes to you from Culture|Futures

The conference ‘The Future Is Not What It Used To Be’ aims to develop a range of practical strategies and tactics for the future sustainability of European culture organisations.

futureisnotwhatitused

‘The Future Is Not What It Used To Be’ is a three-day, interdisciplinary working conference on 2-4 April 2014, presented by Trans Europe Halles, Melkweg and P60, taking place in Amsterdam and Amstelveen, The Netherlands.

Key issues and questions will form the basis for in-depth discussions, workshops and presentations at the conference. For instance, one of the conference-workshops entitled ‘Big Change – Towards a Sustainable Cultural Organisation’ will be a hands-on workshop about introducing sustainable methods into a cultural centre.

The host organisation P60 and its adjacent cultural organisations will be used as examples. By identifying areas requiring improvement, diagnostics and developing strategies, this workshop builds on the Sustainability Charter and the expertise developed by Trans Europe Halles.

The idea of the conference is to explore how cultural organisations can meet the needs of the future: What are the prospects are cultural organisations operating in a future of reduced resources and a changing European society?

‘The Future Is Not What It Used To Be’ is for anyone employed in or connected to the cultural sector. It will also offer the opportunity for policy makers and politicians to engage in discussions with culture practitioners on work-related topics and issues.

‘The Future Is Not What It Used To Be’ is organised in partnership with Culture Action Europe, European Cultural Foundation, GALA, IETM, Kunsten ’92, On The Move, Res Artis, Trans Artists and VNPF.

Until 14 February 2014, registration as an early bird with a reduced price will be available. More information on the programme will be available on the conference website from 7 February. 

» www.tehfuture.net

———-

Culture|Futures is an international collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an Ecological Age by 2050.

The Cultural sector that we refer to is an interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, inter-genre collaboration, which encompasses policy-making, intercultural dialogue/cultural relations, creative cities/cultural planning, creative industries and research and development. It is those decision-makers and practitioners who can reach people in a direct way, through diverse messages and mediums.

Affecting the thinking and behaviour of people and communities is about the dissemination of stories which will profoundly impact cultural values, beliefs and thereby actions. The stories can open people’s eyes to a way of thinking that has not been considered before, challenge a preconceived notion of the past, or a vision of the future that had not been envisioned as possible. As a sector which is viewed as imbued with creativity and cultural values, rather than purely financial motivations, the cultural sector’s stories maintain the trust of people and society.

Go toThis post comes to you from Culture|Futures

Powered by WPeMatico

UK: Measuring carbon emissions of arts organisations: ‘Sustaining great art’

Culture Futures, ,

This post comes to you from Culture|Futures

Arts Council England has published the report ‘Sustaining Great Art’, which presents results from the first year of environmental reporting by 704 major revenue funded organisations. 

sustaining-great-art

The results have been compiled into the single largest data set on the carbon emissions of arts organisations globally, and this achievement is reportedly already having ripple effects both in the UK and internationally, wrote Julie’s Bicycle in its December newsletter.

The report mentions a number of groups which are demonstrating benefits of collaboration, including:

• London Theatre Consortium, 13 theatres working to develop strategic, creative initiatives and share expertise and resources, including a sustainability strand

• Manchester Arts Sustainability Team, 13 arts organisations, venues and events, collaborating to support their own sustainability goals and Manchester’s climate change strategy

• Newcastle Gateshead Cultural Venues, 10 venues working to share learning and maximise their positive environmental, social, cultural and economic impact, with different workstreams, including a Green Campaign and Capital Investment Strategy which explores longer-term sustainable capital projects for the group

• Royal Opera House, Royal National Theatre and Royal Albert Hall, who entered into a three-year contract for collective energy procurement known as ‘The Arts Basket’ provided by the energy broker Power Efficiency in 2012. Other organisations have since joined and benefits include reduced costs, better risk management and longer-term price certainty on a green tariff supply.

The report was produced in partnership with Julie’s Bicycle. Currently working with over 1000 cultural organisations in the UK and Europe, Julie’s Bicycle offers free online tools, research, and bespoke consultancy to help arts organisations measure, manage, and reduce their environmental impacts.

Founded by the music industry, with expertise from the arts and sustainability, Julie’s Bicycle bridges the gap between the creative industries and sustainability. Based on a foundation of peer-reviewed research, Julie’s Bicycle sustains creativity, enabling the arts to create change.

Arts Council England and Julie’s Bicycle entered into a partnership in 2012 to deliver an environmental support programme for National portfolio organisations, Major partner museums and Bridge organisations. The partnership, which runs from 2012 to 2015, combines the annual CO2e measurement of energy and water use using Industry Green tools, and support to develop an Environmental Policy and an Action Plan for each organisation.

» More information and an infographic of the results: www.artscouncil.org.uk

» More information: www.juliesbicycle.com

» Right-click here to open or download the report: Sustaining-Great-Art.pdf (43 pages, 7 MB)

Culture|Futures is an international collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an Ecological Age by 2050.

The Cultural sector that we refer to is an interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, inter-genre collaboration, which encompasses policy-making, intercultural dialogue/cultural relations, creative cities/cultural planning, creative industries and research and development. It is those decision-makers and practitioners who can reach people in a direct way, through diverse messages and mediums.

Affecting the thinking and behaviour of people and communities is about the dissemination of stories which will profoundly impact cultural values, beliefs and thereby actions. The stories can open people’s eyes to a way of thinking that has not been considered before, challenge a preconceived notion of the past, or a vision of the future that had not been envisioned as possible. As a sector which is viewed as imbued with creativity and cultural values, rather than purely financial motivations, the cultural sector’s stories maintain the trust of people and society.
Go toThis post comes to you from Culture|Futures

Powered by WPeMatico

 

Sustaining Great Art

news, , ,

Via Julie’s Bicycle.

The results are in! Arts Council England has published Sustaining Great Art, a report presenting results from the first year of environmental reporting by major revenue funded organisations, produced in partnership with Julie’s Bicycle.

An outstanding 90% of all 704 major revenue funded Arts Council organisations got involved, 79% felt that it  has made a positive difference to their organisation, and 86% felt that it can make a positive difference to the arts and cultural sector.

The results have been compiled into the single largest data set on the carbon emissions of arts organisations globally, and this achievement is already having ripple effects both in the UK and internationally.

Read the full report and see an infographic of the results here.

YearOne-Infgraphic.121647

Charter for a sustainable and responsible cultural mobility

Culture Futures, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This post comes to you from Culture|Futures

On the Move — a cultural mobility information network with more than 30 members in over 20 countries across Europe and beyond — has produced and now started widely disseminating a charter and toolkit which sets criteria and principles that, when respected, allow an institution, organisation, policy- or decision-maker, funder, artist, cultural professional and any other stakeholder of mobility to respect social and environmental standards, and to establish sustainable and responsible mobility practices.

onthemove-charter590Mobility happens anyway, so On the Move’s mission with the charter and the toolkit is simply “to make it happen better”. The intention has been to develop a new global practice where sharing of experiences and good practices allow the mobility of artists and cultural operators to be in line with social and environmental criteria.

On the Move’s overall mission is to encourage and facilitate cross-border mobility and cooperation, contributing to building up a vibrant and shared European cultural space that is strongly connected worldwide.

The Charter for a Responsible and Sustainable Mobility of Artists and Cultural Professionals aims to be a dynamic and concrete tool of reference for all those organisations and individuals dealing with the mobility of artists and cultural professionals.

On the Move writes:
A charter for whom?

 You manage a touring company or a venue which hosts international artists and cultural operators. You work for a cultural network. You are mobile, or you help others being mobile…
The charter helps you be responsible and sustainable when you practice cultural mobility.
on-the-move.org/../culturaloperators

You are a public institution or body which funds cultural activities, including international activities, and/or specifically mobility projects. You are a private foundation or organisation which funds the mobility of artists and cultural operators, either in a certain region, for specific disciplines or according to other crtieria…
The Charter helps you fund a responsible and sustainable cultural mobility.
on-the-move.org/../funders

You are a policy- or decision-maker at the local, regional, national level. You are in charge of cultural, social, economic, environmental policies. You deal with national and foreign affairs, including cultural diplomacy, visas and work permits…
The Charter helps you be responsible and sustainable when you make policies and decisions which impact on cultural mobility.
on-the-move.org/../policymakers

The charter was developed with the active participation of various categories of mobility actors and was published online on 24 January 2013 as a “constantly evolving online tool”.  It is going to be enriched regularly and signatories are kept up-to-date through a monthly newsletter about new signatories, new good practices listed, new available resources, etc.

Whether you practice, support or fund the international mobility of artists and cultural professionals, On the Move invites you to engage in a three-step path:

  1. Find your Charter – There are different principles to respect according to your role and activities as a stakeholder of mobility. How do you deal with “cultural mobility”?
  2.  Sign the Charter – Say that you care. Acknowledge your current situation, commit to improve, define objectives and assess your improvements. OTM supports you through peer-learning, training and information.
  3. Get inspired – See what other signatories are doing — and share your experience.

If you don’t want to sign the Charter, you can still use it as a check-list to make sure you daily activities related to mobility respect social and environmental criteria.

More about cultural mobility

Visas and cultural mobility

  1. Ease the mobility of artists and cultural professionals you invite or send abroad as far as visa procedures are concerned.
  2. Raise awareness on obstacles related to visa issues at different levels: national – international, political-social.

Click here for more details, links and resources

Administrative & social aspects of cultural mobility

  1. Ensure sustainable working conditions for the artists and cultural operators you work / collaborate with / employ.
  2. Consider the social and economic issues at stake whenever cultural mobility takes place.
  3. Be present in policy development, decision-making processes and their implementation at all levels.

Click here for more details, links and resources

Environmental aspects of cultural mobility

  1. Commit to environmental issues.
  2. Understand the environmental impact of your mobility practices.
  3. Improve the various aspects of your mobility practices.
  4. Communicate your impacts and improvements.

Click here for more details, links and resources

Culture|Futures is an international collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an Ecological Age by 2050.

The Cultural sector that we refer to is an interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, inter-genre collaboration, which encompasses policy-making, intercultural dialogue/cultural relations, creative cities/cultural planning, creative industries and research and development. It is those decision-makers and practitioners who can reach people in a direct way, through diverse messages and mediums.

Affecting the thinking and behaviour of people and communities is about the dissemination of stories which will profoundly impact cultural values, beliefs and thereby actions. The stories can open people’s eyes to a way of thinking that has not been considered before, challenge a preconceived notion of the past, or a vision of the future that had not been envisioned as possible. As a sector which is viewed as imbued with creativity and cultural values, rather than purely financial motivations, the cultural sector’s stories maintain the trust of people and society.
Go toThis post comes to you from Culture|Futures

Powered by WPeMatico

Invitation to participate in an Earth Forum with Shelley Sacks

Cultura21, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Within the framework of the Citizen Art Days Shelley Sacks offers twice a day the possibility to take part in an Earth Forum „Social Sculpture“ Process at the Freies Museum_öffentlicher Raum Berlin. From February 20th to 24th, in each case from 11 am to 2 pm and 3 to 6 pm, people are given the opportunity to create a humane and ecologically just future in groups of 8 to 12.

Artist and former scholar of Joseph Beuys, Shelley Sacks, invites people of every age and background to a process of creative imagination and exchange in order to bring room for new approaches of thought and action into being. After building an awareness in the group, the focus shall be put on questions directly related to the environment, the neighborhood, the city of Berlin and even the world.

Everyone is invited to participate in the Earth Forum process, whether as an individual or as a network of individuals and organisations who have diverse interests or as an organisation or group of individuals who have similar aims and views of sustainable development, but may have different ideas of how to achieve these aims.

Possible languages are English and German.

Background: The Citizen of Art Days from the 19th to the 24th of February 2012, offer the possibility for citizens to participate directly in the designing of their city by means of workshops, lectures, discussions and city excursions.
Registration and further information here:
www.citizenartdays.de / earthforum [at] citizenartdays [dot] de / 030-49 914 661
———————————————
Further projects of Shelley Sacks:
www.social-sculpture.org
www.universityofthetrees.org
www.exchange-values.org
www.ortdestreffens.de

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

Networking the arts to save the Earth

An Arts and Ecology Notebook, Cultura21, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Cathy Fitzgerald, film-maker and author of ecoartnotebook.com, has completed a research paper on the “sometimes under-utilised potential of online art and ecology networks“:

Online social networks are a recent global phenomenon of the last five years. This paper considers the value and under-realised potential of online social networks that connect cultural practitioners and organisations who are responding to ecological concerns across the world. That the cultural sector will have a significant role in engaging the world’s audiences and projecting new visions of how humanity may live more sustainably on this finite earth is increasingly recognised. However, while online social networks have in the last few years made art and ecology activities more visible their use has not been strategically utilised or examined in detail and efforts across the sector are as yet scattered and uneven. To fully harness the potential of these radical new and change-making communication tools, art and ecology networks that reference responses to ecological concerns, and in particular climate change, would clearly benefit from implementing online strategies from environmental and political activism, marketing strategies from business, as well as connecting with social media experts and research from the social sciences.

The full paper can be downloaded at http://ecoartnotebook.com/?page_id=1511

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)

– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)

– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)

– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

sustainability in theatre

Fringe, news, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Click to Play
The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, a Los Angeles-based non-profit arts infrastructure organisation, presents an overview of current trends and practices in sustainability for theatre from around the world. We will be looking at UK initiatives from Julie’s Bicycle, the Arcola Theatre and White Light LTD, as well as those of the Broadway Green Alliance, York University in Toronto, Mo’olelo Performing Arts in San Diego and other theaters, arts organisations and artists from around the globe. Join us to learn about the growing momentum towards ecologically-minded arts making! www.sustainablepractice.org/fringe

Sustainability in Theatre | Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2010

Fringe, news, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, a Los Angeles-based non-profit arts infrastructure organisation, presents an overview of current trends and practices in sustainability for theatre from around the world. We will be looking at UK initiatives from Julie’s Bicycle, the Arcola Theatre and White Light LTD, as well as those of the Broadway Green Alliance, York University in Toronto, Mo’olelo Performing Arts in San Diego and other theaters, arts organisations and artists from around the globe. Join us to learn about the growing momentum towards ecologically-minded arts making! www.sustainablepractice.org/fringe

via Sustainability in Theatre | Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2010.

The thing we shouldn’t be asking artists to do

news, RSA Arts & Ecology, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Heart of Darkness by Cornelia Parker, 2004 from Earth: art of a changing world, London 2009

This is Climate Action on Cultural Hertitage week – it’s an initiative championed by Bridget McKenzie as a response to the growing number of individuals and organisations calling for a more clearly defined sense of purpose from the arts and heritage sector.  People like Al Tickell of Julie’s Bicycle ask: “Why do we expect moral leadership to come from corporations and science? Surely the meaningful nature of the arts in society puts it in a position to take a lead on climate action?”

There are two aspects to this. Firstly it’s about how we behave ourselves. Art fairs, say, have become an example of the muscularity of the art industry. As curators/critics Maja and Reuben Fowkes have asked,  is this world of global art jamborees a sustainable one? Gustav Metzger’s Reduce Art Flights was one of the artist’s passionate “appeals”, this time to the art world to reconsider how they had been seduced into transporting themselves and their works around the globe. Furtherfield.org’s We Won’t Fly For Art was equally explicit, asking artists to commit to opting out of the high profile career track that conflates your ability to command air tickets with success.

Industries can change the way they behave. Tickell’s work with the music business has already shown how a cultural industry can transform itself in terms of process.

But there’s also the role of art as a spoke in the wheel of culture. Science itself changes nothing. To become a transitional society requires more than policy. The real change must be cultural. So should climate be the subject matter of art?

Pause for thought: Do we want rock stars enjoining us to change our ways? Please God, no. See? If it doesn’t work for rock music, why should it work for other art forms?

In an article being published next week on the RSA Arts & Ecology website, Madeleine Bunting will be arguing strongly against the urge to push artists into an instrumental role in climate:

“The visual arts offer a myriad of powerful ways to think and feel more deeply about our age and our humanity, but it is almost impossible to trace the causal links of how that may feed through to political engagement or behaviour change,” she cautions.

It is time to accept that artists don’t simply  ”do” climate. Even the most obviously campaigning art is of little value if it is simply reducible to being about climate. They may be inspired to create by the facts of science and economics, as Metzger and Ruth Catlow and Marc Garrett of Furtherfield were in those examples above, but if you asked them to make art about climate they’d almost certainly run a mile.

What was interesting about the RA exhibition Earth: art of a changing world was the way that made that explicit. Artists like Cornelia Parker and Keith Tyson were clear in saying their pieces that they weren’t necessarily conceived with climate in mind at all, (though both are passionate about the subject). The decision to include Parker’s Heart of Darkness as an a piece of work to make us ponder the destruction of our planet was a curatorial one.

There’s a kind of separation between church and state needed here; institutions shouldn’t just be looking to their carbon footprints, they should be looking to see how they can contextualise this cultural shift with what they show their audiences – whatever the artform. It is up to the curators, directors and art directors to take on this role. In this coming era, we urgently need events, exhibitions and festivals that make us feel more deeply about the change taking place around us – and we need them to find new audiences for those explorations too.

But what we shouldn’t be doing is asking artists to make art about climate.

Read Bridget McKenzie’s Framework for climate action in cultural and heritage organisations

Follow Climate Action on Cultural Hertitage #cach on twitter

Go to RSA Arts & Ecology

Who’s in the house? Well, on the house, really. Bat House update

news, RSA Arts & Ecology, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bat on bat house 09.09.SN150293

Just had an excited email from the WWT London Wetlands Centre. A bat came and checked out the Bat House. [Background: the Berkeley Bat House is a project envisaged by artist Jeremy Deller and put into action by a partnership of organisations that included the RSA Arts & Ecology Centre].

Yes, that’s it… that dark splodge at the top left. Didn’t actually go inside, but think of it as that first drive-by before it calls the estate agents. It appears to have wee-ed down the wall, which has to be a good sign, don’t you think?

Go to RSA Arts & Ecology