The IETM Environmental Working Group aims to work towards a more sustainable and green future of the performing arts and making the arts sector a leading force in environmental processes.

The newly established Environmental Working Group is running a series of webinars in the run up to IETM Plenary in Aarhus, Denmark, the first of which took place on Tuesday 7 February 18:00 – 19:00 CET. It centred around the methods and rationale of carbon calculation in the creative and cultural field. 

The session included two presentations. Christian Gade Bjerrum from Bæredygtig Scenekunst NU (Sustainable Performing Arts NOW) took us through the open-source carbon calculation tool and platform on their website. This was followed by Alexander Roberts from Rosendal Teater and accompanied by Julie Forchhammer from Klimakultur, who spoke more broadly to the context, function and challenges of carbon calculators through their experience of working together on a Creative Climate Justice pilot for the Norwegian Performing Arts Field. There was a brief time at the end for any questions.

The session was open to both IETM members and non-members but registration was mandatory.

About the presenters

Christian Gade Bjerrum is the co-founder and creative director of Bæredygtig Scenekunst NU (Sustainable Performing Arts NOW), who are a Copenhagen-based non-profit organisation that works for environmental, climate and systemic change in the performing arts industry in Denmark.

Bæredygtig Scenekunst NU guides and helps Danish theatres and theatre companies to transition into sustainable production and communication as well as doing a lot of political lobbying to push the green agenda in the political system.

Alexander Roberts is the Artistic Director of Rosendal Teater, a coproduction house in Trondheim, Norway with three stages and a cafe. It´s a house bursting with activity. They hosted 233 public events last year and gave just under 250 days of stage time to artists for research, development and production. At the heart of the organisation`s near forty-year history is a belief in big, bold artistic experiments – with a big emphasis on sustainable, inclusive and accessible approaches to the environment, communities, work conditions and economy.

Julie Forchhammer is a partner at Klimakultur, a non-profit cooperative enterprise based in Vang in Valdres, Norway. The purpose of the organisation is twofold:

(1) To contribute to the Norwegian cultural sector following the Paris Agreement and at least halving its own emissions by 2030. 

(2) To make the UN's Sustainability Goals concrete in measures that the entire field can implement, from artists to cultural bureaucrats.

About the moderator

Chloe Charlton is the Administrator of Cryptic, an international arts producing house based in Glasgow, Scotland. Cryptic present today’s most imaginative, pioneering artists whilst also nurturing the creative talent of tomorrow. We create unique and memorable experiences that engage and inspire audiences, ‘ravishing the senses’ with multi-media performances that fuse music, sonic and visual art with digital arts. This is achieved through: Cryptic Nights (discovering and supporting emerging talent), Cryptic Artists (promoting and developing talent) and Sonica Glasgow (our international audio-visual festival) and large scale one off site specific ‘special projects’.

Picture in the banner © Angela Benito