Funding at the Intersection of Art and Environment

Author: Alison Tickell and Sarah Gardner

Publication Year:

Media Type: Report

Summary:

This report presents research across a wide range of national arts councils and ministries of culture, with the goal of broadening the understanding of environmental sustainability in connection to the arts, outlining current and future work, and encouraging collaboration and partnership to develop policies and programs related to culture and environmental sustainability.

Abstract:

In 2013 Julie’s Bicycle1 and the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA)2 established a partnership aimed at informing international arts leaders about global developments in policies and programmes related to culture and environmental sustainability, and how these impact on national arts and cultural organisations. We thank the Canada Council for the Arts and Arts Council Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon for their financial assistance towards this project.

Our aims were to:

broaden the understanding of environmental sustainability across the international arts community;
indicate what levels of aspiration and intention already exist among national arts funding agencies and culture ministries;
identify the potential for further work, collaboration and partnerships.

This report presents the learning from six months of research across a wide range of national arts councils and ministries of culture. The findings will be used to consolidate partnerships, resource and support needs, position the issue of environmental sustainability with key strategic bodies, and champion environmental best practice. The report provides a snapshot of national policymakers’ level of engagement with environmental sustainability with an emphasis on policies, not on artistic content or wider arts practice. It has yielded some fascinating insights, enough to develop an opening hypothesis but not, at this stage, definitive conclusions.

The findings are the result of surveys and interviews carried out by Julie’s Bicycle and IFACCA between November 2013 and May 2014 and supplemented with desk-based research. An interim report was presented to IFACCA’s 4th CEO Leadership Seminar in Santiago, Chile, in January 2014. The responses present a diverse range of interpretation, understanding and interest on the topic and indicate a degree of readiness to integrate environmental sustainability into strategic thinking. This is particularly pertinent in the context of the current advocacy efforts to include culture in the post-2015 development agenda.

The report contains early examples of good practice; begins to identify agencies already embedding environmental sustainability in their country or region; and potential partners and collaborations. This is just a beginning and we acknowledge that there will be many ideas, resource sets and initiatives that are not included here. We hope this will stimulate discussion, enthusiasm and an appetite for more. [Introduction]

Arts & Intersections: Environment