We often think of festivals as ephemeral—a moment, distinct and different from ordinary life—events that happen then vanish. Of course, those in the festival world know this to be a half-truth; community engagement continues, core staff remain in place, perhaps venues continue to operate. There is the memory of the experience, the awards, and accolades (or the bad reviews), people have met, connections have been made, minds opened, stories shared. Festivals may be ephemeral, but their impact is lasting.

This toolkit examines the lasting ecological impact of festivals and investigates what festival managers can do to minimize climate change and damage to the environment.

The toolkit is based on information gathered from a series of Ateliers and activities promoted by The Festival Academy, existing resources and knowledge produced by our alumni, mentors, experts & festival practitioners network. This toolkit is a work in progress, which is why it is intended that it will be developed and updated over time to build on experience and insights generated through future activities.

The aim of this toolkit is to provide festival experts and sector practitioners access to information on current trends of Climate Change and Environmental sustainability, as well as relevant contextual information on the topic. This toolkit should enable readers to get insights and inspiration for addressing challenges of Climate Change and Environmental sustainability.

The toolkit provides the reader with a set of issues and relevant examples that can guide future Festivals. The first part compiles relevant information about Climate Change and Environmental sustainability and their respective links and sources for additional information. The second part gathers best practices and examples related to the topic of this toolkit which can serve as inspirational guides for festival-makers worldwide.

“A company that is not environmentally sustainable has no future.”¹ 

Richard Ashton, Opera North

The climate crisis is a cultural crisis and culture must be pre-eminent in the response. Culture must work with other disciplines to inform, educate, and innovate for a better world. In 2020, we were forced to reinvent our normal lives, perhaps this can be an opportunity to look back on the day and take the lessons and learnings from it to imagine a new world.

The climate crisis is not a simple problem. It connects personal and institutional behaviors, individual and collective actions, the global system, and the local network, with large and small actions all contributing to the problem. For cultural practitioners, it presents different challenges and obstructions; how do we share art sustainably? What impact will climate change have on festival stakeholders––audiences, artists, and funders?

¹Alison Tickell, ‘The Role of Creative Industries in Driving Change’, 22 May 2020, https://greenworld.org.uk/article/role-creative-industries-driving-change 

Humans have always come to the fireside. We have always needed gathering places, opportunities to come together to share and celebrate. Rituals, celebration, festivals, art, and culture are part of our humanity.

Festivals attract large numbers of visitors across the globe, serving as a motivation for travel and tourism. Travel to attend religious festivals or events is a common trend as different types of religious celebrations attract pilgrims annually.

Mirroring the proliferation of disposables in society, festivals consume vast amounts of single-use plastics and other materials, such as serve ware for drinks and food. Images in the press in recent years have highlighted the shocking sea of litter often left by audiences at events, a metaphor for a global addiction to convenience and a disconnection from the environmental impacts of this throw-away culture.

However, Festivals are also unique spaces for innovation and opportunity, a chance to listen and learn from others and share and brainstorm ideas. Festivals and creative gatherings have always had the power to make a positive change in society in a way that is unavailable to many other sectors. Further still, the ephemeral nature of festivals means organizers can design and build their vision for the world, controlling what comes onsite and into their ecosystem, choosing to take action to limit plastic waste and, in doing so, organizers are able to positively influence the attitudes and behaviours of participants.

For instance, the Glastonbury Festival stepped forward in 2014 to take a lead on reducing single-use plastic waste at events by: Re-piping the entire site and providing more tap points, providing a reusable, 100% stainless steel water bottle, collaborating with WaterAid and Raw Foundation to provide ‘free' water ‘Refill’ Kiosks, screening videos about the problems of plastic on the Pyramid and Other stage.²  

²BBC online, ‘Glastonbury 2019: Festival Clean-up under Way’, 1 July 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-48823850 

This toolkit is for all events and festival producers and managers. We hope to inspire new ways of thinking, help organizers understand their work’s impact on the environment and learn about incentives for mitigating climate change.

Take the time to understand climate change, environmental sustainability, and their linkages to culture. Then look at the practical ways your festival can start and continue to contribute towards the fight against climate change.

This is a living toolkit, and we hope it continues to expand and improve as we learn more about climate change and how festivals across the globe are adapting to become more environmentally sustainable. We hope to add case studies and further resources and welcome edits and contributions from our users.