In an international context of protracted recession, the concept of sustainability tends to be perceived as a parameter of the global economy only. Sustainability, however, is not simply an alternative path to economic growth; it is another way of managing natural and financial resources so as to ensure environmental protection and social cohesion. It is a way to think about the collective present without forgetting our collective future.
Can culture contribute to the restoration of the true, human-centred dimension of sustainability? Can there be alternative, sustainable and creative future prospects? Innovative interventions implemented in recent years in the field of culture in Europe, the US and Canada by public authorities, cultural organisations and institutions, and cultural management experts attempt to give answers to these questions.
The concept of sustainability offers precisely this new framework for redesigning cultural policies and revisiting cultural management methods through a comprehensive approach that encompasses care for the environment, develops practices for sound management of public resources and brings the concept of social responsibility to the forefront.
Representatives of political authorities from Greece and abroad, cultural policy-makers and experts from various fields will map out and shed light from different perspectives on this emerging international regulatory framework, i.e. how the principle of sustainability is endorsed in national and supranational cultural policies and how it is reflected in instruments that are directly or indirectly linked with the field of culture, such as the relevant European policies, EU directives, legislation, economy, development.
The conference will also present model sustainable management programmes, particularly in the field of the performing arts and drawing especially from the experience of big public European theatrical organisations. Cultural management experts, directors of national theatre institutions, pioneering organisations and networks offer inspiration and know-how and propose innovative interventions across the whole range of culture. From changes in attitudes and daily practices to large-scale interventions, through placing the public and local communities at the heart of the public debate, the conference aims at presenting a set of rules and tools that can reduce the operating expenses of an organisation while increasing its social and environmental added value.
For registration and any further information:
info@gr.boell.org