Commitment to sustainable practices
The Department of Theatre acknowledges the severity and urgency of the climate crisis. As performance-makers, our work is conceptually, materially, and socially tied to ecologies, while marked by legacies of colonialism. We recognize that artistic creation can result in negative ecological impact. At present, there is an undeniable, increasing need for creative solutions to confront climate change. We believe artists have an important role to play in inspiring and implementing innovation.
As educators, we firmly believe it is our shared responsibility to prepare tomorrow’s performance practitioners for the world they will be creating in. We acknowledge that sustainable solutions for live performance are inextricably linked with the future of our students as it intersects with the future of our world at large.
For decades, reform has fixated on retroactively manipulating established practices to diminish ecological impact. We assert that this approach is not a holistic one, and commit to ongoing efforts to improve this. We strive to develop leaders in this emerging field of sustainable performance, and thus aim to achieve a culture of mindfulness in our Department as we work towards the ideals of zero waste and carbon net neutrality. We also recognize that sustainability is multifaceted. The domains of economy, ecology, politics, and culture must each be treated as equal parts of the issue. We must redefine ecology and recognize that the human and natural worlds are one entity, following the precedent set by many Indigenous and ancient cultures, while keeping pace with contemporary dialogues.
We are committed to a fundamental shift from the consideration of sustainable practices as augmentation of colonial legacies of performance-making, to the integration of an ethos of sustainability into the earliest phases of performance development. We see this as an essential component of our anti-oppression ethos. The performing arts have a long history of enacting sociopolitical change. We firmly believe in our tenacity and adaptability to improve all our processes of theatrical production, from conception to curtain call.
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