You can the read the Reader of the Conference here.
The term “sustainability” is primarily associated with the theories and the approaches of ecology. The international conference “Sustainability and Culture: Sustainable Cultural Management” was intended to shed light on yet another aspect of this very fertile perception of contemporary reality. The international conference “Sustainability and Culture: Sustainable Cultural Management” was intended to shed light on yet another aspect of this very fertile perception of contemporary reality. Culture does not exist on the sidelines of society, nor is it independent from it. It is an organic part of society and interacts with it. Every proposal for sustainable development in favour of the future of humanity should incorporate not just the social, economic and environmental dimensions, but also the cultural dimension, i.e. visions, utopias and human creativity.
The first day of the conference was intended to highlight the great potential and the richness in the field of culture, as well as the ways in which culture can contribute to a global and international sustainable perspective, not in theory, but in practice. Representatives of national cultural organisations, senior government officials, special advisors on cultural policy-making, with international experience, independent innovative organizations that are already applying the principles of sustainability in culture, and acclaimed academics mapped out the field of this alternative approach to culture. Through arguments, case studies and their prestigious experience from Europe, USA and Canada, they lent meaning and content to the motto of our conference: “another way of thinking, another way of acting”.
A special mention should be made of the particular conjuncture within which the decision to hold this conference was made: on the one hand, the protracted global recession and, on the other hand, the huge economic crisis in Greece, which could not but be reflected in the conference programme in one way or another. This is why we also wished to approach sustainability as a strategy for survival in hard times, especially in the field of culture, which had already been severely affected by the crisis as a result of deep cuts in the publicly funded sector.
You can find more photos of the conference here.
On the second day of the conference, representatives of cultural organisations and public cultural institutions, artists and art and culture theorists, cultural managers, and representatives of educational and cultural establishments presented innovative and successful models of sustainable cultural management, with impressive results which point to the path to follow in future.
It would not be an overstatement to suggest that, internationally, this was the first time that the link between culture and sustainability was discussed in a conference with such a broad thematic scope and such in depth analyses, through so many exciting practical examples by so many eminent people of culture, technocrats and artists; all of them, after all, visionaries in their own ways.
PROGRAMME
Friday April 19, 2013
9.30 REGISTRATION
10.00 WELCOME ADDRESS
Peter Panes, Director, Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki
Olga Drossou, Director, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Greece
Iphigenia Taxopoulou, General Secretary, Mitos21, Düsseldorf
Paraskevas Arvanitakis, General Secretary, Thessaloniki Concert Hall Organisation
10.30 SUSTAINABILITY & CULTURE
DEVELOPING CULTURAL POLICIES FOR THE FUTURE
Elli Chrysidou, Vice-Mayor for Culture, Thessaloniki
Christopher Miles, Deputy Cabinet Director of the Minister of Culture, France
Simon Brault, Vice-Chair, Canada Council for the Arts & CEO, National Theatre School of Canada, Quebec
Neil Darlison, London Director, Theatre, Arts Council of England & Alison Tickell, CEO Julie’s Bicycle, London
Ian Garrett, Co-Director, Center for Sustainable Practices in the Arts, Los Angeles, California
Panel Chair: Iphigenia Taxopoulou, General Secretary, Mitos21
12.00 COFFEE BREAK
12.30 PANEL DISCUSSION: Sustainability meets culture: is it official?
Discussion with audience
14.00 LUNCH BREAK
15.00 SUSTAINABILITY & CULTURE
CULTURE AS A KEY-FACTOR OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY IN EUROPEAN CULTURAL POLICIES AND FUNDING PROGRAMMES
Dr. Péter Inkei, Director, The Budapest Observatory (Regional Observatory on Financing Culture in East-Central Europe)
IS IT TOO LATE TO GO “GREEN”? LATEST TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN REDUCING ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF EXISTING PUBLIC BUILDINGS
Prof. Nicolas Moussiopoulos, School of Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki & Vice-President, International Hellenic University
ACTING SUSTAINABLY: OPTIONAL OR MANDATORY?
Prof. Konstantinos Gogos, School of Law, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
INVESTING IN CULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Prokopis Gavriil, Environmental Manager, Piraeus Bank, Athens
CULTURE, ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Lukas Crepaz, Managing Director, Kultur Ruhr GmbH, Essen
Panel Chair: Christina Tahiaou, Journalist
16.30 COFFEE BREAK
17.00 PANEL DISCUSSION: The sustainable path: just another trend or maybe the only way forward
Discussion with audience
18.30 END OF DAY 1
Saturday April 20, 2013
9.30 REGISTRATION
10.00 SUSTAINABLE CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
A DIFFERENT WAY OF THINKING, A DIFFERENT WAY OF ACTING
WE CAN’T LEAVE THE WORLD TO THE EXPERTS!
Adrienne Goehler, former Curator of the German “Capital Cultural Fund”, Berlin
GREEN CULTURAL PATHWAYS: A DIFFERENT WAY TO APPROACH ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND MUSEUMS
Dr. Maria Lagogianni-Georgakarakos, Director of Museums, Exhibitions and Educational Programmes - General Secretariat for Culture, Greek Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports, Athens
THEATRE-MAKING AND THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
Bartosz Szydłowski, General & Artistic Director, Laznia Nova Theatre, Nowa Huta, Crakow
ENVIRONMENTALISM, ECONOMIC STABILITY AND SOCIAL INTEGRITY FOR THE ARTS
Miranda Wright, Co-Director, Center for Sustainable Practices in the Arts, Los Angeles, California
Panel Chair: Filios Stangos, Journalist – Managing Director of the Municipal TV and Radio, Municipality of Thessaloniki
12.00 COFFEE BREAK
12.30 PANEL DISCUSSION: Investing in a different model: is it really worth the change?
Discussion with audience
14.00 LUNCH BREAK
15.00 SUSTAINABLE CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
PUBLIC CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS GOING “GREEN”: CASE-STUDIE
SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT AS CRISIS-MANAGEMENT: SURVIVING THROUGH THE HARD TIMES
Bence Mattyasovsky, General Manager, Katona Jόszef Theatre, Budapest
ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND CLIMATE PROTECTION: ENDORSING SUSTAINABILITY
Andreas Wanke, Head of Energy and Environmental Unit, Freie Universität Berlin
LOOKING AHEAD: THE NATIONAL THEATRE’S “NT FUTURE PROJECT”
Paul Jozefowski, Project Manager / NT Future, National Theatre, London
GOOD GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. A TOTAL APPROACH TO SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT
Didier Juillard, Director of Programmation and General Secretary, Théâtre National La Colline, Paris
“MEGARO GOES GREEN” – A NEW VENTURE
Efrosyni Gaki, Co-ordinator, “Megaro Goes Green” project, Thessaloniki Concert Hall
Panel Chair: Sophia Eftyhiadou, cultural journalist & dramaturg
17.00 COFFEE BREAK
17.30 PANEL DISCUSSION: Implementing the “green” model: challenges and rewards
Discussion with audience
18.30 END OF CONFERENCE
