3rd Green Culture Conference

In a series of regional conferences in 2023, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) invited numerous stakeholders from culture, politics and administration, science and society to discuss how the ecological transformation of culture and media can be jointly organised. The conferences served in particular to jointly develop suggestions, findings and best practices for the establishment of the »Green Culture Contact Point«. 

The final conference entitled »More culture for the future? Theatre and orchestra in the spirit of sustainability« took place on 30.11. and 01.12.2023 with over 200 participants at the Leipzig Opera. Cooperation partners were the City of Leipzig and the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig. The two-day conference programme consisted of four plenary sessions, two workshop sessions, an artistic evening programme and three concluding excursions. 

The keynote lecture by Paddy Dillon and Lisa Burger, the authors of the »Theatre Green Book«, which is widely regarded as a fundamental work for cultural professionals on the subject of ecological transformation, was a special prelude. 

The panel discussion with Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth and other prominent representatives from politics and culture was entitled »Daring more culture: paths to a new culture of sustainability«. Framework conditions, strategies and areas of tension were discussed and the pioneering role of culture was emphasised.

In a workshop discussion, the "Green Culture Contact Point" was presented as part of the BKM strategy and questions submitted in advance by the conference guests were answered. In the final discussion on 1 December, representatives of all three Green Culture conferences jointly took stock of the content and successes of the conference series. 

The centrepiece of the conference consisted of 8 thematic workshops in which the participants discussed practical and future-oriented issues, identified challenges and developed solutions.

The following topics were discussed in the workshops:

• Ecological standards in the (performing) arts
• Sustainable production
• Circular economy
• Compensation
• Climate impact adaptation and resilience
• Together for climate protection: empowerment and cooperation
• Thinking regionally: culture and sustainability in rural areas
• Thinking outside the box: Europe in view

The evening programme on 30 November offered an entertaining and inspiring cross-section of artistic contributions on the topic of sustainability as well as short presentations of Leipzig's sustainability initiatives.

Three excursions on the topics of "Climate-neutral production" (Leipzig Opera), "Energy-efficient refurbishment" (Gewandhaus zu Leipzig) and "Colouring book future: art action in public space" (Global Brainstorming Project) rounded off the conference programme.

The final report of the conference can be viewed and downloaded here as a PDF.