3. Build buy-in and sense of ownership of the project with colleagues.

Once an audit has been conducted, it is possible to translate data into action and develop environmental policy around daily operations, stage production, and programming, embed sustainability in decision-making processes, and implement an action plan to guide short-, mid-, and long-term changes. These changes should be matched with funds and time to train so staff can prepare to increase environmental awareness (and often carbon awareness), learn new skills, and adjust existing practices (see notes on professional development above). Taxopolou identifies six main areas of potential transformation, roughly summarized and adjusted to the educational context:

RE-LOCALIZATION: Take all possible measures to decrease the need for travel and transportation of people, goods, and services; deepen commitment to local environments, community, and economies; prioritize hiring guests artists and faculty with local connections; work to protect the local environment, wildlife, and biodiversity;

SLOWING-DOWN: reconsidering the intense mobility of academic and artistic exchange in favour of longer residencies that open up the possibility for deeper and more meaningful collaborations (these timelines also align with key insights from feminist and disability justice theatre-making frameworks);

SCALING-DOWN: resisting the quest for prestige and continuous growth, sometimes resulting in the desire for larger audiences;

ECO-DESIGN: taking into account the full impacts of artistic creation, from its conception, to its production, distribution and eventually the end of its life-cycle; environmental consideration of new technology; include a clause on “Environmental Sustainability” in job descriptions, recruitment and induction documents;

MOBILITY: considering the challenges of mobility by taking into account students and audiences;^[1]

RENUNCIATION of unsustainable practices in the study and practice of theatre; incorporation of eco-critical frameworks in the introduction to theatre and performance-making.^[2]

In many contexts, an inadequate understanding of environmental issues and necessary skills at the faculty and staff level may impede the implementation of sustainability projects. Strong leadership and staff commitment is necessary for the behavioral changes and values shifts required in these processes. This is especially the case as Taxopoulou notes, “[t]heater-makers must undergo a process of ‘un-learning’ before they can become familiar with new, more sustainable approaches to their work.”^[3] She recommends running a staff environmental attitudes survey in the early phases of a sustainability journey to build an understanding of people’s perceptions about climate issues, their baseline environmental literacy, and organizational attitudes to gain insight into how to more effectively approach and engage people. The questionnaire, which should be addressed to all staff, faculty, and creative teams, can be designed so that respondents also have the opportunity to share their own ideas about the department’s sustainability project, and pinpoint potential challenges and barriers. Doing so helps to underline the participatory and collective spirit of the project and will also open up opportunities to acknowledge existing practices and commitments that may be in place without others’ knowledge.^[4]

A relational approach where project leads meet with staff and faculty one-on-one- or in small groups may be helpful for getting reluctant parties on board, see how their areas of knowledge and expertise could add value to the project, and motivate them to take steps towards environmental stewardship in their praxis. Fostering environmental stewardship in our training programs may, then, be an opportunity to continue to chip away at the theory/practice divide still so palpable in so many of our departments. Brunner and Ransen describe approaching each member of a production team individually, during pre-production, to discuss sustainability and alleviate uncertainty.^[5] Developing shared vocabulary and understanding also constitutes an important step to encourage active involvement in the project and so that colleagues do not feel like subject to strict eco-rules is a blow to creative freedom alongside existing production constraints.^[6] Fostering environmental stewardship in our training programs may, then, be an opportunity to continue to chip away at the theory/practice divide still so palpable in so many of our departments. All parties should be invited to meet, share ideas, and contribute to the development and implementation of the action plan. Students should also be included in these conversations to deliberate on what is worth “sustaining,” for whose benefit, and at whose expense?^[7]