Summary

The unfolding climate emergency^[1] requires theatre and performance practitioners, researchers and educators to adopt and refine practices of environmental stewardship in all aspects of our work. Drawing on three years of resource review and dialogue, this guidebook summarizes how ecological thought and sustainable practices are being implemented in professional practice and arts funding in Canada, and suggests concrete ways to adjust pedagogy and curriculum in theatre and performance training programs in Canada to match. Moreover, students need to be prepared to enter a field in which metrics of sustainability are increasingly used to weigh the social and aesthetic value of an event against its environmental impact. Drawing on three years of resource review and dialogue, this guidebook summarizes how ecological thought and sustainable practices are being implemented in professional practice and arts funding in Canada, and suggests concrete ways to adjust pedagogy and curriculum in theatre and performance training programs in Canada to match. Key strategies include embedding ecological thought in department mission statements and operations, ecologizing curriculum, committing to sustainable production practices, developing creative collaborations with campus and community partners to support knowledge exchange and resource-sharing, and building momentum for larger cultural shifts within the institution and beyond. We hope that sharing good practices will help to build capacity amongst theatre and performance educators, offer direction to move forward with pedagogical and curricular shifts, and troubleshoot through some of the implementation barriers that hinder transformation.

The guidebook was compiled by Hope McIntyre (University of Winnipeg), Kimberly Skye Richards (University of British Columbia), Selena Couture (University of Alberta) and Kelly Richmond (Cornell University) with contributions from Dennis Gupa (University of Winnipeg) and Zhuohao Li (University of Alberta) and insight from working group members Katrina Dunn (University of Manitoba), Stefano Muneroni (University of Alberta) and Taylor Graham (University of Guelph).