Why environmental stewardship?

Why should theatre and performance training programs be concerned with environmental stewardship? Two rationales.

In the current moment of climate crisis, many educators and artists consider environmental protection to be a critical ethical, aesthetic and philosophical concern. For others, climate justice offers necessary anti-colonial and intersectional interventions into ongoing social justice movements. In either case, standards of professional arts practice and grant-based arts funding expectations are rapidly transforming to take the ecological intention and environmental footprint of theatrical performance into account. Herein we make the case for why environmental stewardship can no longer be a specialized subject within theatre and performance training programs, but must be integrated into the core of curricular design. We then identify several examples of how ecological practices are shaping the standards for professional performance practice, so that educators and administrators can assess the environments their students will enter into upon graduation.