Culture for Future – sustainability strategies for cultural enterprises

Clearing the stage for a sustainable cultural sector: More and more social groups are committed to climate protection and sustainability. In the “Culture for Future” project, adelphi provided support for the Dresden Office for Culture and Monument Preservation in making the cultural sector in that city fit for the future with sustainable policy. adelphi helped five cultural institutions (theatre, museum, library, festival, orchestra) develop sustainability strategies. The project actively involved employees in the strategy and policy development process through co-creation workshops. This bottom-up approach not only increases participation, but also personal responsibility, the successful implementation of the strategy and, last but not least, the creative ideas of those involved in the arts, in order to focus on sustainability both in day-to-day work and in the core business. The integrated workshop concept is based on design thinking and user-centred methods that enable participants to develop and promote new ideas for sustainability in their organisations.

In addition, adelphi provided support for networking between cultural institutions with meetings and the transfer of knowledge with experts from various areas, from climate accounting to climate communication.

Numerous cultural institutions are now on the way to making sustainability a focus and developing sustainability strategies. To support this momentum, the Culture for Future team developed sector-specific handouts that explain their methods and show other cultural institutions the first steps towards a sustainability strategy.

The project was initiated by the Dresden Office for Culture and Monument Preservation and the Environmental Centre Dresden and was funded by the Council for Sustainable Development (RNE).