Sustainability

There are different definitions for sustainability. CBS defines it as follows: "Sustainable development is development that meets the life needs of the present generation without compromising those of future generations. This includes economic, social and environmental needs. Examples include a clean environment, biodiversity in nature, a highly educated and healthy population, well-functioning social networks and social trust." Sustainability is intertwined with all aspects of everyday life. With that, including the arts, although they are not mentioned in this definition.

Sustainability is intertwined with all aspects of everyday life. With it, so is the arts

In the cultural and creative sector, sustainability is rising ever so slightly up the political and managerial agendas. Although a recent survey (NRC, Feb. 1, 2023) revealed that compared to other sectors, the Dutch art sector is very slow to become sustainable and poorly informed about climate adaptation options. Just under two years earlier, the Boekman Foundation published a summer issue, Culture and sustainability, wherein the authors showed that culture is ideally suited to make people more aware of sustainability.

There is still too little attention to sustainability and culture from the government

And recently, the Council for Culture presented his recommendation about the possibilities and necessities of sustainability in the sector. In it we read that sustainability and culture can reinforce each other and that a strong impulse is needed to accelerate sustainability, but that only a relatively small group of frontrunners is actually taking action. Moreover, there is still too little attention to sustainability and culture from the government.

In the arts themselves, among the makers, attention has been paid to sustainability for some time. We notice this, among other things, in the subjects of group exhibitions that pass by and in the graduation works that come to our attention every year, in which sustainability increasingly plays an important role, if only because of the care taken in the choice of materials. Artists we spoke to for our podcast series What's that doing here?, such as The Butterfly House and the collective Embassy of the North Sea, have long been concerned with issues of sustainability.

It's largely about creating awareness

Because that's what makers can do; they can choose their materials sustainably, they can make the importance of sustainability visible through their work, and they can go a step further and really make a difference. It all makes sense, every little bit helps. It's largely about creating awareness. A role that is right up many artists' alley. Or as the Council for Culture puts it, "the cultural sector itself can make a significant contribution to the goals, reaches a huge audience, can address sustainability artistically in terms of content and can play an important role in getting out of the impasse that now exists in many social transition issues." That sounds like a cry for help to artists and other creatives.