- Posted on August 27th, 2024
International Touring (ITER) – Meet the Projects
Announcing the 2024 International Touring and Environmental Responsibility (ITER) Participating Projects
The International Touring and Environmental Responsibility (ITER) programme, now in its third year, supports artists and cultural organisations to build and develop sustainable approaches to touring. The partnership between Arts Council England, Arts and Culture Norway and the Danish Arts Foundation, aims to form new international collaborations and connections between the participating countries.
How do we support projects?
This announcement follows a three month long seminar programme where 24 organisations from the three countries participated in sessions led by Julie’s Bicycle which explored sustainable touring and inspired the formation of partnerships and projects.
Selected projects will receive guidance, peer support, mentorship and resources from Julie’s Bicycle to develop their sustainable touring models.
“The ITER programme has offered me a network of passionate individuals, collectively concerned about building a world where art can be responsibly and sustainably created. It has offered interesting case studies, tangible solutions and creative ideas for the future. Most of all it has offered hope and inspiration for a better world.”
– Rebecca Lee, Walk the Plank
About the selected projects
2024 marks the programme’s third year. Five new projects have been selected to participate, spanning various disciplines including contemporary music, dance, costume design, and sound art. These projects will explore and measure how these mediums can be adapted and experimented with to function in sustainable touring models.
Green Harmony
A project by Øyafestivalen and Offshoot Tours to promote sustainable touring between the UK and Norway. It aims to support flight-free tours, measure emissions with the Green Producers Tool, and provide educational outreach, culminating in a performance at Øyafestivalen in August 2025.
“Artist transport is one of the largest emission factors for Øyafestivalen, after we have worked hard on reducing emission from energy and food, artist transport takes up around 30% of our total emissions. We want to reduce this as much as we can, and this project in collaboration with Offshoot is a great R&D project for us. In addition to that, we love working with organisations and people like Offshoot, with great energy and creative forces like Jojo and Vanessa, who really want to change the industry into a more sustainable one, just like we do.”
– Mia Frogner from Øyafestivalen
Reimagining international touring
Nøtterøy Kulturhus and Danish Dance Theatre are partnering to plan and deliver a multi-venue tour of the contemporary dance performance “Køter” in Norway in September 2025. They will embark on their first sustainable international tour, aiming to gather data, evaluate the process, and share findings through a report. The project aims to pave the way for sustainable touring practices for other companies and venues.
“For over 20 years, Nøtterøy Kulturhus has showcased international performing arts. In the past 15 years, we’ve also organised tours across Norway. Our priority is to ensure as many people as possible in Norway can experience great performing arts. My participation in the ITER programme this spring has strengthened our commitment to sustainable touring. With Danish Dance Theatre, we presented “Reimagining International Touring” through ITER. Together, we aim to create a sustainable tour in Norway with DDT’s “KØTER,” demonstrating the feasibility of sustainable tours and addressing any additional costs.”
– Einar M. Schistad from Nøtterøy Kulturhus
Pathways to Process
This project explores deep mobility in costume design, focusing on the journey as the project. For three weeks, scenographer Olga Regitze Dyrløv Høegh will travel through the UK, engaging with minority communities about their traditional attire. This project aims to align costume design with an understanding of discrimination and cultural appropriation. By embracing Slow and Deep Mobility, the project will create new artwork through conversations and research conducted during slow travel, culminating in a presentation at the ‘Re/action’ environmental festival in July 2025 in Leicester.
Sustainable Composition and Creative Sound Practices
A collaborative project by Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//) and Nordic Music Days. The project aims to address environmental issues through a year-long course for Nordic composers and sound artists. This course includes hybrid workshops, a digital residency, and one-on-one tutoring, with artistic output presented at hcmf// 2025. The goal is to inspire participants to integrate sustainability into their creative processes, resulting in low-carbon emissions and promoting more sustainable ecosystems.
Collaborative Learning Initiative – Concept Touring
The ILT Festival in Denmark and caravan in England will work on a collaborative learning initiative to support artists interested in ‘Concept Touring’; a term coined by LIFT during their innovative project which explored how works of art or ideas can be toured, but without the artist travelling. This initiative aims to foster cross-cultural exchange, socially engaged practice, and artistic innovation with a low carbon footprint. By providing time, resources, and support, the project encourages artists to explore and develop sustainable touring methods. It includes group training and culminates in a significant event at the ILT Festival, where the international theatre community will discuss and inspire new touring concepts.
“The climate crisis is accelerating and at the same time it seems that internationalism and cultural meetings have never been more important. At ILT Festival we are very excited to do this project designed to foster cross-cultural exchange and collaboration between artists and organisations from the two countries and to give them the time, resources and inspiration to explore innovative approaches to international touring. We are thrilled to do this project with our passionate friends at caravan and cannot wait to see the creative possibilities that this collaboration will bring.”
– Malene Cathrine Pedersen from ILT Festival
Header image: Eliot Smith Dance (participating second year project) – ESD Archives
Find out more about this programme
Further resources
Julie’s Bicycle Webinar Art on the Move.
Julie’s Bicycle 2015 Green Touring Guide
Read more about Eliot Smith and Liv Vester Larsen’s winning project from ITER 2
Read Julie’s Bicycle’s piece for One Dance Magazine about sustainability and climate action in dance
