International Touring and Environmental Responsibility

The Danish Arts Foundation and Arts Council England are pleased to announce the recipients of funding for the pilot initiative, International Touring and Environmental Responsibility. The initiative is in partnership with Julie’s Bicycle, the Development Platform for Performing Arts, and the Embassy of Denmark in the United Kingdom. 

A total of seven organisations from Denmark and England will collaborate to deliver three projects ranging in focus. The projects intend to deliver the initiative’s aims, to foster new approaches to environmentally responsible international touring and collaboration. 

The selected projects include:

• Helsingør Teater (Elsinore) and In Between Time (Bristol) collaborating with three artist-led companies to develop a workshop programme that places artists at the centre of organisational change
• CPH Stage (Copenhagen) and LIFT (London) undertaking a research project exploring sustainable methods of festival budgeting and resourcing
• Wildtopia (Copenhagen), Mind the Gap (Bradford) and Fast Familiar (Reading) delivering an action learning programme focused on inclusive and environmentally responsible practices in the delivery of hybrid (live and digital) activity

In the first phase the cohort participated in an online programme led by the Arts Council’s environmental partners, Julie’s Bicycle, and included facilitation and support from the Development Platform. The programme gave participants insights into environmentally responsible practices, enabled the development of new partnerships, and encouraged the cohort to conceive project ideas.

In this second phase the participants will test these new approaches with guidance and mentoring from Julie’s Bicycle. Given the participants’ breadth of artistic interests, their geography and connections to a diverse array of networks, the wider learning from these projects hopes to achieve a greater relevance and value to the performing arts sector, both locally and internationally.

Gitta Malling, Chair of the board of the Danish Arts Foundation and Chair of the Committee for Performing Arts Project Funding, said:

“Together with Arts Council England, we at the Danish Arts Foundation are really looking forward to following the projects of those performing arts professionals and organizations who have been selected to develop new sustainable methods for international touring, collaboration and co-production. The artistic level is high, and we hope that these projects will come to inspire a wide range of arts and culture professionals and that they will form the basis for continued international cooperation on innovative approaches to environmental responsibility.” 

Simon Mellor, Deputy Chief Executive, Arts and Museums at Arts Council England, said:

“We are delighted to enter the next phase of this initiative with our partners at the Danish Arts Foundation and the Embassy of Denmark. We received very strong investment proposals and we are excited to see how those we are supporting will develop creative, forward-thinking approaches to working internationally. We remain committed to building a future in which the cultural sector can work internationally in a way that is aligned to the imperative of enhanced environmental responsibility.”

Alison Tickell, Founder and CEO, Julie’s Bicycle, said:

“International touring and climate change are uneasy partners; what is a responsible tour in the context of the climate crisis? Exploring the issues unflinchingly, and experimenting with different touring models – including no tours – has been the creative challenge for this group of international collaborators from Denmark and England. Thanks and appreciation to everyone for their ideas and ambition and congratulations to the projects that will be test-run over the next months.”

Header image: Fast Familiar – The Acquisition panel