Five months ago, I was up high in the mountains of Banff for a weekend, along with thirty theatre colleagues, leaders of institutions from across Canada. It was a historic Summit, the first event of the National Arts Centre’s (NAC) two-year research initiative, Climate Change: Reimagining the Footprint of Canadian Theatre, organized and conceived by NAC associate artistic director Sarah Garton Stanley, with co-curator Chantal Bilodeau.
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I bookmarked this article. It reads like a piece of art. There is now a constant conversation between the arts and the impact they have on the environment, and the state of the environment has reached a point where that conversation cannot be ignored by anyone in the arts community. The paradoxes of the conference, the plane travel, the sponsorship by oil corporations, point out the almost glaringly obvious: modern life has made it so incredibly difficult to live a life that has a positive impact on the planet without enormous effort. One quote from this artfully crafted article stood out to me: “I remind myself that I can say yes to a different way of doing things, that perhaps the most radical and creative thing I could do is slow down, stop the rush to produce.” This spoke to me on the environmental level, that oftentimes the best thing for us- and for the earth- is to slow down, to be deliberate with our choices and intentions.
What an interesting way to approach the feelings associated with climate change; “I am holding this climate in my body”. The imagery that she uses to describe her physical response to such a consuming problem is truly fascinating. This summit sounds like a truly inspirational and daunting meeting of the minds. As we approach this issue with far too little far too late, it is inspiring to see some adults, some people in charge of these heavy hitting organizations, throwing themselves into finding a true understanding of the problems that we have created and building practical solutions and practices into the base structures of their organizations. I hope that more groups catch on to these changes. One of my goals, as I near entering the professional world, is finding and implementing sustainable practices into the workplaces that I enter, and I hope to be a witness to gatherings and conversations of this sort moving forward.
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