Museums and theaters lag behind when it comes to sustainability
Published: Tuesday, Feb 27th 2024, 11:30
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Museums, theaters and opera houses are lagging behind when it comes to sustainability. Although many are committed to sustainability, they do not implement these commitments consistently, as the world's first analysis of the sustainability of cultural institutions shows.
The analysis was carried out by researchers from the University of Lausanne (Unil). "Cultural organizations would be predestined to play a pioneering role in sustainability," said study co-author Julie Grieshaber on Tuesday at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. They attract hundreds of millions of visitors every year. In addition, the public has great confidence in these institutions.
"However, the majority of the institutions analyzed do not play such a pioneering role," the researcher clarified. Together with study director Martin Müller, Grieshaber surveyed over 200 of the world's most influential museums, theaters and opera houses. Among them were six Swiss institutions.
Swiss institutions in midfield
The results, which were published on Tuesday in the journal "Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy", show that 60 percent of the cultural institutions surveyed have only integrated sustainability issues into their strategy in the last five years or even later. "Although there are many sustainability declarations, implementation is lagging behind," said Grieshaber. On average, cultural organizations scored 37 out of a possible 100 points in the study's sustainability index. The Swiss institutions were in the middle of the field. The study does not reveal which institutions are involved, as it guaranteed the participating institutions anonymity.
"However, this does not mean that cultural institutions are lagging behind other sectors," emphasized Grieshaber. The study did not compare different sectors.
Protest actions
Nevertheless, the researchers called for organizations to step up their commitment to sustainability. They are now trying to put these results into practice.
At the same time, according to the study, public pressure on cultural institutions is increasing: The wave of protests in 2022 and 2023, in which activists attempted to damage artworks in major museums around the world, suggests that the days when the organizations concerned enjoyed the goodwill of the public and were able to avoid scrutiny from interest groups are over, the researchers wrote in the study.
©Keystone/SDA
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