To accelerate the green transition in culture, Bunker will adopt the concept and practices of degrowth. The world’s resources are insufficient to sustain continuous increases in production and consumption. We must acknowledge this reality and apply it to the arts as well. By embracing degrowth within our organization, mobility, and outputs, we will explore ways to develop our own degrowth methodologies—drawing from existing models, including artistic ones—and refine them to a point where they become practical for others. This approach will not only reduce our carbon footprint but also minimize resource consumption across various areas.
Degrowth in organizations, performances, festivals, and mobility does not mean less art, culture, international collaboration, or audiences. Rather, it means less work, fewer new productions, fewer unnecessary projects, and lower CO2 emissions. We will approach degrowth with sensitivity to existing practices that are characteristic of peripheral areas rather than centers of power, which too often design the green transition without considering justice and global resource redistribution. Additionally, we will focus on developing performance indicators that align with degrowth principles—moving beyond purely financial and quantitative metrics to prioritize the well-being of all stakeholders.
The tested pilot models from the Less Is More project will be published in an online handbook, which we will distribute throughout the sector via partnerships and a final event—a presentation and celebration. We will also collaborate with other sectors and colleagues (both within this grant program and beyond) to form alliances for sharing and implementing best practices, as well as for pooling and redistributing resources—key elements of degrowth.