Joe GallopAGF (A Greener Festival) and Edinburgh Napier University have collaborated with the British Council, Circle Culture project to create a toolkit designed to provide sustainable training to Mexican festivals and promote cultural exchange between Mexico and the UK.
The Cultura Circular Toolkit will support sustainable training for 30 Mexican festivals for the British Council and is designed to accompany the professionals who work in the production and promotion of festivals, including directors, producers, promoters, operation teams, communication, logistics, volunteers and technicians.
To mark the launch of the toolkit, a conference panel will be held on 3 October, hosted by the British Council. The discussion will include AGF director Teresa Moore, Edinburgh Napier University’s Dr Jane Ali Knight, Jesus Herrera from Festival: Bahidora and Lorena Martenez Mia, arts manager at British Council Mexico.
Moore said, “Today’s festival needs to be viewed as an ecosystem of sustainable practices where every aspect of the event supports its sustainability goals.
“Through the training developed and delivered earlier this year we were able to learn about the Mexican context, the particular challenges they face in making their events greener as well as sharing our knowledge, practice and solutions from around the world. The online Sustainability Toolkit allows us to extend this work even further and reach many more festivals in Mexico.”
Ali-Knight said, “It was an amazing opportunity to work with the British Council and a whole range of creative, innovative and diverse festivals from across Mexico. The sharing of international best practice was a key aspect of the programme which benefitted AGF, ENU and the festivals. The toolkit was an excellent practical extension of the training and will be a great resource to festivals from Mexico and beyond.”
Martínez Mier said, “Festivals are a key sector for influencing audiences and bringing the conversation of sustainability and climate change to their spaces. This toolkit will allow us to expand the conversation to other festivals in Mexico and Latin America to foster a sustainable cultural sector.”