AGF (A Greener Festival) and Edinburgh Napier Uni have collaborated with the British Council, Circle Culture project which is a fund for the development of sustainable festivals, whose main objectives are to promote cultural exchange between Mexico and the United Kingdom and strengthen the development of festivals through a sustainable culture.
As part of these activities, the ‘Cultura Circular Toolkit’ was created to support training to 30 Mexican festivals for the British Council and new guidance produced especially for the Mexican festival and event industry. The Toolkit has been specially designed to help festivals develop a sustainable future, utilising AGF’s unique knowledge base and green event standards and supported by academic theory. The toolkit also recognises that festivals can be a driving force for change in the fight for a united sustainable future globally.
The toolkit will support training to 30 Mexican festivals for the British Council.is designed to accompany the professionals who work in the production and promotion of cultural festivals (directors, producers, promoters, operation teams, communication, logistics, volunteers and technicians, among others) who seek to include and improve their strategies in favor of the environment, reducing the negative impact when carrying out said events.
Download the Circular Toolkit here: https://www.britishcouncil.org.mx/CulturaCircular-Toolkit
To mark the launch of the project’s online toolkit, a special panel will be held on 3rd 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 British Council Mexico.
Says AGF Director Teresa Moore:
“Today’s festival needs to be viewed as an ecosystem of sustainable practices where every aspect of the event supports its sustainability goals.”
“The Cultura Circular training and toolkit development has been an exciting project to work on. Facilitated by the British Council our collaboration with Edinburgh Napier University provided a fantastic opportunity to bring together latest practice and thinking about the issues and challenges involved in creating sustainable events. 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.”
Jane Ali-Knight, Edinburgh Napier University says:
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 tooklkit was an excellent practical extension of the training and will be a great resource to festivals from Mexico and beyond!
Lorena Martínez Mier, British Council says:
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.
