Orchestrating Change

Measurement and evaluation holds the key to assessing the fit between current and future initiatives and your organizational capabilities and resources. It also reveals to you, the actual impact of your efforts on your audience, your organization, your stakeholders and ultimately the environment. In this episode we will take a deep dive into the challenges of finding the right measurement methods, creating routines for evaluation and we will learn how measuring sustainability might help funders and stakeholders in their efforts to support the green transition. We will learn how the orchestra in Iceland has found a worked through way of doing this. 

There are several challenges facing orchestras in relation to green transition and touring. Ultimately, the most efficient way of reducing emissions from touring is to stop touring all together - but as this is not seen as a viable approach, it is necessary to develop tools and skills for making sure to reduce impact as much as possible. In this episode we will learn more about what a green rider is, and why planning is key when reducing climate impact from touring. And we will take a look at different types of touring and why partnerships between Nordic symphony orchestras might be something to explore in the near future.

According to a variety of scientific studies, audience transportation has one of the largest footprints when looking at all the carbon emissions in relation to all cultural activities. Emissions from audience travels aren’t the direct responsibility of the orchestras, but with the right mindset, tools and initiatives, we are still able to make incentives or notch audiences to choose sustainable means of transportation when traveling to and from performances.  In this episode we will dive into the challenges of orchestrating change in the ways audiences travel to the concert halls and venues. We will get to hear about the many initiatives being implemented - and we will learn more about the green culture bus. A local initiative in the southern part of Zealand, Denmark, bringing audiences closer to local cultural experiences. And finally we will shed light on what might prevent orchestras from accelerating the green transition.

One of the main challenges when it comes to procurement is the lack of transparency and insight. Most Nordic symphonic orchestras are already running fast to make ends meet, and adding the task of being able to see through the exact environmental impact or supply chain behind a purchase seems unmanageable to many. In short, answering the question of what is sustainable is not so easy, when you don't have the underlying information and data. At the same time, as financial resources are often also limited, it can be hard for orchestras to prioritize the environmentally friendly but also more expensive solution over the one that meets or falls below the budget. Despite this, orchestras still have many means of influencing and putting pressure on their partners  to make the change and as the pressure increases from all sides, the more likely change will happen. Welcome to the episode on procurement and acquisition.

One of the overall motivational drivers for Nordic symphony orchestras is probably the meeting with the audience. Both artistically and operationally, orchestras engage with a lot of audiences each year, and this platform could be used to articulate, demonstrate, inspire, and influence. However, it can be difficult to strike the right balance. There might be a limit to how much you can take upon yourself to educate people rather than just entertain them, or is there? In this episode, we will focus on communication and audience engagement, we will hear more about an opera for worms, what the green future looks like for Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and the potential of engaging new audiences by focusing on sustainability in commissioned works.

Pursuing the path to becoming a greener organization requires both the right strategy and the right actions. At the center of this are leadership and management. Leadership is required to lay out the green path to follow and to ensure that the organization as a whole is motivated to come along for the journey, even when the cost is convenience or old habits. In this episode, we will learn how Nordic symphony orchestras are placing leadership and management, at the heart of their green transition. We will also learn what the five green steps in Iceland are and why a friendship between an orchestra leader and a clarinetist can spark green initiatives in a small Danish chamber orchestra.