Climate change poses an existential threat to humanity and theatremakers need to be part of addressing it. Here, you’ll find content about artistic work that engages with the climate crisis, as well as learnings about how to make theatre practices more eco-friendly. Chantal Bilodeau’s long-running Theatre in the Age of Climate Change series is a must-read, and don’t miss Groundwater Arts’s video series on the Green New Theater.
The Latest
Essay
Passing the Baton
by Chantal Bilodeau
7 April 2026
Essay
The Making of Things We Will Miss: Meditations on the Climate Crisis
by Emily K. Harrison
16 March 2026
Essay
Theatre as a Partner in Environmental Sustainability Awareness in Delta State, Nigeria
by Dennis OBIRE, Cornelius Onyekaba , Eseovwe Emakunu
Ashley Malafronte reflects on the 2024 Under the Radar Symposium, which convened global theatre artists, producers, and presenters in New York City for a day of keynotes and discussions that surfaced the issues plaguing the international performing arts sector, as well as the emergent paths that could strengthen it.
Learn More About the Vision Behind the New Edition of Perform Europe and Explore the Opportunities of the Open Call
Friday 1 December 2023
Europe
Watch the Perform Europe Open Call Launch Event from 1 December 2023. Learn more about the vision behind the new edition of Perform Europe and explore the opportunities of the Open Call.
A two-day assembly featuring perspectives from artists rooted in their communities, and figures in cultural policy and practice, philanthropy, and social justice.
Thursday 16 November to Friday 17 November 2023
Chicago, Illinois and Kyiv, Ukraine
The 2023 ArtsLink Assembly is a meeting of potent ideas and individual actions, of insights and practices, of artists and institutions, of engaging speakers and active listeners – seeks to spark new ways to dismantle, remember, repair, and reinvent the historic frameworks, ideas, and power structures.
Macy E. Kunke shares the practical steps she took to cultivate more sustainable stage management practices for a recent production of Men on Boats. By utilizing a variety of digital tools instead of more traditional printed paper methods, the stage management team created only a fraction of typical paper waste and found that their work that was cheaper, simpler, and more collaborative than typical stage management processes.
How Can Eco-Performance Be a Push for the Transvaluation of Human and Non-Human Species?
Wednesday 16 August 2023
Ghana
Notable scholars and renowned activists in the climate change discourse advocate that for the climate crises to be combated, humans will have to reevaluate their relationship with the environment. In other words, the place of man on Earth as a living entity ought to be redefined. There needs to be a shift from human-centred thinking to eco-centric learning, where man will have to view the world as more than the human entity.
The concept of climate finance refers to monies provided by those responsible for climate change to ease the burden of the crises on those who bear the brunt. This is a situation whereby the polluter pays as much as they pollute. The attention placed on climate finance dominates the narrative of climate change mitigation since polluters are able to pay monies allocated to them as climate finance. Climate finance has not fully addressed the issue of the elephant in the room.
What Impact can the Eco-Film Genre Make in the Journey Towards Climate Justice in the Global South?
Wednesday 2 August 2023
Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya
Since the first decade of the 21st century, Hollywood films have explored diverse challenges posed by climate change. In fact, eco-filmmakers seem to direct the blame around climate change on anthropocentrism and the rise of the capitalist economy. These films have centered on how climate change impacts more on rural indigenous communities, the politics of anthropocentric and capitalism, and the imperative of man’s revaluation of his relationship with the environment. Interestingly, most films on ecology have been churned out of the Global North than from the Global South despite the South’s being affected more by the climate scourge.
Different art forms (such as theatre, film, visual arts, and social media) have often been used to communicate, educate, and promote climate justice issues. This episode offers the opportunity to hear stories of practitioners using their art forms in this era of climate emergency. We focus on theatre practices and digital art forms and ask guests to share their work and that of others from the continent.
Greening the theatre is crucial to the sustainability of theatre and the planet. Theatre designers such as lighting personnel, set designers, costumers, property designers, and sound engineers are rethinking and retooling for the purpose of creating a more eco-friendly, sustainable, and environmentally just and responsible theatre practice. In this episode, we bring theatre practitioners (such as designers and eco-scenographers) who are advancing sustainable artistic values in their practice.
Climate justice is not complete without decentering colonial narratives and practices in Africa. For instance, many theatre projects/initiatives on climate action in Africa have been the brainchild of actors from the Global North. Which increases the tendency for such projects/initiatives to reinforce follow the colonial narrative. Although curators and co-facilitators of such projects are sometimes indigenes of African countries, the agendas of foreign interventions are imposed on the creative process.
Environmental theatre in Africa has been a vital medium for creating awareness of and learning about climate change on the continent. Artists are aware that climate change has come to stay, the need to engage the art to discuss issues such as climate change mitigation strategies, anticipatory adaptation modes and climate justice. This episode introduces the series. Guest speakers reflect on the question of environmental theatre and climate justice in Africa.
Genevieve Simon reflects on the process of writing Bloom Bloom Pow, a play that makes space for collective grief by staging small-town chaos against a backdrop of the harmful algal bloom crisis in the Great Lakes region.
Playwright Raul Garza discusses the potent connections between environment and Latinx heritage that he explores by employing magical realism in his play Arbolito.
Theresa May discusses the way that two contemporary plays with dystopian settings—Transmissions in Advance of the Second Great Dying by Jessica Huang and Somewhere by Melissa Treviño Orta—lean away from typical tropes of destruction and individualism by instead centering care, kinship, reciprocity, and interdependence.
Chantal Bilodeau introduces a new installment of the Theatre in the Age of Climate Change series, which focuses contemporary plays and playwrights that explore the intimate impacts of climate change on both individuals and communities.
The IETM Aarhus Plenary Meeting 2023 invited its participants to discuss and digest the ethical and practical role of the performing arts—and of the artist—in the face of climate emergency. It presented a program that aims to provoke new thoughts and inspire action, awareness, and positive impact.
Iphigenia Taxopoulou discusses the need for increased environmental literacy in the performing arts sector and describes many forward-thinking initiatives that train students and professionals alike for ecological transition.
Artistic Mobility and Environmental Sustainability
Tuesday 9 May to Wednesday 10 May 2023
Tunis, Tunisia
The Cultural Mobility Forum 2023 is an attempt to recontextualize the conversation on cross-border artistic mobility and environmental sustainability, unfolding the interdependencies between privileged (Western) Europe and other territories, investigating local practical sustainable solutions, and listening to a variety of voices from the Global South. This event will provide live captioning in English.
The New Role Theatre and Performance Can and Should Play in the New Age of the Anthropocene
Thursday 20 April 2023
New York City
Join us for a Whole Earth Conversation with Andreas Weber (Germany) about the new role theatre and performance can and should play in the new age of the Anthropocene, a geological era shaped by humans rather than by nature. We ask how the significant symbolic, imaginary, and real space of theatre can help artists and audiences realize that a contemporary theatre and performance practice can no longer just represents interhuman conflicts.
The New Role Theatre and Performance Can and Should Play in the New Age of the Anthropocene
Friday 14 April 2023
New York City
Join us for a Whole Earth Conversation with Frédérique Aït-Touati (France) about the new role theatre and performance can and should play in the new age of the Anthropocene, a geological era shaped by humans rather than by nature. We ask how the significant symbolic, imaginary, and real space of theatre can help artists and audiences realize that a contemporary theatre and performance practice can no longer just represents interhuman conflicts.
Theatre company Chance of the Hunter (Hungary) presents the climate crisis–themed performance 999 followed by a conversation about climate anxiety and crises. Subtitles are available in English.
The New Role Theatre and Performance Can and Should Play in the New Age of the Anthropocene
Monday 10 April 2023
New York City
Join us for a Whole Earth Conversation with Thomas Oberender (Germany) about the new role theatre and performance can and should play in the new age of the Anthropocene, a geological era shaped by humans rather than by nature. We ask how the significant symbolic, imaginary, and real space of theatre can help artists and audiences realize that a contemporary theatre and performance practice can no longer just represents interhuman conflicts.
In the season finale of the Building Our Own Tables podcast, Yura Sapi invites Gabriel Barrera to share about creating Scenic G, a visual art and design company providing services in art and design, workshops, consultation, facilitation, and mentorship infused with social justice. After spending twenty years as a scenic designer, Gabriel shares about his decision to leave and build his own table as an independent artist providing opportunities for others along the way. Topics in this episode include decolonizing ideas of who a teacher can be, addressing toxic behaviors, and facilitation skills.
This week, Yura Sapi is join by Tierra Allen who shares about creating The Real Work, a podcast about theatre culture and transformative justice that is co-produced with We Rise Production. This episode’s topics include learning from non-humans, sharing poems and songs, and being the change.
The International Presenting Now convening brought a collective of US-based presenters of international work together in physical space in January 2023, following almost three years of virtual conversations and events. Janice Paran details the conversations that arose around the convening’s key question: how might international presenters want to work differently?
