Do music festival communities address environmental sustainability and how? A Scottish case study

Abstract

This article discusses the findings of an Arts and Humanities Research Council project researching how music festival communities in Scotland can address issues of environmental sustainability and climate change. It investigates how music festival communities are constructed with a focus on what role, if any, they might play in responding to the global challenge of environmental sustainability. Using music festivals in Scotland as a case study, we employed a variety of research methods to interrogate different constituents in music festival communities about their views and behaviours regarding climate change and environmental sustainability. These included festival audiences via onsite questionnaires; festival organisers and promoters via interviews and focus groups; and musicians via creative practice-led research. We conclude that rather than necessarily being a site for progressive or utopian socio-cultural experimentation (as they are occasionally portrayed in festival literature), music festival communities engage in complex and often contradictory behaviours when it comes to responding to – and making sense of – their own complicity in social challenges such as climate change.

The cost of music

“…Zagorski-Thomas and Henson 2019; Brennan et al . 2019). In continental Europe it is more commonly labelled as artistic research (e.g.…”

“…Recent work on the political ecology of music (Brennan et al . 2019; Devine 2015, 2019) looks at the materiality and environmental sustainability of musical activity 3 . Meanwhile, the research presented in this article focuses on the recorded music sector in relation to two pillars of sustainability: economic, on the one hand, and environmental, on the other.…”

“…2016b) and environmental sustainability (Brennan et al . 2019), Brennan was interested in exploring these two pillars in the area of recorded music via a creative practice project, namely the release of an album of original music. After discussions with Devine, who was completing a book about the political ecology of music with a focus on the recording industry, the two authors embarked on a joint project called The Cost of Music .…”

The Environmental Sustainability of the Music Industries

“…It would be unfair to say that the live music sector has completely ignored the issue of environmental sustainability. Indeed, 1960s free pop festivals were often wrapped up in ecological rhetoric (Brennan et al 2019 , p. 255), while in the contemporary era there are numerous agencies and organizations operating as part of the ‘green events’ sector dedicated to finding ways to reduce the environmental impact of large events of all kinds. In the case of music, the aforementioned British consultancy Julie’s Bicycle was a pioneer in this respect and currently works to effect policy changes, encouraging sustainability through engagement between industry and the state as well as conducting ‘data collection and research, workshops and training events, quality assurance, capacity building, and thought leadership.…”

The role of stakeholders in shifting environmental practices of music festivals in British Columbia, Canada

“…Festivals have the potential to become effective change agents for environmentalism by delivering strong educational messages to their audience through signage, performances and interactive sessions (Barber et al , 2014; Brennan et al , 2019; O'Rourke et al , 2011; Wong et al , 2015). However, operational barriers such as financial constraints, the lack of suppliers or supplies and the minimal amount of control over patron behaviour are preventing managers of these events from becoming leaders in environmental programming ( Brennan et al , 2019; Laing and Frost, 2010; Mair and Laing, 2012; Zelenika et al , 2018). There is recognition for the need of responsible leadership in response to issues of sustainability (Metcalf and Benn, 2013; Minh-Duc and Huu-Lam, 2019; Robertson et al , 2018 ); however, festival managers are not the sole decision makers .…”