Kunst boven Klimaat?#2

Opera company Silbersee wants to actively commit to contributing to a better world in the coming years and aims to be a climate-positive production house as early as 2027. They therefore wrote a manifesto with eight fundamental principles to help achieve that goal. To share the contents of the document and their vision of the commitment with the sector and the public, they are organizing a number of cultural debates.

During KUNST BOVEN KLIMAAT?#2 on Monday, January 23 at 8 p.m., in collaboration with Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA), Silbersee will analyse the opportunities that lie ahead for greener production and presentation in the future. After all, the bulk of institutions in the sector have not yet implemented an ambitious climate policy within the organisation.-|-
Nevertheless, it is possible to identify frontrunners: venues, museums, producers and festivals that are sticking their necks out and have been taking big steps to reduce their footprint for several years. And not only the work organisation, but also the public is taking responsibility. Host Hasna El Maroudi and sidekick Eddy Carree will discuss two propositions with various professionals and the audience to formulate answers and seek solutions to perhaps the most complicated issues of our time.

We cordially invite you to be part of it and join the conversation throughout the evening. Only together will we move forward!

Clayde Menso is director of Internationaal Theater Amsterdam. Previously, he was a.o. director of Amerpodia (Rode Hoed, De Nieuwe Liefde, Compagnietheater & Felix Meritis) and managing-director of Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst. He has a background in Cultural Social Education and Business Administration and is a member of the Supervisory Board of De Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Jeugdfonds Sport en Cultuur Amsterdam and AVROTROS, among others.

Sebas van Haperen has worked in the cultural field for more than 30 years. He is currently attached to Theater Rotterdam as Manager Theatertechniek & Facilitair. The sustainability of buildings and organisations in the cultural sector has always had his interest. Projects that have been realised under his supervision include the BREEAM certification of Nationale Opera en Ballet and the sustainably renovated Dudok theatre in Utrecht. Theater Rotterdam is currently active with, among other things, the realisation of a plan for co2-neutral cooling and heating of buildings around the Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam.

Merel Zuiderduin is a qualitative researcher at Motivaction and is mainly involved in research for the cultural sector. She also started there: she studied Theatre Science and Cultural Economics & Entrepreneurship and worked for a long time at de Schuur in Haarlem. Although art and culture remain her first love, during her studies she was gripped by understanding and getting to the bottom of people and the choices they make. As a researcher, she now comes into frequent contact with visitors and deals with questions such as: what are motivations for visiting or not visiting a performance? What values underlie them and how can they be anticipated? To this end, she works a lot with Mentality, Motivaction's segmentation model that classifies the Dutch on the basis of their values and lifestyle. Sustainability is an important theme here, which allows Merel to talk a lot about what drives Dutch people to think or act sustainably.-|-
Jan Willem van Bokhorst is co-founder/director of Bureau 8080 and used to be an event organiser and theatre impresario. The team at Bureau 8080 works towards a climate-neutral cultural and creative sector.

Daan Stigter works for Lab Vlieland as sustainability manager at Into the Great Wide Open. This festival will be circular and climate-positive by 2025 and has been working for years on solutions to achieve this. The festival is considered a testing ground for new development and is also driving the transition outside the sector. In 2019, Daan graduated at the festival with research on optimising the circular waste system. Last summer, his work included the introduction of a fully reusable festival tableware. He also produced the project De Goede Reis that allowed artists, crew and visitors alike to travel to the festival fossil-free. Besides the festival sector, Daan also works as technical producer and sustainability manager at theatre company Jakop Ahlbom Company. During the last tour of the performance Knock-Out, the first big steps were taken to make theatre tours sustainable as well.

After completing her Master's degree in Political Science in New York, with a specialisation in International Relations, Milka Yemane returned to the Netherlands where she focused on issues centered on migration and development cooperation. Milka has carried out several missions for the European Asylum Support Office in Italy and has worked as a director at Stichting Lemat since 2015. Milka has been a councilor with Gemeente Amsterdam GroenLinks since 2022 and is deployed nationwide as an advisor on various issues within the social domain. As a native Eritrean, she stands for equal opportunities and believes in equity rather than equality. Customization is key and we should not talk about but with residents. What do you need to participate? Social and green values are inextricably linked. Besides her political work, Milka is active as a supervisor at Noord Nederlands Toneel/Club Guy & Roni.