It's hard to make cultural change without the cultural sector
Sustainability requires major cultural change to our way of life. We should fit within planetary boundaries, instead of consuming as if there were several planets.
It is already known that development must also be economically and socially sustainable for us to succeed. Now more and more people remember to add cultural sustainability alongside these, since it’s hard to make cultural change without culture.
KULTA ry, the umbrella organization for the culture and arts sector, has coordinated the Sustainable Culture Goal campaign together with the Finnish Folk Music Institute, aiming to secure a dedicated culture goal for the UN’s sustainable development goals — which will hopefully continue in some form after 2030 as well.
Estonia, exemplary in many other respects too, has already added culture to its sustainable development goals. They measure, for example, how large a share of the population participates in cultural life. Several European cities have also adopted indicators for cultural sustainability.
Cultural sustainability is about managing the continuity of the cultural sector
Some of the sustainability goals for culture do relate to ecological sustainability, but it’s also about the continuity of culture, art, and cultural heritage itself. Will we still matter to and be familiar within the ways of life of future generations, or will everything beautiful and beloved be destroyed or forgotten?
Managing continuity is an inherent part of the cultural heritage sector, and over a hundred-year perspective, museums beat banks hands down. It’s no wonder that in Finland, cultural heritage actors in particular have been especially active on questions of cultural sustainability.
Ecological and social responsibility also delight many in the culture and arts sector. Good projects have been carried out. Certifications have been acquired, accessibility improved, staff trained on responsibility issues, and models for sustainable touring developed.
Artists speak to their audiences
Biodiversity loss, climate change, poverty, and social inequality are all issues that speak to artists. Artists, in turn, speak to their audiences, so that the same inner fire might ignite everywhere: we must want to be better people. We need to feel drawn toward change, because staying within planetary boundaries requires changes to how we move, live, and eat. On the path of that fire and desire, those who make culture and art are of the utmost importance.
From an industrial policy perspective, sustainability isn’t advanced only through the circular economy and green transition technology — the structures of production and consumption themselves must change. So that when we are going forward, insrtead of goods, we consume and produce more of the services of a good life.
Finns have, at least this year, already been on this path of change. At the same time as the goods trade has been sluggish in consumer indices, Finns have been voting with their wallets for culture. In February, purchases of cultural services rose over 25 percent, and in March already nearly 50 percent, compared to the year before. Way to go, Finland!
Writer: Rosa Meriläinen