Treading lightly

If you have attended an Associated of British Orchestras (ABO) conference, you will know that we like to extend the main theme as much as we can. At the end of our 2008 Conference, which was all about cultural globalisation and encouraging orchestras to venture out into the rapidly expanding cultural markets of the Far East, as well as Europe and America, there was a thoughtful silence followed by, “Yes, but how do we carry on doing this without killing the planet?” And there, for a while, the question stayed, hanging in the air. Never let it be said that the orchestral sector is not up for a challenge. We decided to start our 2009 conference with just that question. I am not suggesting for one minute that we solved this problem in just three days, but it was absolutely the right time to start the debate.
So how can we tour sustainably, when the business plan of every orchestra, especially at a time of declining income from recordings, requires them to go on the road? Whether that be Manchester Camerata touring to Cumbria or the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) touring Florida or Japan. We need to tour. It’s as simple as that. So how do we do it responsibly?

We didn’t shy away from the difficult questions, and we didn’t say “it just can’t be done”, or “it will cost too much money”. We really looked hard at what could be achieved, including small things such as measuring and controlling the carbon footprint of the offices. We have had great support and guidance from Julie’s Bicycle (p6), which is examining the whole of the music industry and which has produced some very interesting research on the rock and pop sectors and festivals. Armed with the knowledge that the biggest carbon emitters in any entertainment product are the audience who have to travel to get to the venues, we knew that taking the music to the people instead was a good start, and that we had a justification to keep touring.
I would love to be able to say that we are well on the way to lowering orchestral greenhouse gas emissions and everything in the garden is blooming. It isn’t. But we are engaged with the issue and we are staying engaged. We have jointly commissioned a research project with Julie’s Bicycle, to measure exactly what the impact of orchestral touring is, which is reporting to a steering group drawn from our industry, chaired by Kathryn McDowell, Managing Director of the LSO. The research will be being carried out this month via an extensive questionnaire and data harvest, and then the numbers will have to be crunched. But by the end of the year we will know the size of the problem, and that is when we can start looking at solutions. What is a win for us? Well, a greener orchestra may well be a more efficient, cost effective orchestra, but embedding sustainability at the very heart of all orchestral activity would be a legacy to be proud of.