School of Sustainability Graduate Culminating Experiences

Live music events are growing in terms of popularity and attendance every year. Along with the traditionally produced festival comes social, environmental and economic impacts. Some event and festival management teams focus on “greening” their event, which involves operating sustainably. Many of them seek recognition in the form of certifications to highlight and market these efforts. There is a disconnect between event and festival management teams and certifications, however. Many management teams do not know which certifications exist, or which to choose based on their sustainability values. To solve this dilemma, I am creating a decision-making tool termed “FestEval” that compares Wiek’s sustainability criteria inspired by Gibson’s principles to six green certifications. Certifications are ranked using percentages and pie charts to display how well each certification aligns with the principles. My client Kilowatt Events is piloting FestEval and providing me with feedback. The tool provides event and festival management teams with a method for choosing a certification that promotes their sustainable event and fits their values. It is designed to advance the future of festivals and events in a sustainable direction. The project identifies gaps in green certifications and suggest strategies for their improvement. It draws connections to Matt Burmeister’s Sustainable Sound Guide, designed to help management teams shift from operating at the current standard to operating sustainably.

The commonly accepted goal of sustainability, to fulfill our current needs and maintain the worlds systems so future generations can also fulfill their needs, unifies efforts efficiently and aligns people with future thinking. But the concepts related, and their applications are fairly ambiguous in guiding people to what exactly they can do to make choices for sustainability. Individuals choices make a difference, adding up to societal shifts that change the world for the better. In such a complex world, there is a clear need for guidance through these systems. Sustainability and Resilience (S&R) is an optimistic podcast that journeys through thought-provoking science-based sustainability challenges with a bit of comedic relief. Listeners are entertained and become empowered to know what sustainable choices are, and why they are sustainable. S&R podcast uses systems thinking to pinpoint, realistic actionable items that empower listeners with a broad-spectrum sustainability knowledge for making everyday choices. Foundational research proved, developed and formed the idea of the podcast. Recording research lead to the ability to record test episodes, gather listener feedback and update the podcast concept. The podcast was officially created with the release of the debut episode that can anyone can listen to for free on all major platforms.