ABSTRACT
“Sustainability Discourse” is a prominent feature of 21st-century business communication. Yet, analyses of its use chiefly address either the so-called “dirty” industries or companies regarded as models of environmental sustainability. Considerably less attention has been paid to how the arts and culture sector frames “sustainability” – despite growing recognition of that sector’s environmental footprint and its contribution to sustainable development. This chapter reports on an empirical study that combined the “discovery phase” of Appreciative Inquiry with Positive Discourse Analysis to collect and analyse – but also to generate – Sustainability Discourse among key participants in Australia’s performing arts sector. In doing so, it presents new evidence of that sector’s complex relationship with “sustainability” and provides a working example of an approach to “activist research” that has potential to contribute to positive organisational and social change. In sum, this chapter proposes that fostering critical discussions of “sustainability” is an important first step towards invigorating holistic conceptualisations of sustainability across the arts and culture sector, and developing the role played by artists and arts companies in progressing a multi-faceted sustainability agenda.
