Climate change presents a long-term and formidable challenge to modern society. As the need for mitigation and adaptation becomes increasingly urgent, the role of arts and culture in driving comprehensive societal transformation cannot be overstated. The RE-IMAGINE Green Art Practices on the Margin is one of the pioneering European cooperation projects that seeks to redefine the social role of performing arts organizations as agents of environmental change.

It aims to build capacities within organizations and professionals in the performing arts to achieve goals related to reducing CO2 emissions and achieving zero-waste production, among others. By fostering internal changes in working practices, the project also aspires to bring about a significant shift in the external actions of the performing arts sector, contributing to global efforts to combat climate change.

The project gathers civil society organizations working in Serbia, North Macedonia, Hungary, and Bulgaria as examples of peripherality in the performing arts - both in geopolitical and sectoral terms - which makes the question of their green transformation even more complex and challenging. In this sense, by strengthening the capacity of such a target group, RE-IMAGINE outcome becomes the model of support for the adoption of environmentally sustainable work procedures for organizations on the margin that run their operations in turbulent and specific socio-economic contexts and that are already burdened by the difficulties of their own sustainability.

Emerging from the given framework, the objective of the project is fourfold and refers to:

1) Enabling the capacity building of partner organizations through internationalization and adoption of new and expansion of existing knowledge and practices in the context of promotion and education about green transformation

2) Providing education and building capacities of 12 third-party organizations on the topic of ecologically sustainable art practices through a unique residency program Re-Imagine Green. The project primarily targets artists, producers, managers, and curators of art organizations, who will become green ambassadors, i.e. capable of initiating the process of green transformation within their organizations

3) Supporting green knowledge transfer between different field actors in partner countries - strengthening networking activities related to the green transformation process and enabling peer-to- peer learning in this context

4) Raising awareness and affirmation of the importance of the climate change mitigation and adaptation process in the general public

Training for trainers “Green education and narrative in performing arts” - Online training for project partner organizations to expand and upgrade their current knowledge in this field. The training was held in December 2023 and focused on the capacity-building of partnering organizations in the fields of ecologically sustainable (theatre art) production, artistic approach, and distribution. Within the Training, three lectures were organized and given by leading experts and organizations in the field- Iphigenia Taxopoulou (mitos21 Secretary General, Julie's Bicycle associate), Ian Garrett (York University Toronto, Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts- CSPA) and Abigael Winsvold (Acting for Climate), that shared their experiences, best practices and current developments in this context.

Internal workshops “Rethinking the Green in the Context of Margin” - Round table for project partners to discuss the models of application of the knowledge acquired through the Training for Trainers in the context of socio-economic, political, and legal frameworks in their countries, as well as in the context of the position and way of working of their civil society arts organizations. The workshop was held in two terms in January 2024.

Curriculum and Toolkit "Green Transformation on Margin" - Educational materials intended for the Residency program and further application by project participants and third-party organizations. The Curriculum will provide guidance on how to organize training courses on the subject of green transformation within the PA field, while the Toolkit is designed to enable familiarization with the issue of the climate crisis, the ways in which it affects the sector and offers the activities that theater organizations can and must undertake in this context.

Open Call for organizations, producers, and artists from partner countries, to which they applied their projects that are in the early stages of development, and expressed their willingness to improve them, as well as their general work, by incorporating appropriate green practices and principles. 12 couples (3 from each partner country) were selected to be part of the project and participate in the Re-Imagine Green residency program. The choice of artistic organizations/projects was decided by the consortium, based on predefined criteria. Preference was given to projects that communicate values related to the specificity of the periphery, diversity and inclusion- projects that include marginal groups in the creative process, deal with specific, experimental artistic expression, thematize socially sensitive issues including the issue of global warming, and promote new and innovative cultural expressions and values. The selection process consisted of several steps- evaluation of submitted project documentation and online interviews with applied candidates, after which the Program Committee, composed of the representatives of partner organizations determined the selected tandems.

Residency programme “Re-imagine green” - 4 residencies lasting 5 days in 4 partner countries where selected participants take part. Each residency focuses on a particular topic: 1) Climate literacy (Arte Urbana Collectif/ Bulgaria, April 2024), 2) Sustainable preproduction (Pro Progressione/ Hungary, July 2024), 3) “Green” artistic approach and production(Lokomotiva/ North Macedonia, October 2024), 4) Sustainable distribution and promotion (Radna Organizacija/Serbia, January 2025), - which together make a whole skill/ knowledge set essential for engaging in the green transformation processes. During the program, participants will together with mentors from project partner organizations and external ones work on developing their projects in an environmentally sustainable manner and design a green production plan for their implementation.

Pitch (presentation) event for residency participants - The event will take place at the end of the final residency in Serbia, and it will include the presentation of production plans developed through residencies and a pitch for the best project that will get partial funding for the production.

The Final Conference - conceived as a two-day final dissemination event that will be organized at the end of the project. It will be an online, international event focused on rethinking the general concepts of green transformation and summarizing the project outcomes in front of a wide global audience. The event program will include a thematic presentation of the results, keynote speakers’ workshop sessions, and a showcase presentation “Experiences from residencies”.