A Sustainable Cultural Mission for Music - a New Aspect of Orchestral Excellence

The Kammerakademie Potsdam recognises the planetary ecological crisis as the central challenge of our century. The chamber orchestra wants to inspire and move its audience with music - in awareness of its social responsibility and in harmony with the planetary boundaries. In the 2022/23 season, the Kammerakademie is working closely with RIFS to develop a sustainability strategy for the orchestra. The aim of the cooperation is to establish socio-ecological sustainability as an additional criterion of excellence for the orchestra.

New artistic formats are planned that address and communicate sustainability issues. These include a mini-festival and symposium in the summer of 2023 on sustainability and music, a cooperation with the Filmgymnasium Babelsberg (school project on the SDGs, development of short programmes with text and music, accompanied by musicians from the Kammerakademie) and "partnership concerts" with local initiatives that present themselves at the occasion of a concert evening. In addition, internal processes such as working conditions and decision-making processes in the orchestra are being critically examined, and a common good balance sheet is being developed.

This process of change will be accompanied and studied by RIFS research group "Art and Science for Sustainable Development". The social role of classical music and questions about the future viability of this form of music are also being examined.