SUSTAINABILITY
Organizing a music festival in the 21st century means being subject to many of the high-consumption habits of our consumerist society, one that loves a good show and is happy to blast music at full volume, usually at night and with plenty of artificial stage-lighting, flying in featured performers and stars from all over the globe for just a few hours, and attracting as large and far-reaching an audience as possible, with significant marketing, lots and lots of printed media with chemical inks, not to mention all the waste left behind by attendees… There's not much that's sustainable about the festival business, as rewarding as it may be.
Started mid-pandemic with the hope of helping build the post-COVID world, Jazz à la Petite France was meant to grow in a different, more sustainable direction from the beginning, (re)inventing and building itself up bit by bit.
Since its first season, the festival was designed to generate the lowest possible carbon emissions, for the sake of respecting the environment and contributing to a more sustainable society. We laid out several sustainability principles following the November 2021 publication of the Shift Project report on the cultural sector. The report analyses and summarizes the yearly carbon footprints of several festivals and operators in the field in order to make the appropriate recommendations. You can consult the report here.
JAZZ à LA PETITE FRANCE...
Creates local artist-audience networks ; artists travel to the festival by car or train (in order to avoid using high-consumption tour buses and planes); festival-goers are primarily local, from Strasbourg and its greater metropolitan area, Alsace and the Grand Est region, as well as along the Rhine basin.
Is held in the heart of Strasbourg, a site easily accessible by public transport or by bike and a 10 minute walk from the Strasbourg central train station. Carpooling is encouraged as the site is not easily accessed by car (pedestrian-only historic area); artist transport is done with Citiz car-sharing vehicles;
Takes place primarily while the sun is still up and ends at nightfall
Accesses power by plugging in to the urban electricity network ;
Respects public health guidelines ; takes place outside across a large space ;
Reuses, shares and borrows as much as possible : reusable cups, chairs, furniture, dining tables, fridges, vehicles... We opt out of personalizing reusable cups (printing the festival's name on them) and generally aim to produce a minimum of materials.
Offers attendees local, organic food and beverage products, using local distribution channels ;
Removed red meat from the list of foods we serve attendees, established vegetarian catering in 2022 ;
Has a recycling system in place since 2022;
Chooses local, "green" providers for printing marketing and promotional materials. (Absurde impression, based in the centre of Strasbourg);
Works with the Nigloo association for installation and management of on-site composting toilets;
Sturm Production is a member of the national network Arviva
« Arts vivants, arts durables » (Living arts, sustainable arts), which reflects on ways to adapt what we do for maximum sustainability.