32 Sustainability in the Arts Festival

Dr Hazel Farrell presented the Sustainability in the Arts Festival, an innovative initiative designed to engage students in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through creativity. Now in its third year, the festival has expanded from a one-day pilot into a multi-campus, multi-day event with national and international collaborations.

The festival emerged from a humanities staff group seeking deeper student engagement with sustainability. Initially, many students had little awareness of the SDGs or their relevance to the arts. Through the festival model, students explored how sustainability connects to music, visual art, culinary practice, design, and performance, leading to projects on themes such as inequality in the music industry, sustainable festival management, and creative activism.

Events have included installations from recycled materials, collaborative performances, climate-themed compositions, culinary demonstrations of sustainable foods, and community outreach projects with schools. Partnerships with Georgia Southern University (USA), Queen’s University Belfast, and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network have broadened the impact, with student exchanges and joint performances.

The festival won a national SATLE Impact Award for ESD in recognition of its unique focus on the arts and demonstrable growth. Students describe it as empowering, allowing them to showcase their work publicly and connect with global issues in ways that feel authentic and inspiring.

Dr Farrell emphasised that the festival fosters peer learning, interdisciplinary teaching, and student agency, transforming campuses into “canvases” for sustainability and positioning the arts as a powerful medium for SDG engagement.

About the author

name: Dr Hazel Farrell

institution: South East Technological University

Dr Hazel Farrell is the Academic Lead for GenAI and Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Music at South East Technological University, and the Lead for the South East Technological University Sustainability in the Arts Festival.