How ‘circular’ can the Theatre Industry be? How do we decouple ‘show business’ from the consumption of finite resources? Just some of the questions that guest blogger Tom Harper, director at Unusual, is addressing in this week's blog as he prepares for the ITEAC 2018 Conference.

As global sponsors of ITEAC 2018, Unusual will be hosting a seminar that aims to explore how ‘Circular’ the theatre industry is; and what system shifts are required to ensure we are transitioning towards an economic model that is regenerative by design.
Why do this? In contemplating the intersection of our values with the world's need, then the first step is to take a hard look at our current economic approach and ask if it is still sufficient to the challenges of our time (such as climate change, resource depletion, toxicification of soil and water).
Our economy is currently locked into a system in which everything from production economics and contracts to regulation and the way people behave, favours the linear model of production and consumption (where we ‘take, make, waste’). 
However, this lock-in is weakening under the pressure of several powerful disruptive trends. How can we in the theatre industry take advantage of this favourable alignment of economic, technological, and social factors in order to accelerate the transition to a circular economy? And what examples are there of circular innovations already emerging?Across other sectors, circularity has started to make inroads into the linear economy and has moved beyond the proof of concept; the challenge we face now is to mainstream the circular economy, and bring it to scale within our own industry. 
It is believed by many that the theatre industry is well placed to drive forward this transition which in part requires a reframing of the current sustainability approach from one which focuses on ‘doing less bad’ – eco-efficiency; to one that emphasises ‘doing more good’ – eco-effectiveness. But what would this look like? And would there be any short term costs?

*Tom Harper will give a brief overview of the key principles of the circular economy. Touching on examples from engineering, architecture, the social and natural capital impact, resource recovery, product life extension, product as a service, running on renewables etc.

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