This panel discussion will consider the role of the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs) and live cultural experiences in shaping public understanding of environmental sustainability and in generating enduring behavioural, policy and management impacts.
As calls grow to place culture at the heart of sustainable development, the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs) are increasingly recognised not only for innovating within their own practices, but also for influencing public discourse and motivating audience engagement and action through the content they produce. How to translate these creative sustainable practices into lasting societal impact, and how such legacies can be meaningfully measured, are therefore timely and important questions. Bringing together perspectives from research and practice, this panel discussion will consider the role of the CCIs and live cultural experiences in shaping public understanding of environmental sustainability and in generating enduring behavioural, policy, and management impacts.
This panel discussion is inspired by the recent publication of two edited books: Responsible Cultural Consumption and Production. Insights From Live Experiences, Film and Fashion (Pappalepore and Salvador, 2026) and Responsible Consumption and Production in the Creative & Cultural Industries. Actions, policies, and strategies for a sustainable future (Salvador and Pappalepore, 2025). It also aims to build on and continue discussions initiated during two previous events: Creative Futures: Harnessing Sustainability in the Cultural and Creative Industries, organised in November 2025 by the by the Mobiliser in Creative and Digital Economy group, University of Sussex Business School; and Events as Living Labs for Sustainable Innovation, a roundtable event organised in February 2026 by the Destinations and Experiences Research Centre at the University of Westminster.
A key takeaway from the first event was that terms such as “sustainability” and “climate emergency” are often perceived by wider audiences as distant or overly academic, while climate action is increasingly politicised and framed by mainstream media as a threat to everyday life. In this context, creative and cultural products and experiences, thanks to their symbolic and experiential nature, may help climate communication move beyond technical language and narratives of sacrifice, enabling wider engagement and inspiring action through storytelling, transformative experiences, and other creative approaches.
This conversation continued at the second roundtable, which highlighted how temporary cultural experiences - such as festivals, temporary art exhibitions, walking tours or performing arts - can act as testbeds for sustainable innovation with potential lasting impacts beyond the event itself. Their temporality, experiential nature, and the openness and curiosity of attendees make them particularly suitable environments for testing new ideas, policies, systems and designs. Liminal, temporary and spatially bounded cultural products enable experimentation and can trigger transformative experiences, shifts in perspective, and new forms of engagement, thus functioning as bounded testing grounds for new sustainability solutions, regulations and ways of doing things differently.
This panel discussion, hosted by the Destinations and Experiences Research Centre at the University of Westminster (London), in collaboration with ESSCA School of Management (Paris), King’s College London and Sussex Business School (Brighton) will further develop these ideas and debates, bringing together interdisciplinary research and industry perspectives and looking at how cultural products and experiences may contribute to sustainability and lasting societal change through storytelling, transformative experiences and co-production with audiences, communities, and stakeholders.
Panel speakers
- Ada Maria Barone, Goldsmith, University of London
- Ruth Hollis OBE – Consultant and former CEO of Spirit of 2012
- Teresa Moore, Director at A Greener Future and Co Founder Green Events and Innovations Conference
- Zafeirenia Brokalaki, Queen Mary, University of London
Programme
- 4pm: Welcome and introduction
- 4.10–4.25pm: Books’ presentation (Elisa Salvador and Ilaria Pappalepore)
- 4.30–6pm: Panel discussion and Q&A
- 6–7pm: Networking and refreshments
Location
Zone29, University of Westminster, 29 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5JX
Organising Committee
- Dr Ilaria Pappalepore, Destinations and Experiences Research Centre, University of Westminster
- Professor Elisa Salvador, ESSCA School of Management, Paris, France
- Professor Roberta Comunian, King’s College London
- Dr Mariachiara Restuccia, Dr Monica Masucci and Dr Roberto Camerani University of Sussex Business School, Brighton,
