Gwendolenn Sharp

Cultural operator

April-May 2023

Gwendolenn Sharp

Jasmine Bannister

  • Music
  • Cities
  • San Francisco
  • Chicago
  • Boston
“The climate emergency could well bring concert tours and international cooperation to a halt. How should US cultural institutions and individuals deal with these issues?”
Who?
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My name is Gwendolenn Sharp. I hold dual French and British citizenship. I initially studied comparative literature in France and in Quebec, researching “nordicity,” before deciding to pursue a postgraduate degree in cultural cooperation. In 2004, I completed a three-month training program in Poland, which had just joined the EU. I ended up staying for eight years. While working at the Ars Cameralis cultural organization there, I gained experience in concert production; project design; tools development; and international cooperation.

 

In February 2012, a year after the Fukushima Plant disaster, I joined a performing arts group in Yokohama, Japan. There, I met artists who had been reexamining and questioning the significance of their respective practices and roles in the art world. They held the firm belief that their art could help Japan build resilience and renew a sense of shared cultural values.

 

This experience marked a real turning point in my career, revealing the possibility of aligning my environmental activism with my professional practice. This realization gave rise to The Green Room, whose goals are to implement projects that engage the music sector in sustainability issues; co-develop solutions for low-carbon touring; and conduct operational studies and research on environmental and climate issues in music.  

 

Gwendolenn Sharp is the founder of The Green Room, an organization that works toward ecological and social change in the music industry. Since 2016, she has been co-developing solutions for low-carbon touring, and conducting assessments, advocacy work, and operational training on artistic practices and environmental issues. In 2019, she contributed to the Mobility Scheme for Artists and Culture Professionals in Creative Europe Countries operational study (On the Move for i-Portunus). She is a regular contributor to various media and speaks at professional events about the role of culture in addressing environmental crises. She became a JUMP Fellow in 2019, and a Keychange Innovator in 2022. 

 

 

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Where?
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In partnership with

Periscope logo
Le Périscope

The Periscope is a club and workspace for musicians aiming at creating and broadcasting innovative music. Focused on jazz music and improvisation, the Periscope organises 150 shows a year and tends to reflect a global state for innovative music by developing its reach with international projects.

 

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