Engaging Society in the Search for a Sustainable Future

Abstract: During the past decades there is a growing interest to include a cultural dimension in the debate on sustainable development. In this thesis I explore how culture, and more specifically the Flemish cultural sector, contributes to the transition to a sustainable society. By means of case studies, I examine how cultural organizations perceive their role in the transition process and how they translate this into practice. I gathered data through in-depth interviews with eight cultural organizations and a focus group session in which all organizations were brought together. This helped me to develop a broader picture of how cultural organizations can work on ‘just sustainability’, a term used to stress both the social and ecological dimension of sustainability. The research shows that approaching sustainability from a cultural point of view opens up new perspectives on the search for a sustainable future; it can guide the debate on sustainable development towards a discussion on values, norms, ways thinking about, and acting in the world. Cultural organizations can play an important role in engaging ‘ordinary people’ in this ‘cultural transforming project’.