Cal­ling for eco-inno­va­tions for events in 2022

Eco-inno­va­tions are again being sought to reduce the car­bon footprint and envi­ron­men­tal bur­den of events. New inno­va­tions will be pilo­ted at events in the Nort­hern Ostro­both­nia region in 2022.

Frozen People fes­ti­val, orga­ni­sed on Nal­li­ka­ri sea ice in Februa­ry, and Art Ii Bien­nal, orga­ni­sed in Ii in June, are loo­king for envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly pop-up power for ext­re­me con­di­tions. Frozen People needs elect­rici­ty on sea ice, whe­reas Art Ii Bien­nal needs it in rural areas.

“We are brin­ging elect­ri­fied art ins­tal­la­tions on the sea ice. Aggre­ga­tes are not the most eco-friend­ly appa­ra­tuses. We would like to find an inven­tion with which emis­sion-free pop-up power could be brought to other win­ter events in the futu­re as well”, says Heik­ki Myl­ly­lah­ti, the Execu­ti­ve Direc­tor of Oulu Urban Cul­tu­re, the orga­ni­ser of the Frozen People event.

At the Art Ii Bien­nal, media artworks are shown in barns and sheds around the geo­grap­hical­ly broad Ii munici­pa­li­ty, even out­si­de the power grid.

“During the Euro­pean Cul­tu­re Capi­tal year, light and media art events will be arran­ged in excep­tio­nal envi­ron­ments and natu­re loca­tions in Ii. With the coming events in mind, we want to pilot solu­tions for brin­ging power out­si­de built-up areas in a sus­tai­nable way alrea­dy next sum­mer”, says Jet­ta Hut­tu­nen, the Execu­ti­ve Mana­ger of Kult­tuu­ri­Kaup­pi­la Art Cen­ter, the orga­ni­ser of Art Ii Bien­nal.

Plas­tic was­te and trans­port emis­sions are com­mon chal­len­ges for events

The tra­vel­ling of the audience and per­for­mers to event loca­tions is the big­gest cause of emis­sions in events. Low-emis­sion trans­port inno­va­tions are being sought for the trail run­ning event NUTS Kar­hun­kier­ros, orga­ni­sed in Kuusa­mo in May, and for the Haa­pa­ve­si Folk Music Fes­ti­val, orga­ni­sed in Haa­pa­ve­si in June.

Plas­tic was­te is also a major nui­sance for events. Sols­tice Fes­ti­val, orga­ni­sed at Ruka­tun­tu­ri fell in mid­sum­mer, is loo­king for a solu­tion with which plas­tic was­te could be refi­ned and reused as fes­ti­val merc­han­di­se next year.

Var­jo fes­ti­val, orga­ni­sed in Oulu in August, wants to pre­vent mic­roplas­tic par­ticles from ciga­ret­te butts from ending up in the natu­re. Qstock, the big­gest music fes­ti­val in Nort­hern Fin­land, is loo­king for subs­ti­tu­tes for plas­tic shot glas­ses and tens of thousands of plas­tic cable ties nee­ded in con­struc­ting the fes­ti­val site.

Financial sup­port for inno­va­tors

The inno­va­tion pilots at the events will be car­ried out with sup­port from The Most Sus­tai­nable Euro­pean Capi­tal of Cul­tu­re pro­ject. The project’s aim is that events in Oulu region will be as car­bon neut­ral as pos­sible by 2026 when Oulu is the Euro­pean Capi­tal of Cul­tu­re.

Inno­va­tors can recei­ve up to EUR 10,000 fun­ding from the pro­ject to car­ry out the pilo­ting at the event. The call is nationwi­de, which means that inno­va­tions can be sub­mit­ted from anyw­he­re in Fin­land.

The envi­ron­men­tal chal­len­ges pro­po­sed by seven Nort­hern Ostro­both­nia events and the applica­tion form for sub­mit­ting inno­va­tions for them can be found here.