AFTRS’ mission is to deliver world-leading creative education so Australian talent and culture thrive at home and worldwide. The School’s pursuit of excellence is empowered by the strength of First Nations cultures and the rich diversity of our society.
Driven by a commitment to reduce environmental impact, promote sustainability and honour relationships with the land, the Environmental Action Plan was reviewed to align actions with government sustainability goals. The Environmental Sustainability Strategic Plan (ESSP) maps out the outcomes and objectives of this review, which now incorporates Living Country as a foundational element, and which guide our efforts from 2024 to 2026.
The ESSP responds to the ambitions articulated in the School’s five-year corporate strategy – Creating the Future – and has co-dependencies with other School strategic plans, including the First Nations Strategic Plan, the Learning & Teaching Strategic Plan and the Technology Strategic Plan.
The School’s program of environmental activities includes initiatives aimed at:
- recording energy use to identify energy efficiency opportunities
- low landfill output due to recycling programs, reuse of materials and elimination of single-use items
- lower water usage through preventive maintenance programs
- continued environmentally friendly disposal of all obsolete computer and production equipment
- increased awareness of our commitment to sustainability within the School
- sustainability plans for student productions
- development of teaching content on sustainable production methods.
Sustainability values are also embedded in AFTRS courses, with a suite of scalable, adaptive face-to-face and online offerings expanding beyond our physical Sydney site to people in local, regional and remote areas across Australia.
AFTRS is dedicated to ensuring the effectiveness, progress and continuous improvement of our Environmental Sustainability Strategic Plan. To this end, we commit to an annual review of all initiatives and their measurable outcomes in September each year.
This process will include:
| Evaluating how AFTRS is tracking against the outlined goals and initiatives within the ESSP. | Pinpointing any obstacles encountered and strategising solutions to overcome them. | Highlighting and acknowledging the achievements and milestones reached in the past year. | Making necessary adjustments to initiatives and tactics to ensure continued strategic alignment. |