In this guide, by ‘sustainability’ we mostly mean sustainability of the archives, stories and their creations. However, in this part of the process it is also important to reflect on the sustainability of the project and its economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts.
Do you have resources to sustain your creative storytelling output in the future?
Depending on your creative storytelling output, there may be various resource needs to be able to sustain it into the future (if this is the goal).
These often include considerations related to cost, continued promotion, accessibility and time commitment. For instance, if you have created a digital output from your creative storytelling project which is hosted online you will need to consider what happens at the end of your period of web hosting, how you will maintain your resource and ensure it remains accessible (and usable) into the future. Indeed, the sustainability of digital projects can sometimes be particularly problematic. If you create a physical output (such as artwork), an event or performance, you might need to consider what the longer-term legacy of these outputs will be. Will they be exhibited, hosted, performed again? If so, how, by who and at what cost?
Additionally, creative storytelling outputs whether these are digital or physical will often have storage requirements. These may be simple and easy to store (such as a written script or recorded song) or they may be more complex (such as a large exhibition or digital repository). Before embarking on a creative storytelling output, understanding the storage requirements, financial implications and maintenance needs will help to ensure that the sustainability of your project has been planned.
Questions to answer
- What are the likely resource requirements for your creative storytelling output in the future?
- How long do you want your creative storytelling output to be available?
- How will you store your creative storytelling output? And what are the resource and accessibility issues that need to be addressed?
Further reading
What is the long-term impact of your creative storytelling output and project?
Place-based stories are deeply embedded in communities, they can reveal “the things we have forgotten to remember” (Reid, 2015) and connect people to places in profound, meaningful ways. You may have already considered the longer-term impact of your creative storytelling output and project, or you may not know what these impacts are likely to be, either way thinking about the questions we have set out may help you to explore the value of your project and help you to plan for sustainable, long-term impacts.
In addition to these questions, the resources provide some helpful guidance on how to evaluate the potential social, cultural, environmental and economic impacts of your project.
Questions to answer
- Have you considered what materials you are using for your creation? Will these have a long-term environmental impact (e.g. plastic)?
- How have you sourced the materials? And how will people experience your creative storytelling output – do they need to travel? What is the environmental impact? Is this significant/important in the context of your project?
- What are the potential longer-term impacts for the individuals and communities involved or represented by the project? For example, will you increase awareness of local heritage, history or current issues?
- Will your creative storytelling output bring economic value? For instance, will it attract visitors to an area, thus contributing to the local economy?
It’s worth emphasising that it is okay not to have a profound long-term sustainability impact, and there will be stories and creations made for short-term purposes and to simply appeal for fun or to satisfy curious minds at a specific point in time. Whatever your creation is – it should ‘do no harm’, beyond that it should be anything you want it to be!