Five opera companies are joining forces to research ways for opera creation to be more sustainable.

The companies in question include La Monnaie / De Munt, the Théâtre Chatelet, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Opéra de Paris, and the Opéra de Lyon.

Entitled “Collectif de 17h25” the project will initiate a study of the “study of the possibilities for standardizing structural set components. The technical departments of the five houses, which were already involved in individual ecological design initiatives, are now working to develop and promote the use of standardized components (not visible to the audience) and also support structures for set components (visible to the audience).

In an official press statement, La Monnaie / De Munt outlined the main objective of the collective as reducing “the carbon footprint resulting from the manufacture and transportation of staple components.” Part of this task would include figuring out the ways to reduce the amount of waste generated when building and rebuilding sets as well as reducing the volume of storage required.

The project will under four different stages over the next three years. The organizations will start by analyzing existing practices and solutions before designing and prototype new solutions, producing of the developed and retained components, and eventually, evaluation of the approach.