This was Indigo's first Act Green project in Ireland, delivered in partnership with the Performing Arts Forum. We gathered insights from more than 3,000 audience members across the country from local arts centres and touring companies to national festivals and museums.
The research generated 3,371 responses from 28 cultural organisations in Ireland. Thank you to everyone who took part.
The Act Green Ireland 2025 results told us that:
- Irish cultural audiences are strongly engaged with the climate crisis: more than nine in ten say it matters to them personally, a higher level of concern than the general population.
- They expect cultural organisations to lead by example. Most believe the arts have a responsibility to influence society, but only a small proportion feel organisations place great importance on playing an active role in tackling climate change, revealing a clear gap between expectation and visible action.
- What audiences value most is authenticity and practical change. They want to see organisations reducing waste, reusing materials, and making sustainable travel easier. Visible action builds trust, while silence or inconsistency risks damaging it.
- Collaboration is seen as essential. People want openness and shared effort across the sector. As one respondent said, “Arts organisations can’t do this alone.”
- Encouragingly, audiences are ready to act, too. Many want to support organisations’ sustainability goals through small everyday choices, volunteering or backing creative projects that explore climate issues.
Methodology
Cultural organisations across Ireland — including theatres, arts centres, festivals, touring companies, museums and galleries — were invited to take part in the research.
Each organisation was provided with a unique survey link to share with their audiences, who were asked about their attitudes, expectations and actions relating to the climate emergency and cultural organisations’ sustainability efforts.
In total, 3,371 complete audience responses were gathered from 28 participating organisations across all regions of Ireland. Results from all organisations were aggregated to create the national dataset, with each participating organisation also receiving access to its own results in real time.
To provide context, selected Act Green 2025 results were compared with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2024 report Climate Change in the Irish Mind, a nationally representative benchmark of public attitudes in Ireland.
Indigo CEO Katy Raines says:
"Since launching Act Green in 2022, our goal has been to listen collectively to audiences across the cultural sector, to understand what they think, feel and expect when it comes to sustainability and the climate crisis.
"Every year, thousands of people have generously shared their views through this research, helping us to build a clearer picture of how audiences want cultural organisations to respond to one of the biggest challenges of our time. By pooling data across the sector, Act Green gives us all the evidence we need to act with confidence, and to show audiences that their values are reflected in the choices we make.
"This year’s study marks an important milestone: our first Act Green project in Ireland, delivered in partnership with the Performing Arts Forum. Together, we’ve gathered insights from more than 3,000 audience members across the country from local arts centres and touring companies to national festivals and museums. Their voices remind us just how much people care, and how much they want the arts to lead with creativity, courage and collaboration.
"As always, we’re deeply grateful to every organisation that took part and to every audience member who shared their perspective. Collective research like this doesn’t just measure change, it accelerates it."