La Monnaie and Collectif 17h25 Introduce Standardised Set Designs

The world we live in demands an increasingly well-thought-out and ecologically responsible way of working. It should be noted that La Monnaie has been since the beginning of 2000 consciously working to establish the most ecologically responsible way of working possible, but that quest never ends, of course. In 2020, the carbon footprint of La Monnaie’s global activity was calculated, which allowed them to identify the biggest sources of impact and determine priority actions.

One of the conclusions was that every production requires the creation of technical set elements, many of which are only used once and also have to be transported between the co-producing institutions. Together with four French opera houses (Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra National de Paris, Opéra National de Lyon and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence), La Monnaie worked on the development of reusable, shareable and standardised components for all five theatres of the Collectif 17h25. The aim of this harmonisation was to reduce the volume of elements to be built and thus the consumption of raw materials, thereby reducing the weight of freight and storage and, ultimately, the financial costs of each production. More generally, this would lead to a reduction in the individual and collective ecological footprint and to better cooperation between institutions. This approach could also be adopted by other opera houses in a subsequent phase, as part of the Collectif 17h25's remit is to share the knowledge it has acquired.

This is one of the reasons why a symposium was held on Thursday 5 March 2026 at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, where the fruits of the work done so far were first presented, followed by feedback from practitioners and the development of further future applications through experimental workshops and collective reflection. The ultimate goal is to start a user community so that the most efficient applications can be used by as many opera and theatre companies as possible.

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