Sustainability is the primary concern within the AC ecosystem. It is a condition and a process which incorporates the determination of each organisation. It has always been referred to as the capacities for self-sustainability and self-determination.

It not only denotes a reason or a means by which to live but also an avenue for making sense and valuing the various forms of the existing discrepancies among the AC members. The value of the ecosystem lies in how each member shows their willingness to take care of, and at once acknowledges their inter-dependency to each other.

Sustainability is most of the time measured in how well an organisation can survive, i.e: goes on, and mainly in terms of money. However, in AC, sustainability is looked at in its multiplicity and interwoven layers, since an organisation is not only dependant on monetary resources but also on intangible resources (such as experience, knowledge, etc.) and relies greatly on the relations it maintains within its community and its context, in order to sustain the intentions of the work it does.

The shift towards degrowth and ecological sustainability is very much linked to the idea of working towards self-sustainability for the organization and the ecosystem. This involves a shift towards qualitative content rather than quantitative, strengthening rather than growing, caring rather than exploiting and exhausting.

In that regard, it is equally important for an AC organization to work on its internal structure (exposing power dynamics inside the organization for example; placing values such as care and studying at the center as part of the day-to day practice), rather than the structure of its funding. It is also necessary to be aware of its surroundings, namely other organizations working in the same field and to nurture the spirit of openness towards the different communities. This is especially true since in the precarious context where arts and social work reside, the survival of an organization depends to a great extent on the informal relations it maintains with its community (through emotional support, non-waged labor, networking, etc.).

B.2.1 Sustainability understood in its multiplicity

B.2.2 Sustainability and the need for funding

Inherent in AC is an attempt to shift the paradigm of what ‘lack of resources’ means. Questions, uncertainties, and doubts that revolve around the ‘lack of resources’ discourse are transformed into the development of power in valuing and in revaluing the existing resources that are not monetary or financial. The making of a Resource Map (See D.2) is part of the strategy for achieving sustainability, and highlighting non-monetary resources while at the same time embodying the possible output of the sustainability process.

Sustainability is thus a condition which captures the struggle and the process of defining, redefining, and experimenting with each member’s definition of themselves. It is a practice which expresses AC’s readiness for being in a state of perpetual invention and for decolonizing the existing power relationships. What emerges from this process is a series of choices, speculations and lessons that can be used to write our own history and future.

At the same time, however, AC acknowledges the need for monetary resources that are still obtained through “traditional” methods such as fundraising. Although AC works in shifting the paradigm of funding and the existing power dynamic within the funding scene, AC is also aware of its position within the existing paradigm. The need for fundraising is acknowledged. How to go about it remains the question. See Section E.3.2.c Fundraising.