Monthly Archives: June 2015

Opportunity: Methilhill Community Garden Residency

Creative Carbon Scotland, Open Calls

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Opportunity expires: 29 June 2015

An opportunity for an artist interested in the environment, issues around food and with experience in working with young people. The residency will be based at the Methilhill Community Garden in Fife during the autumn of 2015 and is based on 10 days work. It is a Fife Contemporary Art & Craft (FCA&C) mini- residency and will be managed by FCA&C with project partners Common Good Food (CGF) and Methilhill Community Children’s Initiative (MCCI).

Artist Fee £2,000 plus travel expenses up to £250.

Materials budget £1,750.

Artist’s Brief

The aim is to create innovative work with the Great Outdoors Youth Group – a group of (up to 25) primary aged children based in Methilhill Community Garden and the Young Volunteers (aged 10-15). Marking the Scottish Year of Food and Drink, the project should engage in some way with the theme of food. The focus, media employed and outcome of the project is to be developed by the artist, taking into account the ideas, needs and aspirations of the group.

A detailed project plan will be established early on by the artist in consultation with the participants, volunteers, initiative staff,  FCA&C and CGF. The process and outcome of the project should contribute to the priorities listed below and enrich the experience of the children involved.

As well as working on site in the garden, the possibility of visiting other locations and including other groups of people can be considered.

The project should be well documented throughout (particularly if it is largely process based) to contribute to project evaluation and share and profile the work involved.

The artist will liaise with FCA&C throughout the project and meet twice with the project management group: after the first session to establish the project plan and towards the end of the project to review. The artist should contribute to project evaluation through a short written report.

Background

Methilhill Community Garden is run by the Methilhill Community Children’s Initiative as an outdoor play and learning space. They run a wide range of groups and clubs for local children and young people and are passionate advocates for the many benefits of spending time in nature, particularly for children. The space is a continual work in progress, a vibrant jumble of play, growing and other useful areas, which change and grow in response to the needs and enthusiasms of the participants.

MCCI  have an imaginative approach to their work, incorporating lots of opportunities for involvement with the arts, including frequent cultural events, the most recent of which celebrated Cinco di Maio, with Ramadan coming up soon. They are very keen to be able to cook food on site and are in the process of building a clay oven. They’re also fundraising for a small building, which would provide a hygienic kitchen space for the children to learn more about cooking. Shirley is keen that the children should be able to experience the cycle from growing, to harvesting, to cooking to composting food.

Although MCCI now employ several members of staff, the project also relies a great deal on voluntary support. This includes ‘young volunteers’ aged 10-15, and who play a vital role in supporting the work of the initiative, as well as gaining valuable confidence, skills and experience themselves.

Recent suggestions from participants on what they’d like to do more of included: tie dye; batik; salsa dancing; music; drama.

Priorities for MCCI are:

  • Giving local children a safe place to play and learn outside.
  • Building children’s confidence, resilience and life skills.
  • Giving children a direct experience of nature, with an understanding of the give and take between humans and the natural world.
  • Including as wide a range of people as possible in using and caring for the garden.

www.mcci-clubs.co.uk/communitygarden

Fife Contemporary Art & Craft

FCA&C nurtures the creation, understanding and appreciation of high quality contemporary craft and visual art with international significance; free from the restrictions of a venue we work with partners to create enjoyable and meaningful experiences for all. Our work across Fife includes exhibition and educational activities for the public, a range of support and opportunities for artists and the promotion and retail of high quality craft.

www.fcac.co.uk

Common Good Food

Common Good Food is a new organisation that is a practical advocate of food sovereignty in Scotland. We believe that everyone has “the right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and the right to define their own food and agriculture systems”. Our work aims to support communities across the country to take control of the food system by running practical programmes: teaching skills, creating resources, and celebrating the culture of good food in Scotland.

www.commongoodfood.org

Artist Spec

  • High quality innovative artistic practice.
  • Experience and enthusiasm for working with young people and developing ideas in collaboration with communities.
  • Interest in the environment / current food issues
  • Ablity to manage several aspects of the project including: project delivery, working group engagement, community engagement, consulting with and reporting to project management, project documentation, presentation of work.
  • Willing and able to travel to Methilhill for the duration of the project (this will probably involve travelling by car, as public transport locally is minimal).

 Responsibilities of the artist

  • Delivering a high quality and innovative visual art or craft experience to the group.
  • Collaboration and communication with participants, volunteers, MCCI, FCA&C and CGF.
  • Reporting to the management group as outlined in the brief.

Recording/sharing the experience of the project.

How to apply

Please email your application to diana.sykes@fcac.co.uk.  This should contain a brief outline of your approach to the artist’s brief (noting relevant experience), your current CV, and 6 images of your own work.  Please email text as Word docs or pdfs and images as .jpgs (up to 3MB in total).

Deadline is Monday 29 June 2015 at 12 noon
Interviews at Methilhill Community Garden will be on Saturday 4 July

Full details including artist’s brief can be found on FCA&C’s website –http://www.fcac.co.uk/opportunity/methilhill-community-garden-residency/.

For further information, please contact diana.sykes@fcac.co.uk (Diana Sykes), or call 01334 474610, or visithttp://www.fcac.co.uk/opportunity/methilhill-community-garden-residency/

Image: Flickr Creative Commons/Qtea

The post Opportunity: Methilhill Community Garden Residency appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

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Our Affair With Energy

Artists and Climate Change,

This post comes from the Artists and Climate Change Blog

This post was originally published on May 28, 2015 on the CENHS blog.

Our current energy consumption is to human civilization what an affair is to a marriage: the manifestation of a deeper problem. While the appeal of instant gratification is compelling, most of us wouldn’t jeopardize the emotional, psychological, and financial security of our marriage unless we felt significant discontent. In the same way, society’s impulse to consume energy to the point of self-destruction suggests nothing less than an existential crisis. The frame we once created for ourselves, that was meant to provide structure and meaning, has become too restrictive. We are longing for something else, but instead of addressing the problem head-on, we are spending precious energy (pun intended) trying to get metaphorically laid.

On the scale of civilization, the frame that gives structure to our lives is culture. Culture is how we communicate the values that shape our economy, education and governance. It is what guides our choices on a day-to-day basis. But the values that form culture are so embedded within it that we often cannot distinguish them. We act as if we have no choice, as if the reality we perceive and the actions we take are the only ones possible, while in fact they are the direct results of the cultural story we have constructed. Luckily, we have the means to take that story apart. At some point in our evolution, we created a lens that magnifies our beliefs and values and reflects them to us. This lens is called art.

Art is how we tell the story of who we are. It is how we make culture apparent. Whether through visual arts, music, dance, film, theatre, or the countless other means of artistic expression available to us, art provides a space where we can become aware of, and reflect on, our values. And not only does it tell the story of who we are; it also tells the story of who we might become. By giving reign to the imagination and seeing problems as challenges to embrace rather than obstacles to overcome, art opens up avenues of exploration and gives us permission to dream. Who are we? Who do we want to be? How does energy fit into this picture? Are our energy needs justified or are we trying to make up for something that is missing somewhere else?

Projects such as the Land Art Generator Initiative, the traveling exhibition Transmissions, Coal: The Musical, and artists such as glass designer Sarah Hall, photographer Edward Burtynsky, visual artist Richard Box, dance company Zata Omm and its project vox:lumen, and many, many others raise these questions for us to consider. They invite us to transcend binary thinking and reductionist ideologies, and to enter a space where we fully engage, with our mind and our emotions.

For decades we have been living with values that support a hierarchical, competitive, and individualist worldview. In a world that was less populated, less connected and seen as predictable and linear, the hierarchical model served us well. It centralized power, gave us control over the means of production and led to the explosion of knowledge that defines our society today. But it also created an energy-intensive, consumer-driven culture where the assumption was that there wasn’t enough for everyone.

With a growing population now globally connected, a conception of the world that has shifted from machine to biological system, and technological innovations that are making the means of production accessible to huge numbers of people, centralized power is no longer possible. Trying to control our vast network of knowledge only leads to conflict. Given this complex reality, the creation of a just, nurturing and sustainable world requires that we move from a hierarchical to a heterachical worldview, and embrace values such as creativity, collaboration, and interdependence; values like the ones set forth by the Earth Charter. It also means working with the assumption of abundance. There is enough for everyone. We just need to learn where and how to look.

Our affair with energy was exhilarating. There is nothing like the thrill of adventure combined with a heightened sense of possibilities to make one feel vibrantly alive. But as the novelty wears off, as the consequences of our actions come back to haunt us, it is time to pause and take stock. The good news is that while an affair may be a red flag, it is also a unique opportunity for renewal. We get to shed old habits, acquire new strengths, and build a life that is more in accordance with who we are. The bad news is that change is not easy. We usually embrace it as a last resort, and go through it inelegantly, with a great deal of kicking and screaming.

Artists who are exploring these issues can serve as a beacon. They may not offer practical solutions (though many of them do), but they can help us weave together the fabric of values that will inform our future decisions. They can help us integrate the parts of ourselves that may have been previously dismissed, lost or forgotten. They can make visible the possibilities laid out in front of us.

Reality is not inevitable, it is not immutable, and we do, in fact, have choices. Thank God, we can count on the arts to remind us of that.

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to the Artists and Climate Change Blog

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Job Opportunity with Creative Carbon Scotland: Strategic General Manager

Creative Carbon Scotland, Open Calls

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Creative Carbon Scotland – a charity initiated by Festivals Edinburgh and founder members the Federation of Scottish Theatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network – is a partnership of arts organisations working to help shape a sustainable Scotland.

We believe that the arts have an essential role to play in addressing the problem of climate change and building a sustainable society.

Accordingly, our vision is of a cultural sector that is fully engaged in creating a sustainable Scotland through the work it makes and presents, through the way it operates and through its communication with the wider public.

Our mission is therefore to:

  • Engage the sector in actively promoting environmental sustainability and addressing climate change
  • Help the sector take a lead in shaping an environmentally sustainable Scotland
  • Help the sector run itself as environmentally sustainably as possible

Over the last year there has been an enormous increase in interest in our work and we now need an experienced manager and administrator to help us fulfil our strategic aims and provide strong leadership for the sector. This will be a part-time role on an employed or a freelance basis and is currently funded until 31 March 2016; we intend that this be extended subject to funding and agreement on both sides.

Please download the Job Description and Person Specification for more information. 

Please send the following to apply for this position:

Applications are due via email to ben.twist@creativecarbonscotland.com by midnight on Sunday 28 June 2015. Interviews will ideally be held on Wednesday 8 July, with allowance made for candidates’ holiday commitments.

Image: ‘Mosiac” by Billie Ward/Flickr Creative Commons

 

The post Job Opportunity with Creative Carbon Scotland: Strategic General Manager appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

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BGALogo-600

Environ-mental Achievements of the 69th Annual Tony Awards

Broadway Green Alliance,

This post comes to you from the Broadway Green Alliance

One of the nation’s preeminent cultural events, the Tony Awards, in collaboration with the Broadway Green Alliance, took steps to reduce the environmental impact of its annual awards show, rehearsal period and telecast.

This effort was achieved thanks to the collaborative efforts of The Broadway League, The American Theater Wing, Radio City Music Hall, and White Cherry Entertainment.

Energy

  • The Broadway Green Alliance has purchased renewable energy credits for 100% of the electricity for the rehearsal period and telecast of the Tony Awards.
  • Radio City Music Hall has implemented an enhanced energy-efficiency plan and installed energy-efficient lighting.

Transportation

  • The Broadway Green Alliance has purchased carbon offsets for 100% of the unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions from transportation vehicles for presenters and casts.

Recycling

  • Radio City Music Hall provides extensive recycling backstage as well as for employees and guests. All trash is taken to a materials recovery facility where all recyclables are sorted out and recycled.
  • The production/management office is recycling all electronics, paper, bottles, caps, batteries, office supplies, pens, clips and is re-using binders.

Water

  • Radio City Music Hall has retrofitted their restrooms with low-flow toilets and flush meters. Restroom faucets are hands-free and feature post-consumer recycled content tissue products.

Seven of our Green Captains were also nominated for Tonys this year – click here to see them!

 

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The Broadway Green Alliance was founded in 2008 in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) is an ad hoc committee of The Broadway League and a fiscal program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. Along with Julie’s Bicycle in the UK, the BGA is a founding member of the International Green Theatre Alliance. The BGA has reached tens of thousands of fans through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other media.

At the BGA, we recognize that it is impossible to be 100% “green” while continuing activity and – as there is no litmus test for green activity – we ask instead that our members commit to being greener and doing better each day. As climate change does not result from one large negative action, but rather from the cumulative effect of billions of small actions, progress comes from millions of us doing a bit better each day. To become a member of the Broadway Green Alliance we ask only that you commit to becoming greener, that you name a point person to be our liaison, and that you will tell us about your green-er journey.

The BGA is co-chaired by Susan Sampliner, Company Manager of the Broadway company of WICKED, and Charlie Deull, Executive Vice President at Clark Transfer<. Rebekah Sale is the BGA’s full-time Coordinator.

Go to the Broadway Green Alliance

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Glasgow School of Art’s Climate Challenge project

ecoartscotland,

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Counting Consciousness: the book tells the story of our journey of 15 months’ work exploring the edge between creativity and sustainability. The Artists Using Resources in the Community (ARC) project set out primarily to reduce carbon emissions by working with staff and students of the Glasgow School of Art and creative professionals from across the city to tackle climate change. It also worked to challenge social norms and normalise the sustainability conversation within the creative sector by providing opportunities for people to come together and explore the topic. While we achieved what was originally tasked of us, what came out of the project was so much more. Not only have we laid strong foundations for those interested in sustainability and creativity living and practicing in Glasgow, we have realised and proactively developed work around deep, values based action. Click the More link to take you to the book.

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.

It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.

Go to EcoArtScotland

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PQ International Eco-soirée

news

Very excited to announce EcoScenography’s first International gathering for eco-focused designers and performance makers as part of the 2015 Prague Quadrennial. This will be a wonderful opportunity to catch up with like-minded artists over food and a glass of wine. Please note: this will be a private party (with limited numbers) in a secret location and so the exact address will be emailed (or sent in a private message) to you closer to the time. For more details join the EcoScenography FB group via: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ecoscenography/

North Light Arts: Alchemy of Soil

ecoartscotland,

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Image: Natalie Taylor, Force of Nature

North Light Arts is delighted to present the ‘Alchemy of Soil’, an outstanding exhibition by the Scottish artist Natalie Taylor at Dunbar Town House Museum and Gallery, East Lothian from 23 May – 21 June 2015. Dunbar is probably best known for being the birthplace, in 1838, of John Muir, one of the world’s best-known conservationists, whose chief concern was the protection of our natural environment. This year Natalie Taylor was selected as North Light Arts John Muir Artist in Residence at Dunbar Town House from the 13th to 27th April 2015, funded by East Lothian Council Arts Service as part of the annual John Muir Birthday Celebrations. During her residency Natalie explored the theme of ‘Fertile Ground: Soil’, in particular investigating the importance of East Lothian’s soil.

This year the United Nations has proclaimed 2015 International Year of Soils, which offers a unique opportunity to address the crisis in soil sustainability. Dunbar is a in a unique position as local community organisations such as Sustaining Dunbar have been actively exploring sustainability, carbon reduction and composting initiatives and Dunbar was recently named Scotland’s first ‘Zero Waste Town’, piloting a new initiative in Scotland to dramatically reduce waste and encourage the reuse of waste products.

Natalie Taylor’s work in the ‘Alchemy of Soil Exhibition’ is a range of previous work and new work made during her John Muir Residency and includes; watercolour paintings, sculpture, drawings, installations and tapestries in dramatically contrasting scales. She has a strong environmental and public art engagement practice and her work is made both in the studio, in site-specific locations and with community groups.

During her John Muir Residency Natalie undertook research into East Lothian’s soils by contacting local farms and community gardens and collecting soil samples. As you walk into the exhibition space you encounter a very large wall piece made with local soil pigments. This painting, titled ‘The Alchemy of Soil’ is inspired by the Tibetan Buddhist practice of creating temporary artworks from dyed sand, instead of sand Natalie has created her piece from the different pigments of collected East Lothian soil. One third of the soil based paint drips down off the surface of the paper – it is Natalie’s reaction to the knowledge that we are all under threat. As the ancient Vedas Sanskrit Scripture saying goes: “Upon this handful of soil our survival depends. Husband it and it will grow our food, our fuel, and our shelter and surround us with beauty. Abuse it and the soil will collapse and die, taking humanity with it.”

Nature penetrates all of Natalie’s work and she is not afraid to look back to history or experiment with different media. ‘Force of Nature’ made in 2012, is a beautiful tapestry after Jacques le Moyne de Morgues ‘Daughter of the Picts’, a 16th-century print of a tattooed girl. The original picture is one of a series of five figures, representing Picts. Natalie’s tapestry depicts a naked woman covered in flowers and plants but with a skull for a face. The piece is reminiscent of 15th century Flemish tapestries, which were hand woven over many years. The original by work by Jacques le Moyne de Morgues was exhibited in a travel collection in 1590, the processes that produced both pieces are vastly different: one created from manual engraving and the 16th century printing press, the other a tapestry woven with the aid of 21st century digital tools.

There is a dark side to Natalie’s practice, sitting on white porcelain plates in one of the drawers in the display cabinet are a series of small potatoes, which on closer inspection are in fact thumbs. Also in the top section of the display cabinet is ‘Suicide Seed’, a bronze cast of a large emerging seed with skeleton teeth set into it. Both artworks make us question what we find on our plates and if what we eat has a long-term impact on our health.

Natalie states “As the John Muir artist in residence in April I was offered two weeks to research the soils of East Lothian. What I quickly discovered was that here in this region we are blessed with healthy fertile soil and the region is still known as the Garden of Scotland. Here we are in a privileged position to be comfortably fed, with easy and cheap access to high quality foods.

Of course, we rely on the soil under our feet to provide this. As every farmer and gardener knows: rich fertile soil equals good nutritious crops for market. However, many farmers use chemical phosphorous, potassium and nitrogen to add plant nutrition back into their intensively farmed soil.

But as I discovered with further reading, what we don’t see is the accumulative effect of these chemicals on our soil, and the surrounding habitats. Although a self confessed newby to this complex and sensitive subject, what I have gleaned is that a dark shadow encroaches our global soil due to soil erosion caused by lack of structure, chemical leaching into the sea from these fields, and inability to retain water due to lack of carbon based plant matter underground.”

In the exhibition there is a series of six limited edition giclee prints called ‘Biotech Seeds’, depicting emerging wheat, soya, rice and corn seeds with logos stamped onto them which are particularly worrying. This work makes us think. Are our experiments with nature a step too far and what is the long-term impact of genetically modified crops?

“My growing understanding of the soil crisis which, according to the Soil Association means that 30-40% of global soils are under threat of total depletion, had to be translated into a painting, sculpture, or print. After my research period was over I was hit by a sense that the more I looked into the rich biology of the soil, the more I needed to make this visible, so that folk could see what it does for us, and every living creature on Earth.

It is not all doom however I am pleased to add. Organic farming methods allow a multitude of ills to be rectified: a he amount of airborne carbon can be sequestered in the form of plant and timber byproducts back into the ground by using composting techniques, simultaneously adding fertility to the plants, and structure to the soil. All is not lost!” Natalie Taylor

Natalie has shown internationally in exhibitions in Europe, Australia, and Scandinavia. She is currently artist in residence with ‘North Edinburgh Grows’ at North Edinburgh Arts in Muirhouse, Edinburgh where she has worked over the past two years with community groups to develop artworks for a community garden. North Edinburgh Grows was the winner of the creative category in the Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum’s Best Practice in Community Regeneration Awards in 2014, and winner of the Civic Trust Award, 2015.

The Alchemy of Soil Exhibition continues daily 1 – 5pm until 21st June at Dunbar Town House Gallery, The High Street, Dunbar.

Natalie Taylor will deliver an artist talk on her experience as the John Muir artist in Residence and her work in the exhibition at 7pm on Wednesday 17th June at Dunbar Town House Gallery.

For further information or to arrange a photo opportunity with the artist please contact: Tracy Morgan, Programme Manager, North Light Arts

E: infonorthlightarts@gmail.com

T: 01620 824 025

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.

It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.

Go to EcoArtScotland

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Green Tease goes Open Source

Creative Carbon Scotland,

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Why have we done this? 

One of the key ambitions of the Green Tease project is to support a thriving community of practice which connects arts and sustainability and addresses it’s role in creating a more sustainable Scotland.

To spread the Green Tease goodwill we thought we’d Open Source it so you can run your very own Green Tease happenings, exchange new ideas and build the community’s skills, knowledge and learning.

Green Tease DIY Handbook

We’ve created this DIY Handbook for you to take on the Green Tease model and brand and make stuff happen! As with our other projects including ArtCOP Scotland we’re not interested in having the monopoly on ideas. We want to support everyone to take on the challenge and see where it takes them.

All you have to do is come up with an idea, follow some simple Green Tease principles and you’re good to go.

Download the Green Tease DIY handbook here!

Arts and Sustainability Image Bank

We’ve also decided to create our very own Arts and Sustainability image bank for you to contribute to and benefit from.

Untitled

Whether you have photos from artworks you’ve created, projects you’ve been involved in or Creative Carbon Scotland events you’ve attended, we’d love it if you shared your images with the group.

The image bank is available on Flickr with images registered under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence. The Creative Commons licence is used when an author wants to give people the right to share, use, and build upon a work that they have created. By sharing and using images you will be helping to foster an awareness of projects and activities which connect arts and sustainability across Scotland.

Click here for some simple instructions on how to use the image bank. 

Go on! Upload your images and help build the arts and sustainability Community of Practice.

Image: Gemma Lawrence, Mull Artist Residency 2015

The post Green Tease goes Open Source appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;

Communicating with their audiences;

Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

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Fringe Sustainable Practice Award: Call for Entries

Creative Carbon Scotland

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Supported by the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts and Creative Carbon Scotland and with media partnership from The List, this high-profile award rewards those shows making significant efforts to become the most sustainable of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

All shows addressing any range of sustainability themes in their content or production are welcome to apply. To be considered for the award, a company must complete a questionnaire about their artistic and production choices, with long-listed productions being judged during the August festival.

As well as long-listed productions being highlighted digitally and in print festival editions of The List, all will be invited to the award ceremony at Fringe Central on 28 August, and the winner will receive a feature in the CSPA’s Arts’ Quarterly Magazine.

How to Apply

To apply for the award, please complete this short, online application form by 24th Jul 2015.

To find out more about the award, click here, or visit the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts website.

The post Fringe Sustainable Practice Award: Call for Entries appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

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Carbon Emissions Recording and Reporting: Navigating Tenancy

Creative Carbon Scotland

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Over the past five months, Creative Carbon Scotland has been presenting a programme of workshops and meetings on how regularly funded organisations should record and report carbon emissions to Creative Scotland when submitting their annual report. Our conversations with training participants have underlined that the arts in Scotland encompass a wide variety of art forms in a wide variety of locations, ranging from dense city centres to the smallest villages. The accommodation required to support these activities could be as small as a home office or as large as a multi-arts venue which might encompass a theatre, cinema, gallery, workshops, café and tenanted offices.

One of the most significant contributions to the carbon footprint of an organisation will be the energy used to heat and light their buildings, offices, studios and workshops and we would expect to be able to calculate emissions by looking at meter readings and bills to see how much fuel has been used. So far so straightforward – but what do you report when, as a tenant, you don’t actually see any meter readings or pay any bills?

Everyone needs heat and light so who is responsible for emissions?

Many of the organisations we have spoken with during training sessions have raised this question. Who is responsible for reporting on emissions from energy used in their accommodation when this is part of their rent and they have no way of seeing meter readings or bills? Sometimes (but not always) both the landlord and the tenant receive funding from Creative Scotland and both are expected to record and report emissions. For tenants it might seem only reasonable to ignore this contribution to their overall emissions as it simply can’t be quantified (and this is the approach taken for Creative Scotland’s annual reporting) but many tenants are aware that this leaves them with an incomplete picture of their environmental impacts.

Why do we need to know what emissions your rented space produces?

As we have progressed through our series of meetings with over 100 organisation in recent months, it has emerged that the majority of those organisations use rented accommodation. Tenancy conditions vary a great deal. For some, users are responsible for paying all bills but have no opportunity to make changes to the building; others are responsible for all repairs; for others, fuel bills are included in the rent and there is no information available on costs and no opportunity to affect usage. Within this complicated mix, it is clear that a significant number of organisations are unable to fully report on their total carbon footprint. Taking a more global view, in terms of the whole arts sector in Scotland, we would like to fill the gap and answer the question: “How significant is energy use in rented spaces?”

How can we work together towards a better understanding?

Our time and financial resources are fairly limited but we have the enormous privilege of being connected with a large number of arts organisations and landlords who are actively engaged in environmental sustainability. Using this resource of goodwill we are proposing to carry out some research with both landlords and tenants to attempt to answer this question.

We are not in a position to implement exhaustive research but one of our main objectives is to help tenants and landlords become more aware of what conditions within a building affect the behaviour of building users and how this in turn can affect energy use. We also hope we will be able to help tenants to understand how emissions associated with their accommodation fit in with their overall carbon footprint by allowing us to provide a typical energy use for their spaces. Experience shows that this can lead to more efficient use of the building by helping users become more carbon aware and by enabling building owners to recognise worthwhile efficiency improvements to the building (e.g. better lighting or heating controls or improvements to windows and insulation). Any reductions in fuel use have the potential to reduce overall costs and emissions with benefits for tenants, landlords and the sector as a whole.

How can tenants and landlords help fill this gap in knowledge?

We are proposing to spend some time assessing a small number of tenanted spaces including asking some of the occupants to fill in questionnaires on how they use the building with one of our advisers. We will need a small amount of information and time from the landlord and permission to spend some time making some basic measurements within the building. If you would like to be included in these conversations, please get in touch with Fiona, our Carbon Reduction Project Manager at fiona.maclennan@creativecarbonscotland.com

Image: Flickr Creative Commons/Paul Cross

 

The post Carbon Emissions Recording and Reporting: Navigating Tenancy appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

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