Monthly Archives: August 2017

Shortlist: Sustainable Practice Award!

Creative Carbon Scotland

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award 2017: the award for sustainability at the world’s largest arts festival.

The award is a collaboration between Scotland-based Creative Carbon Scotland and the North American-based Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts. Each year it is given to a production that exhibits high quality artistic integrity and engages its audience and company in the topic of sustainability. It celebrates different approaches to sustainable practice, both in content and in the physical production of shows, and rewards those that take responsibility for their environmental impact and think creatively about how the arts can help grow a sustainable world.

This year the number and quality of applications was exceptionally high. Productions completed a comprehensive application toolkit, which challenged them on many approaches and angles on sustainability, as well as offering guidance and advice to productions still developing their practice.

Open to any of the 3,398 shows performing at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, applicants where whittled down to a shortlist of only 18 shows. Those shortlisted are as follows (in alphabetical order):

  • A Great Fear of Shallow Living by In Tandem Theatre Company at Zoo Southside
  • Changelings by Pucqui Collaborative at theSpace on North Bridge
  • Dreaming Amidst Thorns by Kaleidoscope Theatre at Quaker Meeting House
  • Form by Rendered Retina at Pleasance Dome
  • Home Sweet Garden by Asylon Theatre at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh – John Hope Gateway
  • I Am A Tree by Jamie Wood at Assembly George Square Theatre
  • Last Resort by 2 Magpies Theatre at Summerhall
  • Letters From Earth by NewGround Theatre Dance Company at Greenside @ Infirmary Street
  • Me and My Bee by This Egg and the Pleasance at Pleasance Courtyard
  • Plan B for Utopia by Joan Clevillé Dance at the Pleasance Courtyard
  • Programmed by Justin Lavash at C Primo
  • The Hero Who Overslept by Bravebeard Productions and Fringe Management at Gilded Balloon at the Rose Theatre.
  • The Pit Ponies’ Penultimate Life Drawing Class by UndrGround Bird / Rupert Smith at Paradise in the Vault
  • The Time Machine by Dyad Productions at Assembly Roxy
  • Towers of Eden by Outland Theatre at theSpace on the Mile
  • Tribe by Temper Theatre at Zoo Southside
  • Van Gogh Find Yourself #VGFY by Walter DeForest / PBH’s Free Fringe at Natural Food Kafe
  • Whales by Binge Culture at Assembly George Square Theatre

Ben Twist, Director of Creative Carbon Scotland, said:

“It’s exciting to see such a range of approaches to sustainability demonstrated by companies coming to the Fringe. The quality gets higher each year and the depth of commitment and understanding is greater, both in the way people produce their shows and the content of them. I’m very pleased that CCS is able to join our colleagues at the CSPA and the List to highlight this hard work by so many companies.”

Ian Garrett, Director of the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, said:

“In addition to watching the award grow and the ever-increasing quality of the shows which are submitted, we’re grateful to all applicants for providing key information to understanding sustainable trends and areas of future improvement across the festival. With the many initiatives growing across the fringe, it’s heartening to share that not only are we seeing more and more conscientious work, but everyone involved is have a real and visible impact on this massive arts marketplace.”

Each shortlisted show will be reviewed by a selected international judging panel, before the final winner is announced on 25 August 2017 at a ceremony hosted at Scotland’s national home of poetry: The Scottish Poetry Library. An organisation itself extremely committed to environmental sustainability, and a member of the Green Arts Initiative, the venue will play host to a performance by poet Harry Giles, and the winner will receive a unique (and sustainable) award piece, crafted by local maker, Chris Wallace.

The Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice award is run by Creative Carbon Scotland and the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, together with their sponsors PR Print and Design, and with media partnership from The List magazine. For further information please contact Alana.laidlaw@creativecarbonscotland.com

 

The post Shortlist Announced for 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award! appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

 

About 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

Volunteers: Free Energy and Carbon Audit

Creative Carbon Scotland, Open Calls

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

This Energy and Carbon Audit programme is provided free to selected organisations in the Glasgow and Edinburgh areas by a partnership between the Carbon Trust, University of Strathclyde and University of Edinburgh.

The audit will help your organisation understand and reduce energy and other costs in your activities, providing a clear assessment of your organisation’s carbon footprint and a practical action plan to make savings and take positive steps towards environmental sustainability.

Postgraduate students from the respective universities are trained by the Carbon Trust to complete an audit at a site, as part of their studies towards a Masters degree in engineering, carbon management or other related discipline. They will be selected to work with your organisation, backed by the support and experience of the Carbon Trust. This is highly valuable practical experience, carried out to professional standards, benefitting the students’ development and helping to produce a much-needed future generation of skilled technical specialists in business sustainability.

The students will produce a professional-style report at no cost to you, quality assured by specialists at the Carbon Trust. The report will help you better understand the consumption, costs and any wastage of energy in your organisation, to identify and take action to reduce costs and carbon emissions and, ultimately, improve your organisation and increase profits. The student carbon auditors will:

  • ï‚·  Calculate the carbon footprint of your organisation, using data from you energy bills and and elsewhere.
  • ï‚·  Identify opportunities for reducing energy costs and carbon emissions at your organisation.
  • ï‚·  Calculate the energy, cost and carbon savings of the identified opportunities.
  • ï‚·  Estimate any investment and payback period related to each of the identified opportunities.
  • ï‚·  Produce a practical action plan for you to implement the identified opportunities.

Please note, all the information you provide at any point – and the energy and carbon audit report itself – will be kept confidential. Only aggregated results for the whole programme may be reported (unless we seek and receive your written permission otherwise). If you have any questions before, during or after the visit, please contact Roddy Hamilton at the Carbon Trust, at the email address below.

To find out more and to confirm interest in participating in this free programme please send an email with your contact details and brief description of your organisation to: roddy.hamilton@carbontrust.com.

The post Call for Volunteers: Free Energy and Carbon Audit for Creative Carbon Scotland Members appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

 

About 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

Jonathan Baxter: Murmur – Artists Reflect on Climate Change

ecoartscotland

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Sarah Gittins, Chloe Lewis, Ellis O’Connor, Meg Rodger and Saule Žuk

5th August – 16th September 2017
10am – 5pm, Free Entry
An Talla Solais, West Argyle Street, Ullapool, IV26 2UG

‘The word “urgency,” rather than crisis, is an energetic term for me. Urgency is energizing, but it’s not about apocalypse or crisis. It’s about inhabiting; it’s about cultivating response-ability.’
(Donna Haraway in conversation with Martha Kenney)

When thinking about this exhibition – the reality of climate change, the devastating impact it’s having and will continue to have on the ecosystems that we all, human and non-human, depend on – the word ‘urgency’ comes to mind. So why is this exhibition entitled Murmur – Artists Reflect on Climate Change? Shouldn’t these artists – like all of us – be shouting out a warning or taking direct action?

It’s tempting to think that action is what we need. (And, of course, we really do need action to address climate change.) But before we act we need to notice there’s a problem. And before we notice there’s a problem we need to notice the wonder: the abundant multiplicity of lifeforms and living systems that make up this teeming planet.

One way to take notice is through art. Both the making of art and the engagement with art. Indeed, as Anne Bogart has written, ‘the true function of art’ is ‘to awaken what is asleep’.

This chimes well with the artists who have made work for this exhibition. When asked what they hoped the exhibition might achieve – knowing full well that art is only one part of a multifaceted response to climate change – their individual answers, although nuanced, were of a piece.

In the interests of opening up the conversation I share some of their responses here (edited and in the order in which we exchanged them):

Saule:

I would like the exhibition to be a space to stop/slow down, to listen to ourselves deep inside and to listen to our environment, to feel what is truly important to us, to feel nature’s impact on us. The only way my work can create a feedback loop is through people, if it pokes or touches them in some meaningful way so they can carry on the ripples … For me, the process of making work for this exhibition does create ripples in my life, and I hope that the workshops and talks will do a similar thing for the audience.

Sarah:

I would like it if my experiences and explorations during my research residency were in some way shared by the viewers of ‘the book’. My conversations and encounters opened up some understanding of what it can mean to work for your livelihood on, in or with the sea. I began to understand how this work depends on a finely balanced ecosystem, how it is being and will be impacted by climate change and how changes in the marine environment set off a chain reaction that is so complex it cannot be fathomed completely, and this complexity is a source of wonder that inspires respect.

With Murmur as a whole I agree with Saule that the exhibition could be a space to slow down, listen deeply and consider. What I wouldn’t like is for the exhibition to temporarily awaken an awareness of climate change that is so gentle as to wash over a person and fade away again quickly. I would love it if it was strong and deeply affecting in a way that makes the questions alive and ignited for the long-haul. If the exhibition inspires deep engagement then that will be a success I think.

Ellis:

I would like people to be challenged by the idea of what they think environmental art should be. I want Murmur to be about communicating climate change through various mediums, creating a dialogue in which people can connect with and understand that there are many layers to the question of climate change and sometimes it’s not about the macro but the micro. The smaller details, the stories, the layers of evidence that are often overlooked are sometimes the most important part of creating a conversation and conveying the evidence of climate change.

Chloe:

I’d like people to make a connection with the natural wonderland, kind of like bridging the gap, reconnecting and reminding the viewer of natural beauty in a positive way. For the exhibition as a whole, I like the idea of people ‘slowing down’ and allowing them to be drawn into the work. But I also think the exhibition should be a place to inspire conversation and interaction between the viewers, to create a buzz of opinions and questions revolving around climate change. Art about climate change can often be negative and uninspiring, leaving people feeling helpless and unmotivated. I hope the exhibition, workshops and talks are going to make a fun and uplifting experience for everyone involved.

Meg:

My work is not political, it is not a call to protest. However, so much of contemporary life is caught up in work, sitting in cars or at desks, taken up with a digital lifestyle. I guess my work is simply a call for us to spend more time outdoors. To breathe the air, to sit quietly and listen, watch, smell and touch … to be. To look closely at small creeping insects and delicate fungi, to watch the clouds and predict the weather, to listen to bird call. By doing so we may start to be more appreciative of what we have around us, what it gives us and what we are set to lose through climate change. By caring more, maybe we can all make changes to how we lead our lives and collective change can make a difference.

It seems unnecessary to add further interpretation. The artists have stated their aims. The rest is an invitation: to slow down, sit quietly and listen, to watch, smell and touch, to ask questions and enter the conversation. Each work is a ripple to inspire further ripples, a murmur growing louder with each call and response.

Jonathan Baxter, Curator

Accompanying the exhibition are a series of workshops and related events. For full details see http://www.antallasolais.org/activities.

Meet the Artists – Family Open Day
5th August, 10am – 12.30pm

From Here to There – Community Print Workshop
led by Jonathan Baxter and Sarah Gittins
15th – 18th & 21st – 24th August, 10am – 12pm and 1pm – 5pm
See the ATS website for timetable updates

Jewellery for Change Workshop
led by Chloe Lewis
12th August, 2 – 5pm

Creative Conversations #4
The Highland Youth Arts Hub in collaboration with An Talla Solais
18th August, 10am – 12pm

Ullapool Green Tease – To see, know, and act
presentations and conversation exploring creativity, climate change and community resilience
Creative Carbon Scotland in collaboration with An Talla Solais
19th August, 2 – 5pm

Deep Time Biodiversity Walk
led by Wayne Fitter (Scottish Natural Heritage) at Knockan Crag
25th August, 11am – 1pm

Deep Time Talk and Film Screening
talk by John McIntyre followed by Fabrizio Terranova’s film Donna Haraway: Storytelling for Earthly Survival
25th August, 7 – 10pm

Deep Time Drawing Workshop
led by Ellis O’Connor at Knockan Crag
26th August, 10am – 4pm

 

About EcoArtScotland:

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

Blog: Developing sustainability in the cultural sector

Creative Carbon Scotland

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

One of Creative Carbon Scotland’s five strategic objectives is to influence the ‘structures’ that shape the cultural sector so that they support and encourage individuals and organisations to engage with climate change. We work with organisations that create those structures to use their funding, training opportunities and other means to increase environmental sustainability in the cultural sector itself. We offer various training days and free tools on our website (for example our new Carbon Management Planning tool, which is currently in its development stage) to support organisations in their efforts to become more sustainable.

As part of this work, CCS Director Ben Twist will be taking part in Enterprise Music Scotland’s 2017 event Train and Sustain, working with chamber music ensembles and musicians across Scotland. This builds on work Ben has done with EMS over the last year delivering training sessions for the EMS Board and Promoters.

Train and Sustain provides professional training in delivering music workshops followed by placements allowing participants to put their new skills into practice. At this event, participants will work with Ben Twist on the sustainability of their own practices, as well as with Alec Thompson-Miller (ACE Voices Aberdeen) and Sonia Cromarty (High Heels and Horse Hair/Transplanted) to explore outdoor learning and look at ways in which music can help children connect with nature and the environment.

We want to encourage sustainable behaviour throughout the  cultural sector. That’s why we run workshops throughout the year aiming to reach as many people as possible to share tools and strategies for sustainability Our regular Green Tease events are a platform for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and practices that build links between the arts and sustainability: if you’re in the north or the south, check out our Ullapool and Hawick events on 19 August and 8 September respectively.

Image credit: 2013 Enterprise Music Scotland

 

The post Blog: Developing sustainability in the cultural sector appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

 

About 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

Top 5 Tips: EdFringe Sustainable Practice Award

Creative Carbon Scotland

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Are you planning on applying for the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award? We’ve put together some quick suggestions on how to make your production a contender!

The award strives to recognise efforts taken by artistic productions to create a show that acknowledges the various strains of sustainability, and/or demonstrates sustainable behaviours throughout the production process.

While sustainability is often simplified to its environmental components, The Sustainable Practice Award recognises that sustainability exists in many forms. For this reason, productions with topics regarding social, economic or environmental sustainability are all excellent candidates for the award, and shows that lack themes of sustainability can be considered for the award if they worked towards creating a sustainable production.

Much like the broad definition of sustainability, our judges look at a variety of components in order to determine if a show will qualify for the award! After applications close on August 11th, we’ll announce those shows shortlisted for 2017!

Apply now for the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award!

Five Top Tips for Creating Sustainable Productions:

  1. Consider sustainability in your travel decisions. Consider how the members of your production are travelling to Edinburgh. Different modes of transportation have different levels of impact on the environment depending on the amount of carbon that they emit. Websites like Traveline Scotland and Loco2 are helpful in determining the most sustainable mode of transportation. Also consider where you are staying in Edinburgh. Staying in areas that surround the city centre allows you to access most venues by foot, helping to greatly decrease your carbon footprint.
  2. Consider sustainability in your production. Use sustainable materials when creating costumes and a set for your show. Gather materials from second hand shops and reuse props in order to decrease the amount of waste your production produces.
  3. Consider environmentally friendly marketing options.Online marketing options are increasingly popular and should be relied upon most heavily when promoting productions. Flyering is frequently used throughout the Edinburgh Festival Fringe but its environmental impact can be reduced! If no other means of marketing is available, choose a sustainable supplier such as PR Print and Design.
  4. Consider how ‘green’ your venue is. Have a conversation with your venue to find out what measures they are taking to create a sustainable environment for your production. Do they have a sustainability policy? Are they a member of the Green Arts Initiative? Have they informed you of any sustainability policies you must follow while performing at their location?
  5. Consider what you are going to do with your materials post-production. If you must dispose of set pieces or costumes after the show, make sure to recycle them. The Fringe Swap Shop takes place at Fringe Central (venue 2) from 27th – 29th This allows you to recycle pieces you do not need and possibly obtain recycled items for your next show! Similarly, make sure to recycle unused flyers properly at the end of the festival rather than just leaving them with your venue or disposing them into a normal rubbish bin. For more information on what will be accepted at the Swap Shop, contact participants@edfringe.com.

Apply now for the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award!

The project partnership of Creative Carbon Scotland and The Centre for Sustainability in the Arts introduced the Fringe Sustainable Practice Award at the Hollywood Fringe and Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010.  The award is run with support from PR Print and Design, and media partnership from The List. For more information, please contact alana.laidlaw@creativecarbonscotland.com

 

The post Blog: Top 5 Tips For The Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

 

About 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

Open Call: Season for Change 2018

Creative Carbon Scotland, Open Calls

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

In 2018 over 150 arts organisations are coming together to programme events, conversations and performances under the banner Season for Change. The season will be about inspiring creative actions on climate change.

Season for Change will run from June to December 2018 encompassing the shortest and the longest night. There will be a huge variety of events right across the country with the intention to build on this with a 2020 Season for Change. Both seasons will link into the global “COP” talks (responsible for the Paris Climate Agreement) and aim to raise public interest and conversation about our environment.

Callout for Ideas:
In addition to all the events across the county in 2018, Season for Change are hoping to commission an inspiring national project which will happen on a single day in Autumn 2018. They are looking for a creative, playful idea that will stimulate conversations about our environment.  The idea, when carried out in a single location, is likely to be something simple which engages diverse groups of people and captures the attention of local media. But when the idea is carried out across the country, in multiple locations, on the same day, it will also capture national media attention and demonstrate a united response to the most urgent issue of our time.

Deadline Monday 14 August.

Interested in submitting an idea? Read more here, and use this online form to submit.

The Season for Change is coordinated by a national consortium of arts organisations led by Julie’s Bicycle, Inspired by conversations across the What Next? network.

 

The post Opportunity: Season for Change 2018, Open Call appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

 

About 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

Radical Reciprocity: Wildly Expressive earthBODYment Artivism

Announcements

Join Bronwyn Preece for a weekend radical earthBODYment intensive on Lasqueti Island, BC, Canada
Arriving Friday, August 18 and leaving Sunday, August 20 late afternoon.

$250 (Canadian) includes workshop, all meals, camping and transportation on Lasqueti.*

How do we tune into our sensuous experiences with the other-than-human world and creatively engage and express them through a radical reciprocity?
How does site-specific deep improvisation: an arts-based corporeal process of exploration of interconnection, translate to a vitally potent politics? I
n the current politically and ecologically fraught era, what might gathering together on an off-the-grid island in Traditional Straits Salish Territory with artistic intention and focus — birth in ourselves and with/for others?
Where are our borders in these ‘wild’ times?!

Facebook event posting: https://www.facebook.com/events/627341657464916/

earthBODYment incorporates solo and whole group processes: movement, sound, language, collaborative writing and painting practices, music, yarn ‘bombing’ and other creative manifestations of presence and resonance with the places we find ourselves in.

The workshop will take place at a variety of site-specific locations around the island

The workshop will begin with an evening session on Friday night. Sunday morning’s session will begin pre-sunrise. Days will be full.

Participants are asked to bring appropriate clothing for walking and working in the forest and on the shore, a headlamp, waterbottle, journal, costume elements and musical instruments, if possible.

Participants need to bring their own tent and sleeping bags for camping (indoor accommodations are possible, at extra expense). Please be aware that Lasqueti Island is an off-the-grid, rugged environment with limited infrastructure and a highly sensitive ecosystem… please be prepared for ‘roughing’ it: with gorgeous ocean views.

earthBODYment is inspired by Bronwyn’s extensive training, and as a teacher, of Action Theater™ for more than 17 years (studying with Ruth Zaporah); her work with Deep Ecologist Joanna Macy (the Work that Reconnects); her work with Butoh dance; her community-engaged Applied Theatre work; her own extensive explorations with embodied and expressive activism, and her more recent work with La Pocha Nostra…and a host of other movement and radical arts based modalities.

Space is limited: for further information and about registering, please email Bronwynat improvise@bronwynpreece.com

*Arrival and Departure from Lasqueti: Depending on the number of participants, a chartered water taxi may be arranged for from French Creek, Vancouver Island on the Friday: taking you directly to the South End, closer to the location for workshop. However these details will not be known until closer to the time. Otherwise, participants will arrive on the 2:30 ferry on Friday from French Creek, and will depart on the Sunday 4:00 ferry from Lasqueti. Please note that the above price does not include transportation costs to and from Lasqueti. Coordiantion is key as Lasqueti Island has limited passenger-only ferry access, and limited on-island transporation options.

Arrangements may be made to arrive earlier and leave later — extending this time into your own residency — arrangements to be discussed with Bronwyn.

“I am full of gratitude for the other day. You have such a beautiful ability to give space, and to offer ample space for us to be. How powerful to speak to us about our choices being perfect. I have only ever rarely seen that degree of honouring our nature and potential in any tradition. You are a gem and a revolutionary and inspiring leader.”
~ Mariko Ihara, earthBODYment participant

“Bronwyn’s workshops/exercises were raw and unconventional; engaging all aspects of our being in spawning individual/collective expression. It gave me a shiver of excitement each time before the class as I really didn’t know what to expect. I love those scary unknown places and the challenges proposed because there is no choice but to show up! Bronwyn skillfully directs and facilitates the work while stepping aside to allow participants to dive into the depth of their own experiences.”
-Thomas Loh, Nelson, earthBODYment participant (from 2014 Leviathan intensive)

“Bronwyn is such an elegant, feminine, powerful artist and facilitator. I was blown away her presence and her self assuredness to give me (us) the space to fully trust in her process and to experience a wonderful workshop.”
~Joanna Bond, earthBODYment participant (Penpynfarch Studio, Wales, 2015)

About Bronwyn Preece:

Bronwyn Preece is a site-specific, improvisational performer, poet, author, visual and walking eARThist. She is currently pursuing her PhD: using site-specific improvisation to explore the overlaps between ecology and disability. She holds an MA and BFA in Applied Theatre. She is the pioneer of earthBODYment and became Canada’s first certified teacher of Action Theater™. She is the author of three books, among other publications. All of Bronwyn’s work focuses on connection to place and interdependence — interrogating the dichotomies between culture and nature, self and environment. Highlights include performing at World Stage Design in Wales (in an outdoor edible set), at Women’s Caucus for Art in NYC, with Kokoro Dance in three of their Wreck Beach Butoh performaces; and performing with the La Pocha Nostra international winter school in Mexico. She facilitates workshops internationally and works with communities and within classrooms to engage with timely issues through the arts. She served two terms in local politics as the youngest woman ever elected to her post with the Islands Trust, the municipal level government for the Gulf Islands of BC (2002-2008). Learn more about Bronwyn at www.bronwynpreece.com

Recipe for Change

Artists and Climate Change

This post comes from the Artists and Climate Change Blog

What is your favorite food? Not your special-occasion favorite, but your everyday, go-to favorite thing to eat. Are you picturing it? The form it comes in, the smell, the temperature, the flavor. Zoom out on that picture. What’s the context? Where you eat the food, how you eat it, the place you get it from. Zoom out a little further. The place where you get this food from: where does the food come from before that? Can you visualize it? Is the image blurrier now? Maybe not, maybe it’s clear as day. But you see how this sequence could go on and on, so that at some point, the link between you and the food you eat is muddled. I am interested in this sequence, this telescoping through the lens of what we eat and where it comes from. I situate my thoughts on food alongside my theatrical processes, as I pose questions about our relationships to one another and to our natural environment.

At this time three years ago, I was composing my undergraduate thesis production. With this play, GAIA: an eco-theatre project, I posed questions like: How do we—humans—impact the natural environment? What do our actions, in relation to the natural environment, say about what it means to be human? Through found text, live music, movement, video, and processes of improvisation, my ensemble and I built a sequence of scenes that brought audiences on a journey through varying perspectives on how citizens in Western culture—in our culture—make everyday choices with regards to food, transportation, and energy. We sought to challenge ourselves, and by extension our audience, to see beyond what is printed and spoken, and to enrich our knowledge through continued exploration.

Scene from GAIA: an eco-theatre project, Julia’s thesis production at Butler University. Photo by Madeline Carey.

I am not suggesting that the work I make in theatre has answers, or that any potential solutions laid out are the magic bullet for ending climate change, not at all. But as climate disasters persist—displacing people from homes they’ve had for decades or longer—and with our country’s political climate fueled by fear and hate, I am thirsty for alternatives. We need change, and we needed it yesterday. In the couple of years since GAIA, I have collected additional ways of thinking about how theatre artists can address climate change, about what elements make up the stories we tell ourselves, and how we can deepen those themes in the theatre to help us navigate a rapidly transforming world.

Last year, I gathered with a group of artists and climate activists for an exploratory conversation on performance, climate change, awareness, and resiliency as part of a weekend conference with Theatre Without Borders and NoPassport. We shared our questions, our thoughts, our practices of how we use art to tackle the vast topic of climate change, and we shared in the unexpected: pickle making. Looking back, how could such a gathering not have included some good-old-fashioned transformation? With the ingredients gathered and the recipe structured out, we collectively prepared the cucumbers for their new form. I found playfulness in the process. Sometimes recipes are strict: if you have slightly too much of something, it could compromise the consistency of the entire thing. But with pickling, especially in a group of at least fifteen varying preferences, there is flexibility. A few weeks stood between us and our homemade product, but like so much of the theatrical projects I work on, the final product was not the purpose of the pickling exercise. It was about the preparation. As artists, we must prepare for our work, build a structure and be willing to adapt. And as humans in an age of climate change, we must prepare for the major shifts that are already impacting our ways of being.

Pickling preparation at the Performance and Climate Change Exploratory Conversation as part of the Theatre Without Borders and NoPassport conference in March 2016, facilitated by Emily Mendelsohn, Sarah Cameron Sunde, and Moe Yousuf. Photo by Sarah Cameron Sunde.

This idea about preparation has stuck with me. What are the ingredients we must assemble as we formulate a more sustainable future? We need critical thinking, undoubtedly. Critical thinking is at the foundation of uprooting the current status quo of oppressive systems on local and global scales. Here lies part of our responsibility as artists: what are the relationships we are putting onstage, who has the power, and how is it distributed? These What, Who, and How questions manifest in some way through every theatrical narrative, and we must be intentional with the ways in which we lay them out, for ourselves, and for our audiences.

In his recent documentary, artist and activist Josh Fox collects stories of communities around the world directly impacted by climate change, from Hurricane-Sandy-stricken Rockaway Beach to heavily-polluted Beijing. How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change highlights these stories to illuminate factors that make us human, that we can use to keep up with the global climate. Across all of the communities depicted in the film, moral imagination arises as a key factor, a bedrock for bridging the categories of “us” and “them” and “present” and “future.” Along the lines of a collective consciousness, of viewing the world through a lens beyond our own, we can use a moral imagination to visualize the unforeseen consequences of human action, or inaction.

In my current play, UPROOT, I seek to re-draw the connection between Americans and where our food comes from. Fueled by food documentaries including King Corn and Darwin’s Nightmare, and by writers like Michael Pollan, UPROOT strives to empower individuals to (re)consider the situation of their choices. The characters in my play are personified foods, displacing literal human circumstances for more symbolic relationships, and therefore orienting the scene in an absurd, ridiculous way—it’s talking food after all! In stepping back, and metaphorically seeing ourselves in our food, I want to employ critical thinking and moral imagination as part of the process in reconfiguring our culture’s unsustainable status quo.

Picture your favorite food. What senses does it light up? Zoom out. What’s the context? Are there others around? Maybe you hear conversation, laughter, community. Is there talk of where this food came from? Maybe. Are you enjoying each other’s company? Definitely. The elements are there. The directions are structured out. It’s up to us to put it all together and get cooking.

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Julia’s play UPROOT performs August 22 and 23 at HERE (NYC), as part of SubletSeries@HERE: Co-Op, HERE’s curated summer rental program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical support. You can follow the play, and her entire series, The Food Plays, via Facebook.

(Top image: From the staged reading of UPROOT as part of the International Human Rights Art Festival at Dixon Place, March 4, 2017. Photo by Ariella Axelbank.)

This article was originally published on HowlRound, a knowledge commons by and for the theatre community, on September 23, 2016.

About Artists and Climate Change:

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.

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