This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Out of the Blue Drill Hall is another one of our fantastic Green Arts Initiative venues in Edinburgh, just finishing a very successful Forest Fringe run. The creative hub shared their thoughts and advice on sustainability with Creative Carbon Scotland.

CCS: What is your most recent action related to sustainable operations or programming?

OOTB: We most recently overhauled our recycling system to offer our tenants and building users a full spectrum of services, the only things that hit our waste bin now are items which are un-recyclable.  This has raised awareness throughout and  has drastically reduced the amount we send to landfill by over 50%.

CCS: What have you most enjoyed about being a member of the Green Arts Initiative?

OOTB: Being part of the Green Arts Initiative has been great for Out of the Blue providing us with the opportunity to meet with other like minded organisations to share, test and implement new ideas on carbon reduction. We also find Smeasure a very useful tool to monitor the energy usage of the building and tweak it to make savings and forecasts.

CCS: What are you most eager about for the 2014 summer festivals season? 

OOTB: We are currently hosting the Forest Fringe festival programme at Out of the Blue Drill Hall for the second year running. This is a fantastic partnership and event hosting a huge variety of entertaining shows, installations, speakers, music and interactive workshops to the drill hall. All the events are free to attend which makes it viable and socially inclusive for anyone to catch a bit of the alternative Fringe. The festival is very environmentally conscious with mostly paperless marketing,  a focus on alternative transport and power saving measures which fits in seamlessly with the ethos of Out of the Blue.

CCS: Do you have a top tip for new GAI members?

OOTB: Take the time to analyse your energy consumption and seek ways to improve operations, not only will this benefit the environment through reducing your carbon footprint it will result in savings for your organisation.

Recycle everything.

Go to the meetings, they are very informative and great for idea sharing.

The Forest Fringe took place at Out of the Blue Drill Hall 6-17 August 2014. To read our highlights from the “Honey-bee-lujah!” performance by Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, click here.

Image: Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir. Courtesy Catriona Patterson.

The post Green Arts Initiative Spotlight: Out of the Blue 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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