Click here to read about what PLATFORM and Arnolfini are doing this season to help fight climate change.  3 October – 29 November, 2009: discussions, courses, installations and more. www.arnolfini.org.uk
Arcola
2009 Green Day LDI
GREEN Day:
Greening in the Entertainment Industry
Thursday, November 19, 2009 – Room# N322
Join LDI in going GREEN! A full day dedicated to what the industry is doing—and can do—to reduce its carbon footprint and be environmentally smart! A special full-day conference organized in conjunction with Showman Fabricators, as LDI “goes green.â€
Sessions open to all LDI full-conference badge holders, and four-pack or eight-pack tickets.
PLUS: The Green Technology Today Showcase on the LDI Show Floor: November 20-22
9:00am-9:30am:
Welcome and Kick-Off
Bob Usdin of Showman Fabricators kick off Green Day with an overview of what’s happening in various aspects of the industry.
9:30am-10:30am
GD01 Why Bother? A Session for Skeptics!!!!!
Is there a Crisis? The facts are indisputable when you see this evidence. Why is Greening in the entertainment industry important? Beyond just the immediate carbon footprint of an event, talk about the ultimate payoff: Getting your audience to be green in their lives.
Learn about the 4-D’s, and how to deal with skeptics.
Speakers:
Paul Reale, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Green Allowance and trained speaker from Al Gore’s The Climate project will present the undeniable evidence from the Inconvenient Truth with updates on today’s global climate.
11:00am-12:30pm
GD02 Green Standards: Alphabet Soup
LEED, CRI, Greenguard, FSC, Greenlabel, VOC, MERV, 3 R’s, CFC’s, Carbon Offsets: A whole new language has evolved around greening. What does it all mean? More importantly, what standards are useful for the entertainment industry? We’ll look at how to weigh claims and benefits in materials, products, and practices.
Speakers:
Josh Allen, Theatre Consultants Collaborative
Seema Sueko, Moolelo Theatre
Mitchell Kurtz, AIA, LEED AP
David Weiner, Scenic Designer
View Green Products from the LDI Show Floor
What are manufacturers and suppliers offering that are green? LDI exhibitors are invited to showcase their products that can contribute to making productions greener and more sustainable.
AC Lighting • Apollo • Clark Transfer • Creative Stage Lighting • Doug Fleenor Design • Gekko / PRG • Green Scene / Pro Tech • Iluminarc • Rose Brand • Rosco • Showman Fabricators • Stageline • Tomcat
Coordinated by: David I. Taylor, ARUP
2:00pm-3:00pm
GD03 Breakout Brainstorming Session:
This roundtable discussion will seek out Best/Better Practices being used around the country, in a completely ‘hands-on’ traditional brainstorming session with post-its and white boards. At the end of the session all ideas will be compiled and posted on a website. Bring every idea to the table no matter how crazy.
To focus attention, there will be three separate groups:
* Lighting / Sound / Projections
* Scenery / Staging / Props / Costumes
* Buildings / Facilities / General Operations
Introduction: Bob Usdin
Coordinators: Bryan Raven, White Light Ltd, Ian Garrett, Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts
Speakers: Bryan Raven, White Light Ltd, David Duell, Jonathan Deull, Laurel Dutcher
Scenery/Staging/Props/Costumes Coordinators: Annie Jacobs, Showman; Peter Monahan, Rose Brand
Buildings/Facilities/General Operations Coordinators: David Taylor, ARUP; Curtis Kasefang, Theatre Consultants Collaborative
3:15pm-4:30pm
GD04 Closing Session: The Proof is in the Pudding:
A look at projects from the past year that incorporated some green projects (productions, events, buildings, theatre companies, etc.) followed by a general discussion of where the entertainment industry can and should go to be green.
Speakers:
Bob Usdin, Showman Fabricators
David Taylor, Arup
Charlie Duell, Clark Transfer, Touring Green and Broadway Alliance
Katie Carpenter, Green Media Solutions
Meredith Bergmana, Green Media Solutions
Ben Todd, Arcola Theatre
Thinking of Planning a Sustainable Event?
For information on greening an event, check out Sustainable Event Management: A Practical Guide by Meegan Jones. It is an indispensable one-stop guide for event and facility organizers, managers and professionals, and event management students who need a powerful, easy to use collection of tools to deliver events sustainably. It covers a wide range of events and even features Arcola in the book.
Toronto to New York City Travel Options
This journey actually involves going from London to Toronto to New York with a stop over in Washington in an attempt to make the most out of one transatlantic trip. The following represents one leg of the journey.
Distance: approximately 500 miles
Option 1: Train
Route: Toronto (Union Station) to NYC (Penn Station) direct
Time: 13 hours (approx.)
Cost: $97 US (Coach)/ $127 (Business) -one way
Carbon output: low (~45.1kg)
Info: http://tickets.amtrak.com/itd/amtrak
Option 2: Bus
Route: Toronto to NYC (Port Authority Bus Terminal/Penn Station) direct
Time: 11.5 -12.5 hours (approx.)
Cost: $72 US -one way
Carbon output: low (~23.5kg)
Info: http://www.trailwaysny.com/index.asp
http://www.megabus.com/us/ (has free wi-fi)
http://www.greyhound.com/home/ (has free wi-fi and “eco-friendly†buses)
Option 3: Plane
Route: Toronto Pearson Airport to NYC La Guardia direct
Time: 1.5 hours
Cost: $203 CND one-way/$366 CND return
Carbon output: high (~111.7kg)
Info: www.expedia.ca
Option 4: Car share
Route: various – Toronto to NYC
Time: 9 hours (approx.)
Cost: various (gas money)
Carbon output: med to high (50-180kg depending)
Info: http://www.sharetheroad.com/categories.php?parent_id=259
http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/rid/
To note: We’ve found an Amtrak train from New York to Washington. It’s only 3-4 hours and costs around $72 US.
London Leaders Programme
“London Leaders brings together London’s leading lights in sustainability, to deliver real change, and inspire others to do the same“.
The London Sustainable Development Commission (LSDC) launched London Leaders in October 2007 to inspire and catalyse positive change, demonstrate sustainability in action, and increase London’s capacity for sustainable development leadership.
By bringing together sustainability leaders from all walks of life across London, SDC’s intention is to demonstrate the power of crosssector partnership and innovation for tackling London’s sustainability challenges and delivering improvements in quality of life. The goal is to motivate and empower individuals, organisations and communities to take responsibility and make the changes necessary to realise the vision of making London a global benchmark for sustainable development.
To find out more have a look at:
http://www.londonsdc.org/londonleaders/
Future Arcola was part of Ben’s London Leader pledge
London to Groningen – across Europe by Train
Putting my bum where my mouth is, when invited to speak on arts and sustainability at the opening of the Noorderzon Festival in Groningen, I though I’d better go by train rather than plane. NB I didn’t look at a map before making this decision…. Groningen is a long way from London
Here is how it went:
From: London, South East UK
To: Groningen, North Netherlands
Distance: 500km approx
When: August 2009.
Via: Eurostar to Brussels then Intercity.
Alternative: Train to a London airport, flight to Amsterdam, train to Groningen
Summary: Train takes about twice as long (all day), costs about the same or less (EUR107 first class eachway) but is more pleasant and productive.
Details: The conclusion of my experiment is that it is fully possible to productively travel across Europe on business by train but that it requires careful planning and if planning for someone else very clear instructions – train systems are optimised for national rather than international travellers and are less accomodating of ignorance than airports.
Some notes:
1. The subtle changes in the way that platforms are arranged and information presented (particularly related to changes in schedules) across Europe make it difficult for unfamiliar travellers to quickly identify which train to take.
2. A simple google map of the route with changes marked and key city names highlighted makes understanding staff, friendly passengers and announcements much easier (google maps application for Blackberry is great)
3. The ability to use of a first class Eurostar ticket to travel first class on any (non-thalys) train makes an incredible difference – first class is quiet and comfortable and not needing to purchase individual tickets eliminates much hassle.
4. Travelling by train requires some thinking and planning of the route as well as the destination. Unlike plane travel which is point to point, train travel remains more like the ‘real’ travelling we used to do. This is the ‘price’ paid for avoiding all of the horrible waiting, queues, metal detectors and fear found in airports.
5. Interesting to note that we are willing to knowingly wait hours, find and pay for transfers and taxis in airports but get impatient in train stations.
6. Ability to remain in phone contact on trains is a great benefit. Lack of internet on many trains (like planes) is unfortunate but likely to be quickly remedied through proliferation of internet connected phones –
resulting in almost uninterupted business productivity throughout the journey (unlike on planes).
Specific to Noorderzon:
From Groningen to Rotterdam takes 3 hours even with perfect connections. Rotterdam to Brussels is 1h45 and the connection v.tight (I missed it and had to wait one hour) thus the non-eurostar part of the journey is a minimum of 5 hours and probably 6 hours (everyone I spoke to the night before it was 4 hours)
Post image is of the freak storm which caused the closing of the first night of the Festival (I did my presentation in the pub)… an example of the imact of climate change on arts?
Green Touring
The Elephant in the room for many arts organisations. For the record we are not against touring, any more than we are against having babies.
Arcola does not do much touring nationally or internationally, however we do have a sister theatre in Istanbul and we have plans to increase our own touring and our staging of international shows soon, so we are starting to think hard about this matter.
First thoughts…
Why are we touring:
1. Is a tour genuinely beneficial e.g. for artistic, cultural, financial reasons
2. Can similar outcomes be achieved in a lower carbon manner e.g. by a different artistic approach, alternative cultural intervention or different business model
3. Are we going to the otherside of the world simply because we met a producer from there – can we not meet someone closer?
How we are touring:
1. Can the miles involved in the tour be reduced e.g. through focus on a single or more proximate region (Europe rather than Australsia), or by programming a local rather than international company
2. Can the size of the touring party be reduced e.g. through local partnerships, revised set/technical, multi-tasking company members
3. Can the negative impact of the tour be reduced e.g. through use of trains rather than planes and by planning the intinerary to minimise distance between consecutive stops
4. Can the positive impact of the tour be increased e.g. by staying longer or adding engagement activities
Others looking at this:
British Council
Arts Admin
Some useful links:
http://www.loco2travel.com/
Friends of the Earth Show: Act Now Don’t be Bio-Fuelled
Produced by Arcola theatre as part of Friends of the Earth’s Summer of Action on Biofuels.
The 10 minute street performance addresses the complex issues surrounding the use of biofuels.
The playful but uncompromising piece demonstrates that biofuels are a false solution to climate change.
In the performance we meet:
- A politician looking for a quick fix to climate change.
- A business man looking for easy money.
- A farmer who will pay the price for their misguided actions.
Taking to the streets
Arcola will be performing their street theatre around London and also in Brighton during the summer.
Director: Phil Ormrod
Cast: Jed Hancock-Brainerd, Daniel Millar and Sean McConaghey
Performance dates:
- 2-3 Aug: Innocent Village Fete, Regents Park
- 8 Aug: Barge – Paddington, Camden
- 9 Aug: Islington Green
- 15 Aug: Canary Wharf
- 16 Aug: Brighton beach
- 22 Aug: Soho Square
- 23 Aug: Leicester Square
- 29 Aug: Golden Square
- 30 Aug: Sloane Square
- 5 Sept: Victoria Embankment Gardens
- 6 Sept: Soho GardensArcola Theatre
Low Energy Lighting – Carbon Trust Information Packs
The Carbon Trust (www.carbontrust.co.uk) has some excellent information on low energy lighting solutions. See: www.carbontrust.co.uk/publications/publicationdetail?productid=CTV021
Spend some time on the website – there is a huge amount of relevant information. Much of the information requested by the arts sector is already there…
Waste Wood as a Bio Fuel
There are significant issues with widespread adoption of bio-fuels from energy crops (i.e. growing wood or oil seed specifically to burn it). See for example the Friends of the Earth campiagn (www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/biodiversity/press_for_change/biofuels/index.html).
However this does not mean that we cannot make better use of waste materials. Effectively we are considering incineration of selected wastes to produce useful heat.
There is some excellent information on this subject at: www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk
We are specifically interested in using:
- Untreated wood -Â www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/portal/page?_pageid=75,18712&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
- Fibre Board (MDF) -Â www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/portal/page?_pageid=75,18712&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
Note that there have been changes made to the categorisation of Waste to allow the use of untreated timber and SOME wood composites as bio fuels. In preparation for using redundant set materials (which cannot be re-used) we need to consider elimination of materials which cannot be cleanly burnt (ply is probably one of these).