This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

The 2016 EFSPA was announced by the Center of Sustainable Practice In the Arts and Creative Carbon Scotland at a ceremony at the Festival Theatre on Friday August 26th.

The award, celebrating sustainable design, content and production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, was given to VOU Fiji Dance for their production Are We Stronger Than Winston?, performed at Greenside @ Nicolson Square.

A representative of the company received the award piece, created by local maker Coral Mallow, and presented by comedian Holly Burn, who hosted the event. Other speakers included Brendan Miles from the List magazine, Ian Garrett from the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts and Phil Brady from PR Print and Design.

Are We Stronger Than Winston?  was created in response to the cyclone Winston, which devastated the South Pacific Islands in February this year. The dance piece depicts the horrors of the natural disaster, as well as the locals’ resilience in dealing with the strongly-felt impacts of climate change. They convinced the judges with this direct approach to the theme of sustainability in its form of human adaptation to a changing environment, as well as their excellent and moving performance. Moreover, they are conscious of their carbon emissions through travel and aimed to offset this by planting trees in their homeland. The company concluded their spring European Tour with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe run, appearing at Greenside @ Nicolson Square from August 5^th to August 13^th. In the company’s words:

‘Fiji is my home, my land… my interconnected relationship of unconditional love and protection. But my land is disappearing. When it is gone, I am gone. But I refuse to die; I will fight! I am reclaiming ownership of my existence – as a people and a land. Fighting to save the land of my birth!’

VOU Fiji Dance emerged as the winner from a highly competitive field. With more applications than ever before, the judges agreed to shortlist 24 productions and choose 7 finalists. This unusually large selection reflected the high quality of the productions as well as their scope across all areas of sustainability. Judges assessed shows based on their artistic quality, their engagement with themes relating to social, economic and environmental sustainability, and their thoughtfulness around decisions relating to sustainable practice.

The full shortlist can be found here.

The other shows making it to the finalist stage were revealed at the ceremony to be (in alphabetical order):

• Bird, Sita Pieraccini in association with Feral

For expressing the fragility of life in a dangerous environment through consistently expressive physical movement, sound and high production values. Engages by provoking questions rather than providing answers.

• Eden, Less Theatre

For its intentional and considered use of found objects in a way that transforms them into magical characters and for making a strong connection with the environment and waste as exhibited in material choices.

• Generation Zero, Lamphouse Theatre

For its exploration of a future where climate change has restricted our travel and lives, and the emotional impact of such a societal shift. A production where the ramifications of living unsustainably were at the heart of the plot.

• The Story of Mr B, Shake Shake Theatre

For using delightful and inventive upcycled puppetry to explore the human role in nature, and the importance of harmony in the world. It created an approachable context for children to understand the cycles of nature, and our need for it.

• World Without Us, Ontroerend Goed, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Vooruit, Richard Jordan Productions

For a purely executed, uncompromising look at human transience and how that manifests in the unsustainability of our built world.

• Romeo & Juliet, The HandleBards

For their continued excellenve and ambition both concerning artistic vision and sustainable practice of the company itself. Having won the award in 2014 and being shortlisted several times, they received a special commendation for their continued achievements.

Holly Burn introducing the awards

The award for Sustainable Practice at the Fringe was first launched in 2010 Previous recipients include:  The Pantry Shelf , produced by Team M&M at Sweet Grassmarket; Allotment, produced by nutshell productions at the Inverleith Allotments in co-production with Assembly; The Man Who Planted Trees, produced by the Edinburgh’s Puppet State Theatre; How to Occupy an Oil Rig, by Daniel Bye and Company, produced by Northern Stage; The Handlebards: A Comedy of Errors/Macbeth, produced by Peculius at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and Lungs, by Paines Plough at Roundabout at Summerhall.

The Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award is a collaboration between its founder, the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts (CSPA), and Creative Carbon Scotland (CCS), working together with media partner the List magazine and sponsor PR Print & Design, supported by the Arts & Business Scotland’s New Arts Sponsorship Grants programme.

Ian Garrett and Miranda Wright founded the CSPA in early 2008. The organization provides a network of resources to arts organizations, which enables them to be ecologically and economically sustainable while maintaining artistic excellence. Past and Present partnerships have included the University of Oregon, Ashden Directory, Arcola Theatre, Diverseworks Artspace, Indy Convergence, York University, LA Stage Alliance and others.

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

Image credit Gemma Lawrence for Creative Carbon Scotland and VOU Fiji Dance

The post Winner Announced of the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award 2016! 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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This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

We’re proud to announce that we have partnered with PR Print and Design as our sponsor for this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award and the Green Arts Initiative, and have been awarded a New Arts Sponsorship Grant to help grow our work towards a green arts sector!

We’re excited to be partnering with an organisation whose aims also serve the development towards a more sustainable Scotland, through its commitment to carbon neutral printing. This sponsorship will serve to grow the scale and quality of our work across the sector.

The partnership will see PR Print and Design become the first ever sponsor of these initiatives, both encouraging and enabling local, national and international arts organisations to make sustainable printing choices when considering the marketing and promotion of their productions. Funded by the Scottish Government, and administered by Arts and Business Scotland (themselves committed to improving environmental sustainability) the New Arts Sponsorship Grant scheme encourages private sector sponsorship of cultural activities in Scotland by offering matched funding to cultural organisations securing sponsorship from eligible businesses.

Established in 1987, and based in Glasgow, PR Print and Design is passionate about sustainable supply chains, renewable energy and carbon reduction. Generating over 80% of their own energy from 192 solar panels on their building roof, and with a waste recycling rate of over 96%,

The company is committed to enhancing sustainability in their own operations, as much as those of all they work with. For each order, any unavoidable carbon emissions are offset through a certificated carbon neutral partner scheme, with a certificate and official branding supplied to the ordering organisation.

Creative Carbon Scotland first came across PR Print and Design as a customer of their print work, and were impressed by their carbon-neutral production of our annual Green Arts Initiative report. Being able to highlight our environmental commitment through our own sustainable procurement choices is a key part of our operations.

PR Print and Design offers a variety of printing services for arts organisations, including:

• Posters A4 to 60x 40
• Flyers and leaflets
• Postcards
• Programmes
• Tickets
• Exhibition stands and boards

To find out more about sustainable print for the arts sector get in contact with Phil Brady: phil@prprint.net

More information about the New Arts Sponsorship Grants can be found on the Arts & Business Scotland website.

The post PR Print and Design is Supporting Our Green Arts Sector 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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This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

The Festival season is picking up speed and the array of events offered can be quite overwhelming. So we compiled a handy list of 10 things about environmental sustainability to do at the various festivals around Edinburgh this August. You’ll notice the Festival Fringe is absent – for weekly updates on which green Fringe shows you should see, follow #GreenFests on our blog.

We hope you enjoy these suggestions and have a fantastic festival experience!

1. Climate Change: On the Edge of The World

19 Aug | 7.30-9.00pm | Quaker Meeting House

Just Festival hosts this year’s events under the hashtag “FromTheEdge”, including discussions, talks, exhibitions and performances. From marginalised groups in society to climate change, their programme is expansive and thought-provoking. This Just Festival Conversation in particular will look at what is being done to help communities around the world respond to the threats of climate change and whether disaster can be avoided.

2. … though it be darkness there

16 Aug | 9.30-10.30pm | St John’s Church

This performance at Just Festival brings together musician Matilda Brown and photographer Nick Rowle to collaborate on a series of musical and photographic pieces focusing on the mysteries of landscape. Within this new series of work, Matilda and Nick capture the mystical and unknowable wonder of nature; silence and darkness, solitude, encountering the sublime, sensual and occasionally violent forces of nature.

3. Richard Watson: Get Ready for Tomorrow

13 Aug | 12.30 – 1.30pm | Garden Theatre

This year’s Book Festival programme includes the theme “A Changing Society”, with speakers from many disciplines. In this talk,global trends analyst Richard Watson speaks about the influence of our rapidly evolving technology on our society. What should technology do for us, beyond much-shared cat videos? In Digital vs Human, Watson predicts the areas of life that could genuinely be improved for the better.

4. Mark Kurlansky: Does Paper have a Future?

17 Aug | 12.30 – 1.30pm | Garden Theatre

For centuries we thought of paper as a wonderful and indispensable invention. Yet in recent years, we seem to have been striving towards a paperless society, suggesting it now has negative connotations. For his book Paper: Paging Through History, Mark Kurlansky, New York Times bestselling author of Cod and Salt, traces paper back to its origins and follows its path towards the digital age.

5. Barbara Rae: Return Journey

1-31 August | 10.00am – 6.00pm | Open Eye Gallery

The Art Festival returns this year with a wide variety of artists to showcase. One of them is artist and printmaker Barbara Rae, whose collection of art pieces encompasses locations from around the world, studying human habitation by ancient and modern societies that live off and work on the land. She works and exhibits here a variety of media, sometimes semi-abstract, often abstract, depicting the ruggedness of life’s daily struggle.

6. Walking Institute – Deveron Arts: Tours

Various Days and times

Part of the Art Festival programme are a series of guided walks and discussions about travel organised by the Walking Institute, Deveron Arts and the Forest Fringe. There is “Walking Women“, where artist’s walks and talks will run alongside a Wikipedia edit-a-thon of women walking artists, an open mic pecha-kucha, a ‘walkie-talkie’ mobile workshop, and a library of walking women books. “How Humans adapt” looks at how the simple process of walking can become an experimental artistic performance. “All Roads lead to Venice/Ugly Walk” is a combination of a guided walk, looking to explore the ugly landscapes of industrial estates, countering the expectations that a beautiful walk is tied to natural landscapes, and a series of discussions concerning artists undertaking long distance journeys.

7. P + P

20-26 August | 11.00am – 4.00pm | Courier Company Pack and Send

P+P explores the issues of waste and recycling in today’s consumerist society. Ten artists from around the world have been sent a 30 x 30 x 30 cardboard box and asked to use it as the basis for creating or sending a new art work. Expect a mix of installation, animation, painting and object-making by artists exploring ideas around the figure, the fantastical and spontaneity.

8. Mogwai & Mark Cousins – Atomic: Living In Dread and Promise

27 & 28 August | 9.00pm | Edinburgh Playhouse

The Edinburgh International Festival once again collects big names in Edinburgh this August, including this collaboration between filmmaker Mark Cousins and musicians Mogwai. With images of protest marches, Cold War confrontation, Chernobyl and Fukushima, Cousins’ impressionistic film is a kaleidoscope of the appalling destructive power of the atomic bomb, and also the beauty and benefits of x-rays and MRI scans. Mogwai’s compelling soundtrack encapsulates the nightmare of the nuclear age, but also its dreamlike beauty.

9. Yann Tiersen

21 & 22 August | 7.30pm | The Hub

French composer and multi-instrumentalist Yann Tiersen is best known for his quirky score to Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 film Amélie. But that only scratches the surface of his enormously rich, magical musical output. After touring the globe for nearly a decade in planes and buses, Tiersen is now slowly cycling around the world, stopping for performances both in traditional venues and in the wilderness.

10. ANOHNI: Hopelessness

17 August | 8.00pm | Edinburgh Playhouse

Working with groundbreaking producers Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke, “Hopelessness“collides an uncompromising electronic dance soundtrack with ANOHNI’s soulful, uplifting vocals. “Hopelessness“ is a scream of fury against the evils of today’s world: mass surveillance, drone warfare, ecocide. Delivered in infectious, unforgettable pop. This is the electronic dance anthem as visceral protest song.

The post #GreenFests: 10 Green Things To Do In Edinburgh This August 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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This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

We recently realised just how much we managed to fit in this summer! I bet you’d be surprised, we were!

Below is a collage of the events we have run this summer, not including our monthly Green Teases. They are in the following order: Going Green: Good for the Screen, “Achieving Social Change, Festival by Festival”, our Green Arts Initiative social media campaign, our #GreenFests blog, the Fringe Sustainable Practice Award, and the Fringe Swap Shops.

 

To find out more about our summer activities take a look at our #GreenFests blog!

Also, just because the festival season is over don’t think that is the end of our Creative Carbon Scotland events!

This month we have our two Green Teases; the first on the 29th of September, an Edinburgh Green Spaces Barge Tour with Edinburgh & Lothian Green Spaces Trust (ELGT) , and the second, on the 30th of September in Glasgow, ‘A Space for Art’ with Dress for the Weather. We also have, coming up in October, our 50 Shades of Green: Stories of Sustainability in the Arts Sector conference at the Pearce Institute in Glasgow.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates of what CCS has planned!

The post Creative Carbon Scotland’s Summer Festival Season 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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This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Back in June Creative Carbon Scotland advertised an opportunity for a local artist to craft this years Fringe Sustainable Practice Award. Those of you that know the award well will remember the original piece of paper we gave to award winners at the live ceremony. Things progressed from there and we presented our winners with a beautifully carved wooden plaque. This year however, we wanted to present the winner with a hand crafted award piece that took into account the ideas and aspirations of the Fringe Sustainable Practice Award.

Sarah Diver Lang

After sieving through all of the proposals, we commissioned Sarah Diver Lang, a printmaker and graphic designer working from Process Studios. The award piece Sarah crafted was beautiful. We therefore wanted to share the story behind its creation, and talk a bit more about Sarah herself.

The concept of the award was to use only found or recycled materials to reflect the spirit of sustainability. Sarah sourced her materials from local areas including Sam Burns Yard in Prestonpans, various car boot sales, and gathered objects from her studio collection.

The award consists of wood, copper, glass and graph paper. Graph paper was used to highlight the process of planning that goes into a sustainable production. The idea of using mixed materials was proposed in the hope that the materials, over time, would react with one another, reflecting our changing attitudes and response to dealing with sustainability.

Only hand techniques were used, without glues or electrical machinery, to keep the energy used to create the award to a minimum. Sarah used a screen print technique to print logos and the crucial winners information onto the wood and paper.

Click to view slideshow.

We asked Sarah what it was that attracted her to the award?

“I was attracted to the award due to the theme of sustainability. It is important to me, as a maker, to consider how or why something is made. It is especially relevant to celebrate this during the Fringe; amongst all the amazing things going on, I feel, there is also far too much of everything. Food and packaging, flyers and brochures hang out of over flowing bins, so it is essential to bring sustainable consideration to this ever growing festival.”

And, what other sustainability initiatives she is engaged with?

“Sustainability is a subject of great interest to me as I become more aware of my responsibility as an artist/ producer. In a lot of ways I add to the problem, as a graphic designer I work mainly in print over digital and am constantly finding my work adding to the world’s ultimate waste. It is conflicting to work in this way, and is a problem a lot of creative people struggle with. To combat this, I am currently making a magazine that deals with compostable paper and ink: ‘Outline’. The magazine will hopefully lead to raising awareness about our throw away culture; with this form of paper its fine to throw away…even encouraged!”

For more information on Sarah Diver Lang and her other inspiring projects, check out her webpage here.

The 2015 Fringe Sustainable Practice Award for sustainable design, content and production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, was awarded to Paines Plough for their production of Lungs, written by Duncan Macmillan, and performed at the Roundabout at Summerhall. For more information on Lungs, see our blogpost here.

The post #GreenFests: Meet Sarah Diver Lang, the crafter of the 2015 Fringe Sustainable Practice Award 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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