This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Though listed in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme as comedy, performer Kate Smurthwaite admits the production is more a TED-style science talk peppered with some laughs. Smurthwaite is a stand-up comedian and political activist who is as often a guest on debate shows as she is in the comedy clubs. Only one of her three productions at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, The Evolution Will Be Televised is a one-hour show in which Smurthwaite talks the audience through some basic evolution and primatology. Ingeniously drawing parallels between the habits of core primate species and human beings, audience members are invited to admit to habits and behaviours also held by orang-utans, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos. Audience members with libations in hand were compared to gorillas, a species known to seek out rotting fruit for its alcohol content.

Key points about the species addressed also included information about the dire circumstances of orang-utan existence. Likely to be the first ape to go extinct, the orang-utan species is threatened by the production of palm oil. Smurthwaite explains the complexity of this issue, as unbeknownst to many consumers (myself included) palm oil is a substance used in the manufacture of thousands of everyday items. This makes it difficult to target the issue, and nearly impossible for informed consumers to avoid products with palm oil.

Smurthwaite further develops the argument for environmental sustainability by raising a common question of primatology- what separates humans from the chimps? Tools and language (both of which are flawed but frequent answers to that question) are used by both humans and apes. The key difference, Smurthwaite explains, is that we (humans) aren’t endangered. Smurthwaite left the audience with a provoking thought nearing the end of her act- “we are the only creatures that can give the rest of evolution the chance to survive.”

“The Evolution Will Be Televised” runs from 2-11, 13-23 August 8.20pm at Ciao Roma. The production is a contender for the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award.

The post #GreenFests highlights: The Evolution Will Be Televised 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

Puppet Animation Scotland is an organisation that hosts festivals, support schemes and activities to encourage and develop the art form of professional puppetry. Their sustainable operations and green-tinged programming provide inspiration for the performing arts community at large, making them a valuable member of the Green Arts Initiative. Creative Carbon Scotland heard from Fay Butler, Festivals and Project Administrator at Puppet Animation Scotland, about the organisation’s recent developments and thoughts on sustainability.

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

PA: We are in the process of creating Environmental Information Packs for artists and venues that we work with. In doing so we aim to engage them in our environmental work – communicating our environmental commitments and giving realistic recommendations and practical support to make greener choices.

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

PA: We have enjoyed being part of a wider community of organisations/artists that we have not worked with before and to discover together new ways of addressing environmental sustainability in the arts.

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

PA: We are excited to discover new productions working with puppets (i.e. James II at the Festival Theatre), as well as seeing some older classics (Ubu and the Truth Commission at the Royal Lyceum Theatre).

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

PA: We have found having an Environmental Action Plan for 2014-15 (with deadlines!) useful for putting ideas into action.

More information and programme of events can be found at Puppet Animation Scotland’s website.

Image credit: Puppet Animation Scotland

The post Green Arts Initiative Spotlight: Puppet Animation Scotland 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

Hosted at an offsite location as part of the Summerhall Festival 2014 series, Out of Water begins with the audience being led across the expanses of Portobello Beach, meeting a collection of performers dressed in identical blue trousers and white shirts. Although not obvious, these performers are largely members of the local Portobello community, recruited by the artists for the series of one hour performances.

Sound is integral to the performance: each audience member is given a device whose headphones emit almost bewilderingly dislocated sound, drowning out the physicality of the immediate environment, individualising each audience member’s experience, and enabling the entrance into the life-world of the performing characters. Throughout the performance audience members experience shipping forecasts that progress into calls for help, and guidance about the flying patterns of geese when familial members are suffering. Jocelyn Pook’s score accompanies the collaborative ‘breathing’ of rope, and the ceasing of the music becomes a powerful tool in commanding the group of audience members.   Equally powerful is the voice of soprano, Laura Wright, whose sound manages to carry on the beach, culminating in a choral song from many of the uncharacterised performers.

Image: Tony Millings

Throughout the performance the notion of time is a central theme, most evidenced through the choice of of locating the production either at sunrise or sunset. The audience awareness of temporal passage is heightened by this, with the light distinction echoing the progression and change the piece depicts: it adds a certain gravity to the performance, the natural light change acting for technical benefit. Although the piece is abstract in nature, this passage of time, and the place of relationships and reciprocity within this time stand out. It is piece that lingers with the observer.

Out of Water does not only relate to sustainability through it’s direct examination and interaction with the physical environment: the piece is produced by Artsadmin, an organisation that aims to be a leader in the arts in responding to climate change through artistic practice, whilst finding ways to reduce the environmental impact of the arts. Throughout the development of the work, the notion of sustainable communities has also been given prominence with Paris and Wright’s liaison with artist and Portobello resident, Michael Sherin. The locally-recruited performers and performances are rooted in the community that they exist within, boosting social interaction and providing artistic opportunities to those who might not otherwise perform at the Fringe.

Out of Water is immersive, not only for its actors, but for those who witness the piece. In the sand and sea-exposed surrounds, it is a production that challenges its audience to confront their relationship to a natural threat and to human resilience: each common threads of growing sustainability concerns in our society.

Out of Water ran from 8-10 August 2014 with dawn and dusk performances at Portobello Beach. The production has been shortlisted for the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award.

Image credits: Tony Millings

The post #GreenFests Highlights: Out of Water 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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