Mon 9 Sept 11.30 – 13.00
Simon Gibson studio
White Light is one the UK’s leading lighting suppliers and as such, their customers use a lot of electricity.  This presentation will try and discover what the real impact of stage lighting is and whether the tungsten light bulb should be banned.
The presentation will be followed by a question & answer session with guest panelists to answer some of the questions raised.
View the White Light Green guide
Tues 10 Sept 16.30 – 18.00
The Willow Theatre
The appropriation of old buildings for the arts has produced some of the most inspiring and dynamic spaces for live performance in the world. From Bochum to Brooklyn, old buildings have proven that they make ideal spaces for theatrical innovation. Adaptive reuse has also been recognized as a key component of sustainable development and green building. In this session, we’ll bring together three of the world’s foremost practitioners in adaptive reuse for live performance for a far-reaching discussion about this complex phenomenon.
Who should attend?
Open to all: especially directors, designers and architects.
Price: £6
Katie Oman Moderator –Senior Consultant, Arts Consulting Group.
Jean-Guy Lecat -Â Director, Studio JGLecat.
Andy Hayles – Managing Partner, Charcoalblue
Jean Nicholson – General Manager, Birmingham Opera Company
Sun 8 Sept 16.30 – 18.00
The Willow Theatre
The Sustainable Theatre competition winner will showcase their winning designs.
World Stage Design 2013 opened up a unique opportunity to design a temporal alternative sustainable theatre. The competition was open to professionals and emerging practitioners from across all related disciplines and received over 100 entries from 26 countries.
The Willow Theatre, designed by architect Tim Lai and theatre designer Brad Steinmetz, both of Columbus, Ohio, USA was voted as the winning design and has been built for the event.
Ian Evans, WSD2013’s technical director and a senior lecturer at RWCMD, said: “The design brief was a tough one. We asked for a venue that was eco-conscious, could seat up to 150 people, host a variety of events and be self-built, all for an outlay of less than £20,000. Yet the response has been magnificent, many using highly original approaches and suggesting a wide variety of materials, including hay bales, cardboard boxes and packing crates. The entry from Brad and Tim was everyone’s favourite, though, because as well as meeting the technical brief, it is going to look and feel very interesting – an innovative blueprint that can be copied for other settings.â€
The building’s strength will come from hired and returnable industrial scaffolding while the decorative fronds and interior walls will be made from UK-produced horticultural fleece, a re-usable material which can also be recycled to make more of the same fabric.
Internal fittings, including the floor and wooden seating will also be re-usable, recyclable and/or reclaimed and the roof will be retractable to take advantage of natural light and ventilation.
Volunteers will build the temporary venue in time for a full programme of events which will see a series of talks, workshops, debates and shows exploring environmental sustainability and the arts. The programme is titled People, Profit, Planet and you can read about it in full here.
You can follow the build of the theatre with the live webcam here.
Stand-up comedy merges with poetic metaphor as the production unpacks the unspoken fears that we keep hidden away and confronts the reality of a world on the brink of profound irreversible change.
This is a theatrical event of contrasts and revelations and sets sustainability in the context of simple, everyday activities and events and provokes us to look at our own lives in a new way.
Challenging, hilarious and passionate, the spoken word is woven into a symphony of startling images and illuminating film clips that feature and celebrate the diversity of the human condition and the tireless work of local activists who in the face of fear, offer hope. Who’s afraid? We all should be but especially climate change deniers and cats!
A Multi Media Performance by Rhodri Hugh Thomas in Collaboration With Carolina Vasquez Based on the poem and art work “Who’s Afraid?†by Susan Richardson and Pat Gregory.
This production has been made possible by a development grant from the Arts Council of Wales.
Open to all.
This performance has travelled to World Stage Design 2013 from within the UK.
THURS 5 SEPT 18.30 BOOK TICKETS
FRI 6 SEPT 13.30 BOOK TICKETS
FRI 6 SEPT 18.30 BOOK TICKETS
Creative Carbon Scotland, Collins and Goto Studio with Chris Malcolm, ecoartscotland and Art Space Nature are pleased to invite you to
Spirit In The Air
Opening: Friday 2 August 6-8pm
at the Tent Gallery, Edinburgh College of Art, Westport, Edinburgh EH3 9DF
(refreshments will be provided)
Spirit in the Air is a visual art, technology and performance project exploring the impacts of the Edinburgh Festivals on climate change. Working with ground-breaking technology generously supplied by Gas Sensing Systems and Envirologger to measure real-time carbon dioxide (CO2) levels when Edinburgh is packed to bursting with artistic activity and people, eminent environmental artists Tim Collins and Reiko Goto will work with Chris Malcolm to ask ‘Can art change the climate?’
‘Carbon Catchers’ will roam the streets and parks of Edinburgh to seek out CO2 hotspots whilst the artists at the Tent Gallery use the measurements to make the invisible comprehensible through visual and sound works.
Spirit in the Air is part of the Edinburgh Art Festival and will be open Monday to Friday, 12 noon-5pm, from 2 – 22 August at the Tent Gallery on Westport, Edinburgh EH3 9DF. For more information click here.
In addition to the exhibition, a discussion programme curated by ecoartscotland will consider questions of art, science, activism and environmentalism in a Festival-long conversation.
Wednesday 7 August 3-5pm, Tent Gallery
Bringing the emotion of the arts to bear on the rigour of the sciences
Saturday 10 August 1.30 – 4pm, Tent Gallery
Art, technology, activism and knowledge in the age of climate change (book here for this event)
Wednesday 14 August 3-5pm, Tent Gallery
Environmental monitoring: Tracking nature in pursuit of aesthetic inter-relationship?
Wednesday 21 August 3-5pm, Tent Gallery
Going beyond the material: Environment and Invisible Forces in the literary, performing and visual arts
For more information contact ben@creativecarbonscotland.com
Please forward this invite to anyone who might be interested.
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Applications are now opened for consideration for the 2013 Fringe Sustainable Production Award, designed to reward sustainable practice in the production of an Edinburgh Festival Fringe show. Productions are invited to engage their audiences with sustainability, take responsibility for their environmental impacts, and think big about how the arts can help to grow a sustainable world. Entries are invited from companies until 18 August, with shortlists announced on 5, 12 & 19 August and the final award being made on Friday 23 August in a ceremony at Fringe Central.
“We believe artists and cultural organisations are uniquely placed to address the challenges brought on by climate change through the art they produce,” says Gemma Lawrence from Creative Carbon Scotland,”The audiences they speak to and the way in which they operate. This major award celebrates action being taken by artists and companies to use the form, content and framing of their work to engage with climate change during the Festival Fringe.”
This year, for the first time, a review of every shortlisted production will be published in The List and The List will also cover the shortlisting events. The winner will receive a special feature and coverage in the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts’ Quarterly Magazine.
The Fringe Sustainable Production Award celebrates the best in environmentalism on the Edinburgh Fringe, and highlights the different exciting approaches Fringe productions are taking to sustainability. We’re inviting all Fringe productions – whether they’ve just started thinking about recycling or whether they’ve been bike-powering venues for years – to apply for this high profile award, and to tell us the new ideas and new ways they have for engaging with sustainability
The award for Sustainable Production on the Fringe was first launched in 2010 at the Hollywood Fringe and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Previous recipients include: The Pantry Shelf (Edinburgh 2010), a satirical comedy that takes place in any ordinary pantry shelf, produced by Team M&M at Sweet Grassmarket; Presque Pret a Porter (Hollywood 2010), produced by Dreams by Machine; and Allotment (Edinburgh 2011) by Jules Horne and directed by Kate Nelson, produced by nutshell productions at the Inverleith Allotments in co-production with Assembly. Last year recipients were D is for Dog by Katie Polebaum and the Rogue Artists ensemble, directed by Sean Calweti (Hollywood 2012) and The Man Who Planted Trees (Edinburgh 2012) adapted from Jean Giono’s story by Ailie Cohen, Richard Medrington, Rick Conte and directed by Ailie Cohen, produced by the Edinburgh’s Puppet State Theatre.
Ian Garrett and Miranda Wright founded the CSPA in early 2008 after individually working on each of the programs that now make up the multi-faceted approach to sustainability separately. 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 Theater, Diverseworks Artspace, Indy Convergence, York University, LA Stage Alliance and others.
“The purpose of this award is not just to recognize the greenest production. Our objective in offering this award is to ask questions of ourselves, as theater artists, about the greater impact of our work on the world around us. The fringe model provides an ideal platform to introduce these ideas,” says Wright, “The CSPA is not just another ‘go green’ organization. We hope to gather and distribute information that aids in the sustainability of the earth, the sustainability of our communities, and the sustainability of our art.â€
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 andScottish 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:
Why sustainable practice in the cultural sector?
Like all sectors, the cultural sector faces risks from climate change and the legal, social and economic changes it will bring. Much more than many other sectors, arts and cultural organisations have huge potential to provoke crucial public behaviour change. We believe cultural organisations are uniquely placed to address the challenges brought on by climate change through the art they produce, the audiences they speak to and the way in which they operate themselves.
CONTACT: Ian Garrett – fringe@sustainablepractice.org – US 818-687-6655 – UK 0759 744 1915
MORE INFO:
CSPA Fringe Initiatives: https://www.sustainablepractice.org/programs/fringe/
2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Questionnaire: http://bit.ly/cspafringe13
Creative Carbon Scotland: http://www.creativecarbonscotland.com/
This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland
Eden3, Collins & Goto, 2006 ongoing
ecoartscotland is pleased to partner with Creative Carbon Scotland and Edinburgh College of Art to present Collins & Goto’s Spirit in the Air at the Edinburgh Art Festival 2013.
Collins & Goto, the eminent US ecological artists now based in Scotland, will present new work, using the Tent Gallery as a base of operations and performance to explore the actual rate and flow of CO2 in the environment in Edinburgh. Â This project asks the question If humans produce gas in cities and there are no trees around to breathe it, does anyone care?
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
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The Goethe Institut Thessaloniki, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Greece and the European theatre network Mitos21 are happy to invite you to the International Conference:
SUSTAINABILITY AND CULTURE / Sustainable Cultural Management
which will take place on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 April 2013 in Thessaloniki, Greece, at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall (“Maurice Saltiel” conference room)
Admission to the conference is free.
For registration and any further information:Â welcome@thessalonikiconference.org
If you wish to attend the conference, please note that there is a special arrangement with ABC Hotel in Thessaloniki, with a rate of 52 euros/single room and 72 euros/double room, inclusive of breakfast and free internet. For reservations please write directly to info@hotelabc.gr or call 0030 2310 265421 / key word: green-conference.
Attached hereby the conference-programme in pdf format. You may also visit the conference website: www.thessalonikiconference.org or access it via www.mitos21.com
We hope to see you soon in Thessaloniki!
The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts (CSPA) has awarded the third CSPA Fringe Award for Sustainable Production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to The Man Who Planted Trees adapted from Jean Giono’s story by Ailie Cohen, Richard Medrington, Rick Conte and directed by Ailie Cohen. It is produced by the Edinburgh’s Puppet State Theater, and is currently on tour in North America.
Giono, who passed in 1970, has said about The Man Who Planted Trees in 1957: “I wrote this story to make people love trees, or more precisely to make people love planting trees. Of all my stories it is one of the ones of which I am most proud. It has never earned me a penny and for that reason it has accomplished the very purpose for which it was written.”
“The Man Who Planted Trees was chosen because of the synchronicity of the themes and the physical production of the show.†comments Ian Garrett, co-founder and Director of the CSPA. “ The award is intended to reward both smartly addressing issues of sustainability and production practices. Further, we recognize that in the Fringe environment, the physically production is often partially determined by the resources and time made available by the venues. What made The Man Who Planted Trees stand out is that it was able to successfully combine these factors into one of the most consistently lauded productions of the festival.â€
The award is determined by the submission of a questionnaire about how the show was produced and audience response. The Man Who Planted Trees’ production team was able to provide comprehensive technical information for the production, which showed a commitment to design and resource efficiency. This considered approach also factored into their communications and marketing. All of these factors were further supported by the themes of the play.
The CSPA Directors, Ian Garrett and Miranda Wright adjudicated the award, along with select CSPA affiliates and friends. This year marked the beginning of a closer relation with Festival Edinburgh, which supports all of the festivals throughout August and the rest of the year. For the original Edinburgh Fringe application, Mhora Samuel and Tim Atkinson from The Theatres Trust’s European Regional Development Fund-backed Ecovenue project helped the CSPA adapt the criteria for a UK audience, providing guidance on UK equivalents to US name brands, as well as providing insight on measuring conventions and policy.
“The CSPA is not just another ‘go green’ organization,†says Wright. “We hope to gather and distribute information that aids in the sustainability of the earth, the sustainability of our communities, and the sustainability of our art. And so, the purpose of this award is not to recognize the greenest production. Our objective in offering this award is to ask questions of ourselves, as theater artists, about the greater impact of our work on the world around us. The fringe model provides an ideal platform to introduce these ideas and the award due to the expectations and scale of the shows.â€
“Even more so than we want someone to score perfectly on the questionnaire we use to evaluate shows, we want theater artists to look at the questions and think about how it helps to guide their thinking about sustainability in the their art. There may be questions asked in ways they hadn’t thought, and we hope they ask these questions of their next project and the project after that,†adds Garrett.
Ian Garrett and Miranda Wright founded the CSPA in early 2008 after individually working on each of the programs that now make up the multi-faceted approach to sustainability separately. 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 Theater, Diverseworks Artspace, Indy Convergence, York University, LA Stage Alliance and others.
This post comes to you from Ashden Directory
Joan Littlewood
Wallace Heim writes:
Seminars about sustainability and the arts often, usefully but repeatedly, focus on energy use and material consumption. A public conversation at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, ‘What’s the Big Idea?’, organised by Creative Carbon Scotland and Festivals Edinburgh, nodded to the material imperatives – the plastic cups – then shifted the discussion to the processes of making theatre that don’t fit with the accountancy of sustainability, to the unintended consequences of sustainable decisions, and to the need for sharing more technologies more widely.
The conversation opened with provocations from Erica Whyman, Artistic Director of Northern Stage, and Anthony Alderson, Director of the Pleasance Theatre Trust, chaired by Harry Giles, Environment Officer of Festival Edinburgh, and hosted by Ben Twist of Creative Carbon Scotland.
A phrase from Whyman recurred throughout the discussion. She quoted theatre director Joan Littlewood speaking about how to make theatre, and how to challenge the hierarchies in power: ‘We must get lost if we are to make a new route.’
Whyman compared ‘getting lost’ to the need in theatre production for not adhering to absolute objectives, whether financial, material or ideological. The question, for Whyman, is not why more artists don’t make work about climate change. Artists make the work they want to make; they are not essayists or teachers. Rather, artists get lost, and create something that surprises.< The surprises, or unintended consequences of working within financial constraints have meant theatres having to work with different economic models. Whyman’s example was Northern Stage’s decision to group together artists, makers and staff in accommodation in Edinburgh for their series of productions at St. Stephen’s church. Inadvertently, they created a commune, a creative and powerful way of working together as a team. These aspects of consensus and democracy are forgotten, according to Whyman, in the accountancy of sustainability and in the apocalyptic narratives of climate change. Alderton spoke of the need to look for the wider questions behind the requests for the artistic community to recycle or use less energy. Every company working with the Pleasance plants a tree in Scotland. This is a trade. Theatres are places of trade, artistically and materially, and need to share their technologies, be less possessive about their productions and share ideas. ‘Getting lost’ figured in many of the audience’s questions. If theatre productions set the conditions for the audience to get lost in finding a new route, and organisations set the conditions for productions, how do directors and curators more immediately set the conditions for artists to ‘get lost’ in creating new work about sustainability or the climate? Why might artists not be willing to engage with, get lost, in the scientific and the political aspects of climate change? How can artists be encouraged to hold contradictory ideas in tension in creative ways, like the tension between where we are now, and where we could be heading? Too, there were questions about the relation between theatre and the public; about whether theatre should teach; about audiences’ carbon footprints and whether the arts world had responsibility for audiences' travel.
The slight change of perspective connected the achievement of carbon reduction figures to the relations and effects between material use and communal, artistic and intellectual change – a viable new route.
“ashdenizen blog and twitter are consistently among the best sources for information and reflection on developments in the field of arts and climate change in the UK†(2020 Network)
ashdenizen is edited by Robert Butler, and is the blog associated with the Ashden Directory, a website focusing on environment and performance.
The Ashden Directory is edited by Robert Butler and Wallace Heim, with associate editor Kellie Gutman. The Directory includes features, interviews, news, a timeline and a database of ecologically – themed productions since 1893 in the United Kingdom. Our own projects include ‘New Metaphors for Sustainability’, ‘Flowers Onstage’ and ‘Six ways to look at climate change and theatre’.The Directory has been live since 2000.
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