This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

What were our aims?

This March we gathered at Comar in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull for our second annual Arts and Sustainability Artist Residency. Our group included 12 artists from across Scotland, as well as a museum/art conservator, a researcher, two of us from Creative Carbon Scotland and a polymath who also works for Creative Scotland.

This year’s residency was structured around a weekend-long discussion on the extraordinary and ambitious Sustainable Development Goals proposed by a working group of the United Nations. These 17 goals have been hammered out over two years by 70 countries from both the developed and the developing world and if they are agreed by the UN in September will come into force on 1 January 2016, with the aim of achieving the goals by 2030.

Although at first glance it might be difficult to see what these goals have to do with artistic practice, we were keen to collectively explore whether they could be connected, which goals held particular traction for the artists involved and how we might use them to develop future work .

UN post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals

Building on last year’s residency we also worked more closely with Comar to deepen our understanding of the organisation and the context of Mull.

We had a number of ambitions, including:

• To provide artists, who may or may not have previously thought about environmental sustainability in their practice, with the space and stimuli to consider how it might drive new ways of working;
• To collectively develop artists’, Creative Carbon Scotland’s and Comar’s thinking about how environmental sustainability can be engaged with in different artistic practices on practical and conceptual levels.
• To nurture and build a creative community of practice which embeds environmental sustainability at its core.

What did we do?

Over the course of the weekend, our facilitator Mike Bonaventura from the Crichton Carbon Centre led us through different exercises to reflect on and discuss how we might engage with the SDGs through our individual or organisational practices.

The ambition of the SDGs is no mean feat with the first goal reading ‘End poverty in all its forms everywhere’! Each SDG has more tangible and specific objectives attached, but nonetheless these are global and very high level aims. In spite of this, it became clear that each of us could see how the SDGs could affect us, how we could contribute to their achievement and how the arts and cultural sector could play its part.

Rebuilt sheep enclosure, FANK project, Mull

We spent Saturday afternoon braving the wind and rain on a site visit to a public art/heritage project initiative by artist Emma Herman-Smith where an old sheep fank is being restored. Led by Sion Parkinson, Creative Director of Visual Art, Craft & Film at Comar, we learnt about the history and ambitions of the site (with some sheep role play along the way to keep us warm). This discussion continued on Saturday evening when some Mull residents joined the group and we shared thoughts on Comar’s contribution to the sustainability of Mull’s small island community with a population of only 3,000 people.

On Sunday we were asked to start thinking practically, breaking into smaller group sessions before returning for a concluding group discussion. Each group was asked to imagine what the world would look like in 50 years’ time if it had been successfully reshaped according to the relevant SDGs and therefore reflected the focus on either Dignity, Justice, Partnership or Planet – four of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s guiding principles for the SDGs. In addition, we considered how art and artists had contributed to these future societies, and finally what the continuing place of the arts would be in such a world.

What did we learn?

Although Creative Carbon Scotland’s focus is on environmental sustainability, much of the discussions had over the weekend involved ideas and questions around social sustainability: the SDGs focus on achieving gender equality and promoting the role of women and girls in sustainability matters and debates as well as on reducing inequality within and among countries. But they also focus on creating sustainable employment; on preserving ecosystems and the natural environment; and on the sustainable management of water. All of the participants found something that not only they could relate to in their work but they were enthusiastic about, that powered their artistic work and their lives. These weren’t remote, high level goals but ideas they could use day in, day out.

The more practical task of pinpointing how art and artists had helped achieve more sustainable future scenarios was challenging but there was no doubt about the enthusiasm amongst the group and the belief that art was and should be involved. A few of the points that came up included:

• A society based on partnership will require a common, shared vision and also an emotional aspect: a partner needs to feel, to engage in order to get behind a vision. Emotional commitment can be the realm of art.
• Historically art has usually been focused on what we might call ‘the project’: ensuring the cohesion of the hunter-gatherer group, celebrating the glory of one or more gods, maintaining the demos in ancient Greece. All these are about the sustainability of society. Maybe we need to be more enthusiastic about contributing to the modern ‘project’ of sustainability.
• A reclaiming of the idea of ‘entrepreneurship’, moving it away from a focus on economics and towards a concept of ‘undertaking’ things, doing and acting. This seemed to fit well with what artists do.

The weekend finished with a discussion about what to do next. It was suggested that an important part of Creative Carbon Scotland’s role was to emphasise the valuing of sustainability thinking, not just to normalise it – in a way some of the work of making it a normal part of day to day life is already happening.

The SDGs provided the artists with justification and confidence about incorporating sustainability into their work, and the residency had strengthened their confidence that they were part of a group with shared values. The ‘community of practice’ that CCS is developing would and should do the same and we will use the opportunity of our upcoming April Green Tease to consider how Scotland’s artists and communities can contribute towards the Paris COP21.

We also looked forward to future residencies and other projects and sought comments on the structure of this one. There was great support for the work, but a number of people asked for a wider age range of participants; a wider range of activities and ways of working during the weekend; and getting outside more into the landscape (points all taken!).

Stephanie de Roemer, who was documenting the residency, will produce a more thorough report of the weekend’s events and discussions, which will be available to all in the near future. In the meantime, the thinking goes on. Thanks to all who contributed to the weekend – it was truly inspiring!

Images: Vivian Ross-Smith, vivianrosssmith.wordpress.com

The post Mulling on Mull: 2015 Artist Residency Reflections 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 award is supported by the Scottish government and recognises projects that show good local design, conservation, placemaking and civic pride.

The judges of the award had glowing reviews for the North Edinburgh Grows project, touching on the inspiring nature of the project and its devotion to the community:

“The North Edinburgh Grows project is both inspiring and humbling.  In the face of many challenges the designers, client and local community have transformed an unloved bit of land into a remarkable resource for local residents and visitors.   It is exactly the sort of project which the My Place Awards were set up to acknowledge – inventive, playful, life-enhancing and civic-minded.  It is a worth winner.”

Our October 2014 Green Tease introduced the North Edinburgh Grows project to Green Tease members. During this gathering, we heard about the development of the project from North Edinburgh Arts director Kate Wimpress. We also discussed the role of artists within the garden space with the current artist-in-residence Natalie Taylor. The North Edinburgh Grows project clearly captures the imagination and interest of locals, both young and old, who can become involved with the project by growing their own food, contributing to garden maintenance, or participating in one of Natalie’s many projects.

The winners of the 2015 My Place Awards are being exhibited at The Lighthouse (Glasgow) until 6th May 2015.

More information about the award and North Edinburgh Arts’ accomplishment can be read at the My Place Awards website.

North Edinburgh Arts is a member of the Green Arts Initiative, a simple accreditation scheme designed to give venues and organisations the advice, support and tools they need to become greener and let audiences and the public know what they are doing. Join the growing number of arts organisations working towards a more sustainable Scotland and become a member of the Green Arts Initiative in 2015!

Image: North Edinburgh Grows, courtesy Katie Fulton photography

The post Green Arts Initiative Member Wins 2015 Scottish Civic Trust My Place Award 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

Here are some of the key choices we made when designing the GALA/Glasgow’s Green event:

Choosing a Responsible Venue

The choice of venue can have huge limiting or enabling factors when it comes to the overall sustainability of events. We chose Tramway, an international arts venue and ex-tram terminus, developed from the industrial past of Pollockshields, as part of Glasgow’s 1990 City of Culture year. Its status as an existing arts space, and its familiarity with staging similar events meant we could rely on the venue, and reduce resource consumption (in contrast to the new resources required to develop or adapt an alternative location).

Tramway also stood out amongst arts venues in its efforts towards sustainability:

• It’s part of our Green Arts Initiative: an arts organisations accreditation scheme that gives venues and organisations the advice, support and tools they need to become greener and let audiences and the public know what they are doing.
• As a venue run by Glasgow Arts (part of Glasgow Life cultural trust), it benefits from the Venue Environmental Team (VET). Each Glasgow Life venue uses an Environmental Resources Pack, and plans that examine sustainable lighting, energy, suppliers, travel and carbon reduction measures.
• As part of this, Tramway logs its waste uplifts and recycling rate, and its gas and energy use through their building management system, making staff more aware of resource use, and more prepared to make positive changes.
• It is also aiming to bring sustainability to the primary planning stages of all productions, with a recent agreement to implement a Pre-show Production Green Action Plan, identifying the sustainability needs, challenges and possibilities for the theatre, dance and visual arts productions hosted at Tramway.

Minimising Our Use of Resources through Careful Procurement

As the scale of an event increases, as does the likely consumption of material resources and resultant waste. With each day of the GALA/Glasgow’s Green event seeing a doubling number of attendees than previously, maintaining efficient and low carbon resource use was one of our key priorities.

As the event organisers, we were able to shape the event around these needs:

• Using Local Suppliers – when sourcing for extra equipment and materials for use during GALA/Glasgow’s Green, we chose to use suppliers from Glasgow whenever possible. We were able to host an afternoon workshop around Scottish food, social and environmental sustainability and art at the Hidden Gardens, in the gardens of Tramway, which used site-sourced ingredients!
• Using Only What’s Necessary – with careful consultation with our suppliers, and estimation of our attendees, we made sure any materials were appropriate for our event. We designed our programme and signage to be clear and direct for use within the venue, only printed enough programmes for a realistic estimate of attendance, and curated workshops that required little or no technical (energy) support.
• Recycling and Sustainable Sources – in those cases where the use of new materials was necessary, we chose to hire as much as possible, reducing our economic and carbon costs, encouraging reuse rather than asset purchase, and printed our programme on FSC approved paper, ensuring the sustainable ethos throughout our supplier chain.

Communicating Our Sustainability Concerns, and Encouraging Our Audiences’ Engagement

Bringing large groups of people together can often have a large carbon footprint – even when there may be a sustainability intent. In our advertisement of our event, and our advice to attendees, we aimed for our efforts towards minimal environmental impact also to be prioritised by our audience.

• We used an online ticketing system (Eventbrite) instead of physical ticketing, with attendees able to show tickets on mobile devices, and communicated to those registered for workshops exclusively through email, minimising paper waste.
• We put together an event guide for attendees, advising exclusively of the public transport methods of getting to our venue in order to encourage sustainable transportation to the event.
• All food we provided across the three days of the GALA/Glasgow’s Green: Imagining a Sustainable City event was vegetarian (and delicious), providing a low-carbon and health conscious meal.

These are just some of the planning considerations that went into making the GALA/Glasgow’s Green event as sustainable as possible. However, often the most sustainability-driven considerations are those not obvious in their absence: we chose against paper flyering, resource-intensive workshop proposals, high-energy productions, and non-recyclable publicity materials, without diminishing the nature of the event.

For more examples of ways to make your events more sustainable, either as an arts venue, or as an organisation hosting an event, have a look at our case studies.

Image: John Lord/Creative Commons

The post GALA: A Sustainable Event 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 Green Art Lab Alliance was a two-year, EU-funded project, working with 19 partners across 17 different European countries that aimed to explore the links between arts and environmental sustainability. From 12th – 14th March 2015 the final meeting of the partners and contributors was hosted by Creative Carbon Scotland and Glasgow Arts at Tramway.

On Thursday 12th March, we heard from a variety of the European GALA partners, and discovered more about great range of approaches being taken to address and drive arts and sustainability discussion at various cultural levels. Over the past two years, partners have chosen to explore concepts in a ‘workshop’ or a ‘lab’ format, with examples ranging from the Georgian ‘Discover Eliava‘ project (a collaboration of foreign and local artists focused on the production of work using waste materials in the context of a changing urban landscape) to a programmed symposium in Rotterdam, entitled “More than Double Glazing“, held by the Jan Van Eyck Academie in the Netherlands.

We also discussed how we communicate within- and cross-culturally about such artistic projects, and the socio-political challenges of driving cultural responses to sustainability efforts. One of the most prominent ideas throughout the first day of the GALA 2015 meeting was the theme of ‘trust’ required when working within the context of environmental sustainability in the arts. The concept of a collaborative artistic network as a way to exchange specific knowledge, and promote equal project growth was returned to throughout the day, and there was a great sense that the GALA project was the instigation of work with much more longevity and expansion to offer: perhaps continuing to exist as a community of practice. 

This was followed by a day of placing cultural sustainability efforts within the Glasgow context, particularly within the framing of Glasgow’s Green Year 2015: a city-wide celebration of environmental sustainability projects in the urban surrounds. Speakers from Glasgow Life and Glasgow City Council outlined the city’s ambitions at a creative and low-carbon level, and GALA partners shared their experiences working within Europe, and under common objectives. Learning and change required at the individual, organisational and structural level were identified as requirements for achieving national carbon reduction targets, and enabling the paradigm shift required of the cultural sector.

The final day of the GALA event took the form of an open programme of 17 artistic workshops, discussions and events, entitled “Glasgow’s Green: Imagining a Sustainable City“, and focused on practical interaction between the arts and sustainability. To see the full programme, click here.

But the culmination of the two year GALA project does not mark the end of arts and sustainability activities across Europe: rather, it indicates a point for reflection on progress thus far, and a recognition of the expanding approaches to addressing sustainability concerns across the cultural sector.

Here are just a few of the projects continuing across the European, national and city scale:

• ArtCop21

COAL and Cape Farewell, the two European partners behind ArtCop21, will mobilise artists and the wider cultural sector to create a festival and cultural symposium during Cop21: the 21st United Nations Conference on Climate Change.

From 30th November until 10th December 2015, they will create a cultural-climate festival in the city of Paris, responding to the importance of the conference in deciding future international efforts to affect climatic change, and providing an alternative agenda to the traditionally politics and science emphasis of Cop21.

The city-wide event aims to use the arts to widen accessibility and provoke engagement with visions for a positive, sustainable future, supported by the fact that the United Nations have officially recognised culture as a potential ‘4^th pillar’ of sustainable development: acting alongside society, economy and the physical environment as an instigator and driver in sustainable development.

To find out more, or register an event to be part of the symposium, click here.

• Green Tease

As part of our contribution towards the GALA project, Creative Carbon Scotland began our monthly Green Tease get-togethers, bringing together arts and sustainability folk to discuss the role of the arts in approaching sustainability over tea.

Post- GALA, we will continue to host our regular events in Glasgow (running since 2013) and Edinburgh (running since 2014): each time joined by a speaker from the artistic or environmental worlds to present how environmental sustainability is embedded or interpreted within their work. Our hope is to give all sides of the group a new perspective on what others are doing and enable them to work together more effectively and creatively.

You can read more about our Green Teases within the GALA context here, and sign up to our mailing list to find out about the upcoming Green Tease events near you. If you’re interested in the events of previous Green Teases across various venues in the Central Belt, go to our website page.

• Glasgow’s Year of Green 2015

Over this year, Glasgow is hosting a series of events highlighting the natural assets, the innovative spirit and the sustainable change happening in the city as they grow their green efforts. Glasgow’s Green 2015 aims to celebrate the city’s ambition to become one of the most sustainable cities in Europe, with festivals, activities and opportunities centred around sustainable urban life.

The Glasgow GALA event was supported by Glasgow Life – the cultural trust that supports all of Glasgow’s Arts and cultural activities – forming just one of the many Green Year actions of the cultural sector.

During the Glasgow’s Green: Imagining a Sustainable City event, we collected contributions of arts and sustainability activities taking place across the city, detailed here in our interactive map. Email catriona.patterson@creativecarbonscotland.com if you know of more Glasgow happenings!

Image: Tobias Schiller/Creative Commons 

The post GALA and Glasgow’s Green: What Next? 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

How does GALA relate to Glasgow? 

The initial notion of hosting the final GALA meeting in Glasgow arose out of the desire to highlight the emerging green arts network and progressive sustainability goals of the city. The Glasgow Green Year 2015 celebrates the city’s aspirations to be a leading example of social, economic and environmental sustainability. Here at Creative Carbon Scotland we realise the importance of including the arts and cultural sector within this movement for a brighter, more sustainable future.

What is culture and how is it connected to sustainability initiatives?

A broad definition of culture is our way of life, incorporating our language, food, politics and values as well as the arts and humanities. What we often term ‘culture’ – the arts, museums, film, TV, design, advertising – are some of the ways in which we express this wider culture and are also an important way in which this culture is shaped, informed, disseminated and changed. Therefore not only does the cultural sector have huge potential to change and influence the society in which we live, it is essential to doing so.

Creative Carbon Scotland’s vision is of a Scottish cultural sector that is playing a central role in shaping a sustainable Scotland. We believe the cultural sector can do this through the work it makes and presents, the way it operates, and what it says and how it speaks to the public. This represents a significant change to the status quo, and one we believe to be both necessary and possible.

What does the final GALA general meeting represent?

The 2015 GALA meeting is a way of starting this process of shifting the status quo, responding specifically to the wealth of cultural activity and creative resources available in Glasgow. This final GALA general meeting is a representation of a larger network that is very much alive and growing in Scotland.

The first two days of the GALA general meeting will instigate discussions and collaboration between the GALA network and the institutions that represent Glasgow’s cultural communities, including Glasgow Arts and Museums, Glasgow Life and Glasgow City Council. The third day (14^th March 2015) is open to the public for Glasgow’s Green: Imagining a Sustainable City. On this day, Tramway will be transformed into a hub of green arts activities, with 18 artist-led workshops and drop-ins. However, this day offers much more beyond the workshops.

We invite you to come along to Glasgow’s Green: Imagining a Sustainable City to participate in the larger group discussions about arts and sustainability at the beginning, middle and end of the day. There will also be a community-created map in the upper foyer; participants can pin and share projects on this map to help create a visualisation of the green arts community. Feel free to bring along your own resources, ideas, project information and critical thoughts to share with others about the connection between arts and sustainability.

The 2015 GALA general meeting offers a significant chance for discussions and collaborations. We are certainly looking forward to experiencing the energy that this event is sure to bring!

What are your thoughts on the influence of arts in building a more sustainable future?

Feel free to share your ideas and questions via Twitter @CCScotland, or come along to Glasgow’s Green: Imagining a Sustainable City to participate in this ongoing discussion.

More event information can be found at the event programme page.

Updates and insights from the 2015 GALA general meeting will be shared on our GALA 2015 blog.

The post GALA 2015: Embracing Glasgow’s Green Spirit 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

Powered by WPeMatico

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

This December the United Nations will call all the world’s leaders to Paris for COP 21 to make a crucial agreement to limit climate change. We want to use the opportunity of COP 21 to raise awareness of the links between sustainability, climate change and the arts.

Join us for our April Edinburgh and Glasgow Green Tease events which will explore how artists and communities across Scotland can respond to or engage with COP 21 and how Creative Carbon Scotland can support this.

Sign up here for our Edinburgh (Monday 27^th April, 3 – 5pm) and Glasgow (Tuesday 28th April, 3 – 5pm) events. As always we’ll have tea, coffee and biscuits on arrival!

Following a busy time in March with Glasgow’s Green: Imagining a Sustainable City at Tramway and our Mull Arts & Sustainability 2015 Residency, we want to build on the new connections made and momentum gained during these projects and work with you to develop our Green Tease programme over the coming months.

COP 21 (or the 21^st Conference Of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to give it its full title) will aim to agree legal limits on the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere that will reduce a global temperature rise of a just-about manageable 2⁰C. Already China and the US – big emitters and barriers to previous agreements – have made significant commitments that suggest success may be in sight.

ArtCOP21 is a parallel event taking place in Paris in December where artists will use their work to raise awareness of the issues and encourage the leaders to take bold steps to protect the environment and humanity. Alongside this, we’re interested in the idea of ArtCOP Scotland that sees events and activities throughout Scotland highlighting the Paris discussions and placing the focus on how they involve and relate to all of us here – at home, at work, at school. We want to widen the debate in December to include artists and communities across the country.

Sign up here for our Edinburgh (Monday 27^th April, 3 – 5pm) and Glasgow (Tuesday 28th April, 3 – 5pm) events.

Please email gemma.lawrence@creativecarbonscotland.com if you have any questions and otherwise we look forward to seeing you there!

The post April Green Tease: ArtCOP Scotland 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

At 8.30pm on Saturday 28th March 2015, cities and towns across the world will go dark for Earth Hour, an hour-long collective movement towards reducing our environmental impact.

Earth Hour, organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), is a global participatory event that asks individuals, organisations, landmarks, schools and businesses to turn their lights off for an hour as a symbolic collective act. Wide and inclusive participation in Earth Hour gathers a community to incite positive change surrounding the need to reduce energy consumption.

We’d like to see creative possibilities that respond to the Earth Hour prompt, and believe that artists and cultural sector organisations can play a leading role in making Earth Hour 2015 the most widely participated Earth Hour to date!

Many arts and sustainability organisations across Scotland have already committed to participating in Earth Hour, providing a variety of gatherings to attend, or to inspire your own action. On the eve of Earth Hour 2015, Creative Carbon Scotland will be engaging with artists at our Mull Residency. We’ll be taking the entire weekend to discuss how artistic practices can contribute to a greener, healthier, more equal planet.

The following are select Scottish organisations that have signed up to participate–

Ambassadors Theatre Group will expand their efforts of audience engagement after the success of their Earth Hour 2014 participation. There will be an offer of discounted tickets at King’s & Theatre Royal for those willing to commit to recycling.

Creative Scotland is leading by example with their participation in Earth Hour 2015!

Green Arts Initiative member Edinburgh Festival of Cycling will be participating in Earth Hour 2015. Visit the festival’s website for more information and upcoming events.

Following Glasgow’s recognition as a ‘Super Local Authority‘ in Earth Hour 2014, the Glasgow City Council is looking to expand their plans for Glasgow’s Green Year. Demonstrations and activities at George Square will highlight kinetic energy- sustained by those who participate in the gathering!

National Galleries Scotland will be switching off lights at the Scottish National Gallery and Royal Scottish Academy for the hour in promotion of the cause.

North Lanarkshire Council is running a special photography workshop to capture the effects of Earth Hour 2015 on the night sky, aiming to note decreases in light pollution during the event.

An iconic landmark designed by artist Andy Scott, The Kelpies, will cease to be illuminated during Earth Hour 2015.

Vegware will fully shutdown their office over the weekend. This means no ‘standby’ or ‘powersave’ modes, and no heating, but a complete turning off of all devices and electricity!

The entire list of participants in Earth Hour 2015 can be viewed on the Earth Hour map.

Are you participating in Earth Hour 2015? Share your actions with us via Twitter @CCScotland using #earthhour #greenarts

Image: WWF

The post Lights out and power down for Earth Hour 2015 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

Powered by WPeMatico

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

The Glasgow School of Art Sustainability in Action group and Artists Using Resources in the Community will host an exhibition next week showing a culmination of work from the year. The ‘Counting Consciousness‘ exhibition shows research, learning and outcomes from the past year alongside work from project reSOURCE. Attendees are invited “to embark on a journey through 15 months’ work exploring the edge between creativity and sustainability.”

The exhibition will be held 9th March- 11th March 2015 at Fleming House (Glasgow School of Art)- with a honey tasting and workshops on Tuesday 10th March. More information about the event can be found at the GSA Sustainability website.

GSA Sustainability is a network of artists, staff and members of the larger arts community at the Glasgow School of Art who are engaging with issues of sustainability within an arts context. The GSA Sustainability in Action Group aims to develop, inform and oversee the implementation of the GSA’s Sustainability Strategy. Artists Using Resources in the Community is a Climate Challenge Funded (CCF) project based within the Glasgow School of Art, with the aim of reducing the GSA’s carbon emissions by 100 tonnes before March 2015. The collaboration between these two groups has produced an evolving group of dedicated artists and creatives within the GSA community whom have produced significant explorations of the links between arts and sustainability. More information about this group can be found here.

The post ‘Counting Consciousness’ at GSA 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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