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Opportunity: Enthograms Micro-Residency

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Ethnograms: A micro-residency for artists, designers, programmers and anthropologists

21st-23rd May, 2014, Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh

We welcome applications from artists, designers and programmers to participate in the Ethnograms Micro-Residency; an opportunity to work with a team of anthropologists at the University of Edinburgh to develop new ways of visualising social relationships with diagrams, info-graphics and maps.

Anthropologists Alice Street and Jamie Cross have been working in Papua New Guinea since 2003, exploring the ways in which people mobilise their relationships in order to access healthcare and energy in a place where large-scale, centralised infrastructures such as roads or power-lines are absent. Their current ESRC funded project ‘Off the Grid: Relational Infrastructures for Fragile Futures’ seeks to find new ways of visualising the relational qualities of infrastructure in such off-grid locations by harnessing the simple power of the diagram and bringing it into engagement with new technologies for web-based, interactive infographics and mapping.

Anthropology has a long history of using maps and diagrams to visualise kinship or exchange relationships, but a lack of engagement with the visual and digital arts has meant that the full potential of these visual methodologies has not been realised. Through collaborations with artists, designers and programmers, this exploratory micro-residency aims to develop a new visual form out of the complementary methods, skills, experience and knowledge of social scientists, artists, designers and programmers: the ethno-gram. Artists, designers and programmers will have the opportunity to work closely with the anthropologists and to engage with a large body of ethnographic material from Papua New Guinea.

The micro-residency will culminate in a pop-up exhibition of ‘Ethnograms’ and will feed into a larger scale public exhibition of project outputs in early 2015. Following the residency the University of Edinburgh team are looking to select an artist to collaborate with more closely and to award a £5,000 commission.

The deadline for applications is Tuesday 6th May.

Click here for the application form. Please complete and email to alice.street@ed.ac.uk.

The post Opportunity: Enthograms Micro-Residency 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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International Award Celebrates a Greener Edinburgh Fringe

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This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Applications are now open for the 2014 Fringe Sustainable Practice Award, celebrating the greenest and most sustainable shows on the Edinburgh Fringe.

This project, a partnership between Creative Carbon Scotland and the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, rewards shows which 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.

Applications are open from February 19th to July 18th, with a shortlist announced in The List on July 30th, and the winner announced in a ceremony at Fringe Central on August 22nd.

“We believe artists and cultural organisations are uniquely placed to address the challenges brought on by climate change,” says Ben Twist, Director of Creative Carbon Scotland.

“This major award celebrates and publicises their innovative work during the Festival Fringe.”

The award for Sustainable Production on the Fringe was first launched in 2010 at the Hollywood Fringe and Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

“We see the arts as the best driver of sustainable societies and it’s not just our opinion: data shows that performance promotes positive environmental, social, and economic impacts,” says Ian Garrett, Director of the CSPA.

“The fringe model provides an ideal platform to start working with sustainable ideas through all of the freedoms and restrictions the festival allows!”

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of cultural organisations using the arts to help shape a sustainable Scotland.

The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts is in the Arts is a Think Tank for Sustainability in the Arts and Culture.

Shows can apply now at https://www.sustainablepractice.org/fringe/

Previous Edinburgh recipients include: The Pantry Shelf (2010), a satirical comedy that takes place in any ordinary pantry shelf, produced by Team M&M at Sweet Grassmarket; Allotment (2011) by Jules Horne and directed by Kate Nelson, produced by Nutshell Productions at the Inverleith Allotments in co-production with Assembly; The Man Who Planted Trees (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; and How to Occupy an Oil Rig (2013), by Daniel Bye and Company, produced at Northern Stage. Awardees have gone on to future success on the Fringe and presentations around the world including as close as Cardiff for World Stage Design, and as far as New Zealand and all across the US and Canada.

Contact:

Ben Twist, Director, Creative Carbon Scotland
ben@creativecarbonscotland.com
0131 529 7909
www.creativecarbonscotland.com

www.sustainablepractice.org/fringe/

Image Credit: EFF

The post International Award Celebrates a Greener Edinburgh Fringe 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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Opportunity: Volunteers Wanted for Creative Environmental Project

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Opportunity for volunteers to get involved in a new creative environmental project in Leith

A new project in Edinburgh is embracing creative approaches to engage the community with climate change and environmental issues. The Leith Community Climate Change Project is the first initiative run by the new Himalayan Centre for Arts and Culture in Leith, formally Dr Bells Swimming Pool. The idea behind the Centre originally came from the Nepal Scotland Association, who wanted to find a suitable venue which could act as the common base for many different cultural communities in Edinburgh and beyond.

The Centre is now looking for a special team of Community Champions to develop the Leith Community Climate Change Project over the coming months.

The initiative will run from April 2014 to February 2015 and involves a range of activity:

  • A schedule of creative and environmentally themed workshops will run from the Centre, including natural dyeing sessions and theatrical pieces.
  • The team will support households in Leith to reduce their energy consumption and increase food composting.
  • Outdoor excursions will be organised for community members, including tree identification walks and cycle rides.

The Community Champions

The Champions will receive bespoke training to develop the skills relevant for this project, including an option for further training at the end. Champions spending a certain amount of time with the project will get bikes from the Bike Station, plus a cycling course and cycling equipment for the duration of the initiative. They will receive ongoing support from the Centre and the opportunity to go on Scottish based trips to connect with similar projects. They will have the chance to shape an exciting and vibrant environmental project.

If this sounds like an opportunity you would like to get involved with, please email harriet@himalayancentre.org.
0794740030
Twitter @HimalayanCentre
Facebook – Himalayan Centre for Arts & Culture, Edinburgh

The post Opportunity: Volunteers Wanted for Creative Environmental Project 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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Mull – Weekend Residency, thinking about Art & Sustainability

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Artist Residency Callout

Mull is a multi-disciplinary weekend-long residency which explores the question, ‘What would it mean to be an artist working in a sustainable Scotland in 50 years’ time?’ through artistic practice and conversation. We’re looking for up to ten artists to apply their curiosity and unique skills to imagining what being an artist in a sustainable Scotland might look like in the future – what that would mean, how it would affect artistic content, what infrastructure it would require in order to function and how artists and the arts will have shaped a sustainable Scotland.  Creative Carbon Scotland is partnering with Comar on the beautiful Isle of Mull to mull over these complex questions with artists who may or may not have previously thought about environmental sustainability in relation to their work.

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Background and context

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe artists and cultural organisations have a significant role to play in envisioning, inspiring and influencing a more sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

Over the past year Creative Carbon Scotland has initiated a number of artistically-led projects including the CO2 Edenburgh exhibition in partnership with Edinburgh Art Festival; a workshop with Imaginate and children’s theatre makers imagining and developing a sustainable children’s theatre network; and more recently Glasgow Green Teas(e).

Building on this, Mull will invite artists to imagine what it would mean to marry creativity and environmental sustainability in their practice. The weekend will be led by facilitators – composer Dave Fennessy and producer Suzy Glass – but will also be steered by those taking part, recognising the relatively untrodden grounds of the questions we’re asking.

The residency has a number of objectives:

  • 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 create a ‘greenprint’ of the skills and ways of working that might constitute a sustainable artistic practice;
  • To use this ‘greenprint’ as the starting point for thinking about how Creative Carbon Scotland and the cultural sector can best support and work with artists in this capacity;
  • To nurture a creative network which embeds environmental sustainability at its core.

What will it involve?

Mull takes the disrupted and changing climate as the starting point for thinking about how artists might do things differently. It asks how the world might look in 50 years’ time and what role artists might play in the changes to come as well as what unique skills they can bring to this new context. Considering approaches to making art, as well the actual content and the infrastructure it lives within, we’ll work to imagine the future and understand the necessary steps towards it to stimulate some initial responses to these questions.  By the end of the weekend we’ll open up our ‘greenprint’ and ideas to a wider public discussion.

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for inquisitive artists who can bring big ideas to a group setting and who are keen to ask questions of themselves and established ways of working. The residency is open to artists from any discipline, whether or not they have previously considered environmental sustainability in their approach to working.

What to expect

Artists should expect a relatively open-format two days with facilitation by the group as well as Dave and Suzy. There may be the opportunity for some artists to lead a ‘session’ during the weekend, bringing a particular response or angle to theme of environmental sustainability and artistic practice. Artists will not be expected to develop or produce anything specific during the two days– the residency is about being thoughtful. On the final evening, we’ll open the doors to a public conversation with the opportunity for presentation of a ‘greenprint’ and further discussion.

The residency will take place from Friday 28th – Monday 31st March 2014 at Comar on Isle of Mull, leaving Edinburgh or Glasgow midday on 28th and returning early afternoon on 31st March. Participants will be paid £100 for their attendance and travel expenses from within Scotland, accommodation and catering will be covered by Creative Carbon Scotland.

Application

Please read this section carefully and make sure you send the right information with your application.

Applications should include the following information:

  • Name and contact details (including email address)
  • An outline of your experience to date (no more than 500 words) and a CV
  • Some examples of your works or links to them online or related material (for example reviews etc. if your work is not able to be distributed online)
  • A short outline of why you would like to take part and what you hope to gain from taking part
  • A short proposal of a ‘session’ you might lead during the residency  in response to the question ‘What would it mean to be an environmentally sustainable artist working in Scotland in 2050?’ or a future artwork/project which engages with this question

Please send your application to Gemma Lawrence at gemma@creativecarbonscotland.com by 9am on Monday 3rd March. 

Image: Glen More, Isle of Mull, pennyghael2 and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

The post Mull – Weekend Residency, thinking about Art & Sustainability 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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Fourth Green Teas(e) Reflections

Creative Carbon Scotland,

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Last week Creative Carbon Scotland met for the fourth Green Teas(e) at GoMA for tea and biscuits and to build on the discussions had at the last meet, the aim of which was to identify some of the characteristics that might make up a sustainable Glasgow and cultural sector.  Once more the group had an exciting gathering of folk from across the arts and sustainability organisations in Glasgow including artist Nic Green, Steve Taylor, Festival 2014 Sustainability Manager, Ailsa Nazir and Claire Ferguson from CCA, and Fiona Sinclair from NHS and the Art in the Gart Programme.

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Four key characteristics identified previously were taken as the starting point:

  • Making sustainability the cultural norm through strong leadership, influencing audiences and supply chains;
  • Increasing the transparency of the trade-offs and complexity of decision making;
  • Education playing a key role not only in increasing awareness but engaging people in a way that does not ‘impose’ or ‘withhold’ the ability to live more sustainably;
  • Supporting/creating more local, closed loop economies.

This time Creative Carbon Scotland wanted to find out from the group what these characteristics would look like in concrete terms.

To set the cogs in motion artist Ellie Harrison told the group about how she has come to embed environmental sustainability within her artistic practice, not just in terms of content but also her approach to making work. She spoke about the conflict she experienced as being a maker of ‘stuff’ and sometimes ‘pointless objects’ and her desire to live more sustainably, but also the useful skills that artists have including the ‘ability to innovate and change’ and ‘arrogance and self-belief’. Much of her work now focuses on political activism and campaigning including projects such as ‘Bring Back British Rail’ which lobbies for public ownership and availability of cheap public transport.

The group also heard from Katie Bruce, Producer Curator at GoMA, about a new ‘Associate Artist’ project starting at GoMA this year in which an artist will be selected to work with gallery staff to challenge existing structures and explore new ways of working with the ambition of building stronger internal capacity for collaborative, participatory working practice, which make a difference to GoMA’s carbon footprint.

This model of the artist as researcher and catalyst of change within an organisation can be seen as a micro-level equivalent to our ambition of Green Teas(e) through which we aim to create new ways of working within the cultural sector which in turn influence a more sustainable Glasgow (and vice versa).

Looking backwards from 2020, the group asked what the above characteristics might look like in a sustainable Glasgow. We split off into groups and came up with the following points. (Note that the language and concepts and quite technical, complicated and sometimes difficult but that was the nature of the discussion.)

Some crosscutting themes which linked all of the characteristics were identified, including:

  • Nurturing non-material values and moving towards non-financial ways of measuring things
  • Encouraging agency (people’s capacity to take action and achieve things) and a shift away from dominant models
  • Creating a Glasgow in which space exists in everyone’s lives to develop their own agency

1. Making sustainability the cultural norm through strong leadership, influencing audiences and supply chains

The concept of ‘strong leadership’ was challenged here as adhering to dominant models which typically favour more ‘masculine characteristics’. However, it was also agreed that leadership is important in creating space for and empowering others to develop their own agency. Fiona Sinclair from Art in the Gart and NHSGGC Mental Health North Western spoke about the disempowerment of individuals that can exist in large organisations such as the NHS and the need to create spaciousness, whether in terms of staff time or the ability to be critical and reflective,  which might begin to instil a great ‘consciousness’ of sustainability. There was also concern around the term ‘norm’ in relation to cultural diversity in which different forms of and approaches to achieving a sustainable city was favoured.

2. Increasing the transparency of the trade-offs and complexity of decision making

Here it was discussed that the scale at which decisions are made needs to be appropriate to the scale of the issue, i.e. creating local and city-wide subsidiarity (the devolution to the lowest appropriate level of decision making) which the public have trust in through a transparency in the decision making process and why decisions have been made. This also links to the agency and empowerment at grassroots level up.

3. Education playing a key role not only in increasing awareness but engaging people in a way that does not ‘impose’ or ‘withhold’ the ability to live more sustainably

The group talked about creating a ‘new department’ within government, local authorities and other organisations which specifically deals with education and sustainability. In a broader sense, this concept of the ‘new department’, whether that’s new ways of working or new space given to embedding environmental sustainability into everyone’s consciousness, could provide a model for creating a more sustainable society. This links to Elinor Ostrum’s polycentric approach to environmental protection “where key management decisions should be made as close to the scene of events and the actors involved as possible” (relating back to subsidiarity and agency again). The same could be applied to education and decision-making, where diverse nodes of activity are enabled to grow across different areas of society and eventually link up with one another.

4. Supporting and creating more local, closed loop economies

The need to create local currencies which feed into more local economies as well as developing a cradle to cradle system of resource use were agreed on as important components of a closed loop economy. In order to reuse and recycle our resources we would also need to develop a varied skill set which enables us to re-make, adapt and mend the stuff around us, thus combating the obsolescence currently built into many of the things we own.

These quite technical descriptions aren’t particularly art-focused and so the job for the next Green Teas(e) is to think about how the arts help achieve these various characteristics of a sustainable city.

List of Attendees

Penny Anderson – Writer/artist

Michelle Emery Barker – Wasps

Kathryn Beckett – GSofA

Katie Bruce, GoMA

Rachel Duckhouse – Artist

Claire Ferguson – CCA

Nicola Godsal – Community & Volunteer Development Officer at NVA

Nic Green – Artist

Ellie Harrison – Artist

Andy MacAvoy – Edo Architecture

Ailsa Nazir – CCA

Eilidh Sinclair – GsofA

Fiona Sinclair – NHSGGC northwest sector

Elaine Slaven – Carbon Management Awareness Officer, Glasgow Life

Ben Spencer – Velocity

Steve Taylor – Festival 2014 Sustainability Manager

Image: Ellie Harrison, Early Warning Signs, http://www.ellieharrison.com/

– Gemma Lawrence, 29.01.14

The post Blog: Green Teas(e) 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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Opportunity: Carbon Reduction Project Manager

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Creative Carbon Scotland is looking for a Carbon Reduction Project Manager to join its team. Up to £27,000 pa, with up to 3% pension contributions. Fixed term to 31 March 2015 with the potential for extension.

Deadline 5pm 17 February 2014. Interviews in Edinburgh 28 February 2014.

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Creative Carbon Scotland works with arts and cultural organisations across Scotland to help them measure, report and reduce their carbon emissions and engage them in playing a full part in shaping a sustainable Scotland. We are looking for an experienced carbon manager to train and support arts organisations and individuals in carbon reporting and reduction and to maintain and develop our innovative web-based resource the Green Arts Portal. The CRPM will run training workshops and offer email, phone and face-to-face support. They may engage and manage freelancers to support them and will work as part of a small team based in Edinburgh, although remote working may be possible. Regular travel throughout Scotland will be required.

Click here to download the job description and application details.

Click here to download our Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form.

For more information please contact Ben Twist at ben@creativecarbonscotland.com or on 0131 529 7909

CCS is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered charity no SC042687

Image: This Land, courtesy of Edinburgh Art Festival http://www.edinburghartfestival.com/

The post Opportunity: Carbon Reduction Project Manager 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

Powered by WPeMatico

Call Out for Associate Artist #climatechange

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This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

The Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow is recruiting a freelance artist to work with the gallery to explore climate change, sustainability and environmental issues while we host Early Warning Signs, a work by Ellie Harrison.

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The successful artist will use their practice to help the gallery staff to learn new things about themselves as a community, and challenge them to explore the ways they work together as a staff team on environmental issues and sustainability in their programming. The ambition is to build a stronger internal capacity for collaborative, participatory working practice, which make a difference to our carbon footprint.

For any inquiries please see the contact details on the brief, although please note the gallery staff will be unable to answer any inquiries until after 6 January 2014.

Submission requirements
Submissions should be sent in electronic format to John Irwin (john.irwin@glasgowlife.org.uk )

Closing date for submissions: 12 pm Friday 24 January 2014
Interviews on Monday 3 February 2014

Image: Early Warning Signs by Ellie Harrison at GoMa

The post Call Out for Associate Artist #climatechange 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

Powered by WPeMatico

Daniel Bye’s How to Occupy an Oil Rig receives 2013 Award for Sustainable Production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe #edfringe

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Daniel Bye receives the 2013 award for Sustainable Production from Creative Carbon Scotland's Ben Twist.

Daniel Bye receives the 2013 award for Sustainable Production from Creative Carbon Scotland’s Ben Twist.

Creative Carbon Scotland and the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, in partnership with the List, presented Bye with Award at Fringe Central on August 23rd.

In a ceremony in the concourse at Fringe Central on Friday, August 23rd at 4:00 pm, Ben Twist of Creative Carbon Scotland awarded Daniel Bye the 2013 Award for Sustainable Production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe after presentation by Ian Garrett of the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts and Sholeh Johnston of Julie’s Bicycle. This was the fourth year of the award’s presentation. Applicants and fringe participants alike enjoyed complimentary beverages and snacks with support from Vegware, producers of compostable food containers.

The Sustainable Production Award is an annual celebration of performance that’s working for an environmentally sustainable world. Open to all Fringe Festival productions by application, the award assesses all aspects of a production’s sustainability, from design to content. This award ceremony recognizes the best in this year’s sustainable productions, alongside inspiring presentations from Creative Carbon Scotland, the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, and Julie’s Bicycle. The Sustainable Production Award is presented this year in partnership with The List, which is reviewing all shortlist shows and promoting the awards events.

The award is determined by the submission of a questionnaire about how the show was produced, and how environmental and sustainable themes were considered along the way. Assessors selected a short list of 23 productions, which appeared in the weekly editions of The List. These 23 shows were reviewed based on their questionnaires and the assessment team voted for the production which most aligned with the priorities of the award. Five finalists–Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer, The Garden, and Garden O’ Delight, How to Occupy An Oil Rig, Sacred Earth–were identified as outstanding entries before the winner was selected last week.

How to Occupy an Oil Rig was selected due to its conscientious production and themes related to sustainability in our present world. In their assessment  the reviewer for the show said,”It tells stories of journeys through environmental activism engagingly, wittily, movingly… It’s all about sustainability, and is making very bold points about the scale of the problem and the necessity of radical solutions.” Also praised by the press, the Financial Times said that How to Occupy an Oil Rig was, “The real thing. Clever, engaging and important.” The Guardian said it is, “Fantastic work. Invigorating and playful. Both beautiful, and wants to change the world.” Accepting the award, Bye said “It’s great for the work to be recognized for its impact outside of the theatre itself, in the wider world.”

“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 CSPA Director Ian Garrett.

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. 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.

More Info

Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts: https://www.sustainablepractice.org  

Creative Carbon Scotland: http://www.creativecarbonscotland.com/

CSPA Fringe Initiatives: https://www.sustainablepractice.org/programs/fringe/

2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Questionnaire: http://bit.ly/cspafringe13

The List’s Edinburgh Coverage: http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk