Ecostage supports creative practitioners journeying toward an ecological, interconnected approach to working that recognises their place within the whole ecosystem in order to inspire a radical and ethical repositioning of their work.
Formerly Ecostage Pledge, Ecostage is a grassroots, autonomous online platform to help all arts practitioners towards a more ecologically-centred approach in performance making. It is being re-envisioned by a group of ecologically-minded designers, to adapt to the current more pressing issues. Our new site re-launches September 2020 following our crowdfunding.
Ecostage is for anyone in the performing arts sector at any stage of their sustainable journey; it connects freelancers and organisations. It answers the need for shared principles and joint objectives, and to move forward as a unified front to address systemic issues tied up with our joint future including social and climate justice. It appeals to all sizes of companies and types of production needs, and to all stages of career.
Ecological thinking is crucial in considering how to find a sustained approach to how we live in the context of a changing climate: socially, politically and economically.
Informative, practical and inspiring, Ecostage contains:
A list of intersecting principles to be downloaded and used as sustainable production guidelines.
An inter-connective approach that includes the whole ecosystem, humans and the more than human world
An online pledge with a downloadable logo making your eco-credentials visible when used on documentation.
Resources, including an expanding library of inspiring case studies celebrating diverse practices from around the world showing ‘ecoscenography in action’.
A growing online global supportive community of practitioners.
Join our global community and pledge your public commitment to a sustainable future.
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.†Jane Goodall – primatologist and anthropologist
“If you do not appreciate the small steps you support the status quo.†Jean-Claude Audergon – psychotherapist.
Ecostage crowdfunding:Â We are an eco-designer led, not-for-profit initiative who are volunteering our skills, time and passion as self-employed to get this off the ground. As such, we have launched a crowdfunding drive to invest in the expertise of a professional web developer to create a free, accessible, user-friendly and sustainably-hosted website that remains relevant and responsive to updates in the digital world.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/ecostage ‘Support Ecostage: the go-to site for unified ecological guidelines, with resources for a flourishing, fair, creative future in performance.’
WE ARE OCEAN is an interdisciplinary art project which gathers artists, students, scientists, policymakers, philanthropists, teachers, and curators in order to raise awareness and engage in dialogue about the environmental condition of the ocean and the role humans play in its current and future state. The project events in Berlin and Brandenburg investigated how we interact with the ocean and how interdependent humans and the ocean are. The overall goal was to raise scientific and political awareness through the arts, particularly among young people, to stimulate behavioural change and social action and help them to act responsibly and become conscientious citizens. Ultimately, WE ARE OCEAN seeks to shift the narrative surrounding the ocean – from that of an ocean for human use and exploitation with infinite resources – to an ocean that offers numerous yet precarious benefits to humankind which is its steward and caretaker.
In 2019 we started in Berlin and Brandenburg, in 2020 it is traveling to Kiel (Germany), Marseille (France), Vancouver (Canada), Bremerhaven (Germany), Venice (Italy) with more stops to follow from 2021 to 2030, since we will support the whole UN Ocean Decade.
The different project parts of WE ARE OCEAN and WIR SIND DAS MEER in Brandenburg and Berlin conducted by Lisa Rave and the respective film produced by the artist were funded by Stadt und Land, Stiftung Berliner Sparkasse, Fonds Soziokultur, Deutsche Postcode Lotterie and IASS Potsdam.
The scientific-artistic workshops delivered by the scientist Oscar Schmidt from IASS Potsdam, the artist Lisa Rave and the curators Anne-Marie Melster and Julia Moritz from ARTPORT_making waves were giving an overview on specific topics like fishing, transport and traffic, energy extraction, seabed mining, global climate, interdependence ocean and climate, tourism, garbage). The scientist delivered the scientific knowledge, the curators and the artists created a program of knowledge transfer through interactive and participatory methodologies with the outcome that the participating school students were able to demonstrate what they had learned during the workshops and to express their feelings and solution orientation in the film WE ARE OCEAN created by the artist, but also during the interactive interventions at Marine Regions Forum and in the Futurium Berlin.
WE ARE OCEAN is an interdisciplinary art project which gathers artists, students, scientists, policymakers, philanthropists, teachers, and curators in order to raise awareness and engage in dialogue about the environmental condition of the ocean and the role humans play in its current and future state. The project events in Berlin and Brandenburg investigated how we interact with the ocean and how interdependent humans and the ocean are. The overall goal was to raise scientific and political awareness through the arts, particularly among young people, to stimulate behavioural change and social action and help them to act responsibly and become conscientious citizens. Ultimately, WE ARE OCEAN seeks to shift the narrative surrounding the ocean – from that of an ocean for human use and exploitation with infinite resources – to an ocean that offers numerous yet precarious benefits to humankind which is its steward and caretaker.
In 2019 we started in Berlin and Brandenburg, in 2020 it is traveling to Kiel (Germany), Marseille (France), Vancouver (Canada), Bremerhaven (Germany), Venice (Italy) with more stops to follow from 2021 to 2030, since we will support the whole UN Ocean Decade.
The different project parts of WE ARE OCEAN and WIR SIND DAS MEER in Brandenburg and Berlin conducted by Lisa Rave and the respective film produced by the artist were funded by Stadt und Land, Stiftung Berliner Sparkasse, Fonds Soziokultur, Deutsche Postcode Lotterie and IASS Potsdam.
The scientific-artistic workshops delivered by the scientist Oscar Schmidt from IASS Potsdam, the artist Lisa Rave and the curators Anne-Marie Melster and Julia Moritz from ARTPORT_making waves were giving an overview on specific topics like fishing, transport and traffic, energy extraction, seabed mining, global climate, interdependence ocean and climate, tourism, garbage). The scientist delivered the scientific knowledge, the curators and the artists created a program of knowledge transfer through interactive and participatory methodologies with the outcome that the participating school students were able to demonstrate what they had learned during the workshops and to express their feelings and solution orientation in the film WE ARE OCEAN created by the artist, but also during the interactive interventions at Marine Regions Forum and in the Futurium Berlin.
Member Registration – $10.00 ecoartspace members will pay $10 per person for this event, which is a fundraiser. In addition, if you would like to donate an additional amount, please go to the ecoartspace donate page here: https://ecoartspace.org/Donate
Non-member – $10.00 Non-members will pay $10 per person for this event. If you would like to contribute more than this amount, please go to the ecoartpace donation page. Any size contribution is welcome. Thank you! https://ecoartspace.org/Donate
For this special fundraiser event we will learn about the environmental conditions that Indigenous communities are living with in New Mexico and Arizona, and how these impacts correlate with the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths. We will hear from an artist, a poet and Indigenous foods expert, and a Native arts curator on how artists are using Indigenous knowledge to bring healing to Native communities.
chip thomasÂ
Thomas, aka “jetsonorama†is a photographer, public artist, activist and physician who has been working between Monument Valley and The Grand Canyon on the Navajo nation since 1987. There, he coordinates the Painted Desert Project – a community building project which manifests as a constellation of murals across the Navajo Nation painted by artists from all over the rez + the world. These murals aim to reflect love and appreciation of the rich history shared by the Navajo people back to Navajo people. As a member of the Justseeds Artists Co-operative he appreciates the opportunity to be part of a community of like-minded, socially engaged artists. You can find his large scale photographs pasted on the roadside, on the sides of houses in the northern Arizona desert, on the graphics of the Peoples Climate March, climateprints.org, Justseeds and 350.org carbon emissions campaign material. website
Nordstrand (Hopi), is curator of Southwest Art at The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College. As Associate Curator of Native Art at the Denver Art Museum from 2004 to 2009, she made important acquisitions of contemporary Native art, including works by Jeffrey Gibson, James Luna, Jolene Rickard, Harry Fonseca, and Melanie Yazzie. Recent exhibitions she has curated include solo exhibitions of Nora Naranjo Morse, Melanie Yazzie, Christine Howard Sandoval, Anna Tsouhlarakis, and Baseera Khan. In 2019 she received a curatorial research grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation in support of her project on queer Indigenous artists. She’s a former Research Associate of Native American Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has taught at the University of Denver, University of Colorado, Denver, and Cornell University.
“Every passionate page of this book and each of its illuminating readings of the ecotheatrical American canon that it unearths, critiques, and celebrates, are deeply rooted in Theresa May’s fierce loyalty to—and decades-long leadership of—the American eco-theatre movement….the book’s historical range makes it a rare contribution to the urgent task of reckoning with the culturally embedded, deep-structural causes of the climate crisis. It is hard to imagine a more timely or a more ground-healing work in our field today.†Una Chaudhuri, NYU
Earth Matters on Stage: Ecology, Environment and American Theater, by Theresa May (Routledge 2020) maps how theater in the US has reflected and responded to the nation’s environmental history during the 20th century. Beginning with plays & performances that forwarded the ecological violence of settler colonialism, through the important role of grassroots theater and the arts during the civil rights movements, to the present era of climate justice, the book argues that theater is a crucial tool of democracy, a place to embody the stories of relation that carry us toward a just, compassionate, and sustainable society. Or, as dramatist Monique Mojica said, a place to “spin possible worlds into being.â€
The preface and introduction map the rise of environmental and environmental justice perspectives in US/North American theater-making as the critical praxis of ecodramaturgy. Seven chapters examine how theater artists responded at key moments in US environmental history: the close of the frontier, the conservation movement, the depression and dust bowl, the rise of consumer culture, the civil rights movements, the environmental justice movement, and the era of climate change.
Chapter one, “Stories that Kill,†exposes the complicity of theater in forwarding ecological violence of settler colonialism; chapter two, “The Sabine Wilderness,†unpacks the gendered and racist iconography in plays of Progressive conservation era; chapter three, “Dynamos, Dust and Discontent,†analyzes the natural resource plays of the Federal Theatre Project and how they disguised the human causes of the dust bowl; chapter four, “We Know We Belong to the Land,†explores how theater after WWII promoted consumerist thinking coupled with white supremacy and ongoing land-takings through the termination of many indigenous tribes; chapter five, “(Re)Claiming Home,†looks at how theater foreshadowed the environmental justice movement during the 1960s civil rights movements; chapter six, “Stories in the Land/Legacies in the Body,†maps the power of the performer’s body during the rise of environmental justice as a central theme for US dramatists; chapter seven, “Community, Kinship and Climate Change,†explores how dramatists are challenging notions of individuality and exceptionalism through transnational, trans-corporeal stories that ask us to come into relation through the exercise of empathy. The epilogue, “Theater as a Site of Generosity,†takes up Monique Mojica’s charge that theater-makers can “spin possible worlds into being†that forward social justice and ecological healing.
Eco-Conscious Music Alliance to Host August Concert for its Global Action Concert Series.
On Sunday, August 16th, 2020 at 4-7PM CDT (2-5 PDT / 9-12 GMT) The Eco-Conscious Music Alliance (EMA) will host their monthly livestream concert as part of their Global Action Concert Series.
The livestream will feature musicians from around the world including Clan Dyken, Xerephine, Susie Ro Prater, Aira Winterland, Indrajit Banerjee, and Runes of Neptune playing in distinct, unique styles. The livestream will also feature distinguished guest speakers, lyricist Clare Steffen, and Ben Bowler, Executive Director of UNITY EARTH. Each concert catalyzes community-based sustainability pandemic response, climate action and food supply projects. Through the uplifting power of music, EMA spreads positivity and wellbeing on a global scale
The Eco-Conscious Music Alliance is mobilizing the power of music for the wellness of the people and the planet. A nonprofit based in Austin, Texas, EMA serves as a portal for music lovers and industry professionals to co-create dynamic change-making projects around the world. For more information about the Eco-conscious Music Alliance and the Global Action Concerts, and to get involved, visit our website https://www.ema.earth/ and our Facebook page.
Tune into the concert on our Facebook page or website August 16th at 4 PM CDT (2 PM PDT / 9 PM GMT)!
Eco-conscious Music Alliance August Global Action Concert August 16th, 2020
June 18 – July 24, 2020 press day – June 18, 2020, 12-6 PM opening reception – no public gatherings is planned artists talk & walk through (online) – tba gallery hours: Tue-Sat, 11-6 (through June 27); Mon-Fri, 11-6 (from June 29 onward)
Thomas Erben Gallery 526 West 26th Street, 4th Floor New York, NY 10001 tel. 212-645-8701
ecofeminism(s) explores the legacy of some of the pioneers of ecofeminist art: Helène Aylon, Betsy Damon, Agnes Denes, Bilge Friedlaender, Ana Mendieta, Aviva Rahmani, and Cecilia Vicuña, and how their ideas and strategies are continued, developed or opposed by younger generations – Andrea Bowers, Eliza Evans, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Carla Maldonado, Mary Mattingly, Jessica Segall, and Hanae Utamura. It also features the ecofeminist works of Lynn Hershman Leeson and Barbara Kruger, who escape these categories.
The historical perspective gained over the last fifty years reveals how revolutionary the work of pioneer feminist artists was, and how relevant it remains, whether for women’s rights or the development of social practice. The most remarkable, however, is their voice regarding humanity’s relationship to nature. The foundation of ecofeminism is spiritual feminism, which insists that everything is connected – that nature does not discriminate between soul and matter. Their recognition that Western patriarchal philosophy and religions have served to exploit both women and nature is particularly resonant in the era of the #MeToo Movement and Climate Change. But if the ecofeminist art of the 1970s and 1980s was largely defined by Goddess art, ritual performance, anti-nuclear work, and ecological land art – the curator poses the question – what makes female environmental artists working today ecofeminists?
Since the 1970s, ecofeminism evolved from gender essentialism to understanding gender as a social construct to gender performativity. But today’s feminists still address the degradation of the environment by creating diverse responses to patriarchal power structure, capitalism, and the notion of progress. They invoke indigenous traditions in maintaining connection to nature and intensify the critique of colonialist politics of overextraction, water privatization, and the destruction of native peoples. They continue to employ social practice and activism, but focus on denouncing global corporate strategies and designing futuristic proposals for life on earth.
You’re viewing the distance learning part of this course. Our distance learning sessions are a great way to get involved with CAMP if you can’t make the trip, or as a preparatory step for an onsite workshop. Remember – if you sign up to an onsite workshop in 2021, you get the 2020 distance learning course free.
This online course costs €299 (or 2 monthly payments of €149.50). To reserve, click below – no payment is required at this stage. You’ll receive a booking confirmation email with secure payment links, and you’ll have three days to confirm your booking by making a payment.
At this turning point between Earth rights and Earth fragility, how might we divine messages from the non-human inhabitants of our ecosystems to protect our collective future and find hope, despite threats? Can the trees and small creatures of the world teach us to adapt to a global crisis even as much of the world holds its breathe in the face of catastrophe? Are there threads from cultural, scientific and even spiritual knowledge to lead us out of a labyrinth of trouble? Activities in this workshop are designed to go beyond mindfulness and hear the silent cries of alarm and the whispers of hope we can pass on to others to collectively find the answers we need, welcome or not.
Each day of the workshop will focus on employing familiar tools in new ways: walking, journaling, recording, sharing and discussing the implications of our observations. Our frame of reference for these exercises will be the rules of trigger point theory with the goal of identifying points for possible intervention in environmental cascades.
The session will be based around Trigger point theory (TPT) – this is Aviva’s original approach to environmental restoration, developed from her experience creating Ghost Nets (1990-2000), a project which restored a former town dump to flourishing wetlands and formal gardens. This workshop has been designed to develop TPT skills to connect theoretical and personal experiences to practical initiatives.
The course will take place over four sessions, on the 11th,12th, 13th and 14th of July. Each session will be split into three parts: a lecture/discussion, a period for individual exploration in your location along the themes of the day, and presentation of results, discussion of insights and challenges.
Aviva Rahmani is one of the most important artists contributing to the current movement of environmental art. Her public and ecological art projects have involved collaborative interdisciplinary community teams with scientists, planners, environmentalists and other artists, and her projects range from complete landscape restorations to museum venues that reference painting, sound and photography.
She began her career as a performance artist, founding and directing the American Ritual Theatre (1968-1971), performing throughout California. In 1971, she collaborated with Judy Chicago, Suzanne Lacy, and Sandi Orgel on Ablutions, now considered a groundbreaking feminist performance work on rape. After graduating from California Institute of the Arts and getting her PhD from Plymouth, Aviva began presenting workshops on her theoretical approach to environmental restoration, and her transdisciplinary work has been exhibited internationally.
Aviva’s video documentation Gulf to Gulf sessions have made international impact, and it’s precursor “Trigger Points/Tipping Points” premiered at the 2007 Venice Biennale. In 2002, her pioneering community action project “Blue Rocks” helped restore degraded wetlands on Vinalhaven Island, Maine (triggering a USDA investment of over $500,000). “The Blued Trees Symphony” (2015 – present) has received numerous awards and had huge impact around the globe.
“Ghost Nets 1990-2000”, one of Aviva’s best known works, includes her original theories of environmental restoration and trigger point theory. In 2012, she applied trigger point theory and the “Gulf to Gulf” webcasts to “Fish Story Memphis,” a multi-part public art project. In 2006, she initiated a series of podcasts, “Virtual Cities and Oceans of If”, which segued into webcasts on climate change. She is currently an Affiliate with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado (UCB), where she has been collaborating with the Director, James White since 2007 on “Gulf to Gulf”, a series of webcasts on global warming with other scientists, artists and thinkers. Their first collaborative work premiered with Cultura21 in the Joseph Beuys Pavilion of the 2007 Venice Biennale.
In 2007, in collaboration with White, Aviva appeared in the collective exhibition Weather Report, debuting her work “Trigger Points, Tipping Points”. She displayed a series of digital prints that superimposed satellite imagery with textual warnings on the morphing and changing of climate change on the global landscape. Her work embodies a discourse that focuses on the power dynamics of disaster and how rising sea levels will not only effect landscape, but also result in the relocation of communities and refugee migration. She seamlessly ties together climate change with the themes of class, power, and justice – a conversation frequently not as prevalent in the global warming conversation.
WHERE AND WHEN?
This is an online course, but it involves realtime sessions and contact time with your tutor – it’s not a “download these videos and watch them at your leisure” type of thing – it’s a real workshop with live lectures, individual tuition, assignments and feedback sessions. We’ve tried to make this remote session as close as possible to the experience of an onsite workshop at CAMP. The course starts on 11/07/2020 and ends on 14/07/2020.
HOW TO BOOK
To book your place on the course, click the button in the green section above. You won’t pay anything right now – we’ll send you a booking confirmation email with everything you need to know next. Your place is reserved without payment for three days.
You’ll find a payment link in the booking confirmation email – follow the link to make your course payment. All card payments are handled by Stripe, and are extremely secure. We don’t store any card data ourselves – all of this is handled securely off-site by Stripe.
Once you’ve made a payment, you’ll receive another email containing your receipt, links to resources, contact information and access to our group chat to discuss the workshop with other participants.
IMPORTANT: BY SIGNING UP TO A COURSE, YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS
Joya: AiR supports a range of disciplines including, but not limited to, visual art, writing, music, dance, curatorial and film. Founded by Simon and Donna Beckmann in 2009, the Joya: arte + ecologÃa / AiR programme is grounded in the foundation that dynamic and sustainable creative activity is the backbone to regenerating the land that has been slowly abandoned over the last fifty years.
Since 2009, Joya: AiR has welcomed over 600 artists and creatives to realise their projects within one of the most unique and beautiful regions of the country. This is one of the sunniest regions of Europe receiving over 3000 hours of sunlight a year.
Residents have access to studio space and 20 hectares of land. Accommodation (private room with attached bathroom) and meals are included, as is collection and return to the nearest public transport system.
We happily cater for vegans, vegetarians and occasional carnivores (we have a reduced meat consumption with an emphasis on all our food being local)Accommodation is bright, warm and clean with wood heated radiant floors. More images… https://joya-air.org/centre/
Selected artists are invited to contribute to the Joya: artists listing and are asked to contribute a small text outlining the nature of their practice whilst in residency. This will be posted to the Joya: website along with a link to the artists website. ( examples are to be found here)
Selected artists are requested to make a presentation of their work to other artists in residence during their period at Joya: AiR. This is not obligatory but it does contribute to the overall experience of all artists in residence.
Joya’s working languages are English and Spanish.
NOTE: with reference to Covid 19 Joya: AiR is conforming to the current (July 2020) Spanish law making the wearing of face masks in public obligatory and social distancing of 1.5m. Neither of these regulations will be a problem for resident artists at Joya: AiR as our location is remote and our complex is large. The wearing of masks and social distancing need only apply when in proximity to other artists. The law will not impact your studio/study time or your interaction with other residents.
DISCIPLINES AND MEDIA:
Interdisciplinary: Visual Art / Sculpture / Ceramics (enquire before applying) / Dance / Theatre / Performing Arts / Music / Writing / Educational Programmes / New Media / Curatorial / Film Making /
TYPE OF ORGANISATION:
Independent not for profit association/foundation
APPLICATION:
Joya: AiR is currently accepting applications in Spanish and English only.
RESIDENCY PERIOD:
The length of the residency would be 1 to 2 weeks (longer periods are available)
NOTE* the experience of previous resident artists strongly indicates that a two week residency is much more preferable and productive than one.
Note* in the event of an artist not being able to take up a residency opportunity they have accepted (and paid their deposit), and there are extenuating circumstances, we retain their fee for the next opportunity they can be in residence, typically up to one year after their deposit was paid.
Accompanying friends and family:
Accompanying friends and family are welcome subject to the contribution of the same outgoing fees as the resident artist (above).
APPLY
The following data is required to consider applications to Joya: AiR and to conform to Spanish law. This data is retained for one year before being deleted. Unsuccessful applicants will have their data deleted as soon as their applications have been processed. Joya: AiR will not use or share your data for any other purpose.
As part of the Arts Council England environmental support programme, we’re running a series of introductory webinars on creative climate action.
Cultural and creative activities are uniquely placed to bring people together, providing a platform to inspire, share knowledge and build a sense of community. Messaging and signage can inform audiences and staff about on-site environmental actions as well as influence them in adopting pro-environmental behaviours. In this webinar by Julie’s Bicycle, we’ll look at different ways of communicating your environmental projects and initiatives: from explaining why you’re ‘going green’ – and how your communities can play a part – to transparently and creatively speaking about your environmental impacts and celebrating your achievements. We will also include practical tips on using sustainable materials and tactics to share your messages. The webinar will feature case studies from the cultural sector and allow plenty of time for discussion and Q&A.
Well cover:
the state of the climate and climate policy (where we are now and where we have to get to),Â
where Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from (how we got here)
the role of the arts (where we can be most powerful)
understanding data and taking action (what YOU can do now, and how we move from individual action to big picture change).
case studies from the arts sectorÂ
This webinar is designed for those just starting out, or who want a refresher in the basics of climate science and action.
