Audiences

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Autumn – Winter ’13 Training Programme Dates Announced

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This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

creative_carbon_scotlandPart of Creative Carbon Scotland’s mission is to support arts organisations, artists and audiences to be as environmentally sustainably as possible. To achieve this we provide artists and arts organisations with all of the practical training, tools and support they need to begin reducing their environmental impact through a year-round training programme across the country and one-on-one support via phone and email.

This enables individuals and organisations to get ahead of climate change regulations and make the most of the financial savings, artistic opportunities and market advantages to operating in more sustainable ways. Our training programme and website provide staff in any role in cultural organisations with the necessary skills and knowledge to identify where their key environmental impacts lie and implement actions to reduce their carbon footprint.

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.

Our workshops cover all the areas of environmental impact you need to consider when it comes to measuring and reducing your carbon footprint. They are suitable to all levels and staff in any role in cultural organisations.

Workshop 1 provides organisations and individuals with an introduction to the key areas of carbon measuring and reduction to start thinking about – energy (electricity and gas), water, waste and travel. You will be introduced to the CCS Green Arts Portal and two widely used online tools developed especially for SMEs and cultural sector organisations.

Workshop 2 offers practical training for measuring and reducing travel- related carbon emissions. Travel is often the biggest area of environmental impact for cultural organisations and probably the most complex areas for data gathering. You will be lead through what is manageable for you to measure in your first year and trained on how to measure different types of travel undertaken by your organization as well as calculating your travel carbon footprint.

Green Meets are a less formal workshop where arts organisations have the chance to get together to talk about reducing their environmental impact – the areas they have had success in, what they’re struggling with and what they’re feeling inspired by. CCS will provide a specific focus such as developing an environmental policy or measuring audience travel, as well as allowing plenty of time for more general discussion between participants. We host local Green Meets across Scotland on a quarterly basis.

We have now finalised dates for local Green Meets taking place over October and November. To attend a Green Meet near you get in touch with Gemma@creativecarbonscotland.com.

Green Meets Schedule (venues and times tbc)

16th October– Edinburgh

21st October – Glasgow

23rd October – Inverness

28th October – Dumfries and Galloway

31st October – Dundee

6th November– Aberdeen

14th November– Highlands and Island (via video-conference)

Keep an eye on our Events page for more details and dates on workshops 1 and 2 to come shortly!

The post Autumn – Winter ’13 Training Programme Dates Announced 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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Greening the Edinburgh Mela

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This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Edinburgh-Mela-Fest-300x169The Edinburgh Mela has taken some really exciting new steps to greening this year’s festival (Sat 31st Aug – Sun 1st Sept). The two initiatives they have taken on this year tackle the issues of waste and audience travel.

With food and drink playing a big role in the festival celebrations, they’ve made the decision to ban all non-compostable packaging from the site, working towards their aim to become a zero waste festival. This year they will be working with the hugely innovative Edinburgh-based company Vegware, the UK’s first and only completely compostable food packaging firm, on board as Associate Sponsor of Greening The Mela initiative.

Vegware’s catering disposables are made from plants, not plastic. In 2013 the Edinburgh firm won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development and were named the best small business in the UK. Its Food Waste Network offers a free matchmaking service for any UK business seeking food waste recycling. The Mela is encouraging audiences to do their bit by putting any used Vegware and leftover food in the compostables bin so it can all be composted! More info on Vegware here.

They are also working hard to encourage visitors to choose to cycle to the Mela this year. Through funding from the EU’s CHAMP cycling project, the City of Edinburgh Council will be helping the festival promote walking and cycling routes to the Mela, and there will be some exciting activities to get involved in. 

Both initiatives are a great example of how to increase the mindfulness of audiences and the environmental impact of their actions not only during the festivities but also when making plans to travel to and from festival. Well done Edinburgh Mela!

The post Greening the Edinburgh Mela 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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Emergence presents: Resilience in the Face of Challenge Creu Cymru at WSD2013

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ImageFri 13 Sept 9.30 – 11.00

AHC Conference room

Creu Cymru is the development agency for theatres and arts centres in Wales. It currently has 44 member organisations who pay an annual fee to receive a range of services. With support from the Welsh Government’s Support For Sustainable Living Fund, Creu Cymru is working with Cardiff University, Julie’s Bicycle and Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales to develop a project to support the theatres and arts centres of Wales in becoming more resilient in facing the challenges of the 21st Century, particularly addressing the following 3 areas: energy and waste – consumption & treatment, the supply chain – examining theatre production and touring, communicating to audiences the issues and potential solutions

This session is designed to give theatre makers and producers an opportunity to hear how the project is progressing and work together on collaborating over programming and artistic response. The event will be a learning seminar to share best practice and showcase this project to an international audience.

Price: £6

BUY TICKETS 

Culture’s role in environmental change

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This post comes to you from Culture|Futures

The British newspaper The Guardian asks: What have the cultural and creative industries got to do with climate change?

guardian-culture-network

“Climate change is not just about the climate – it will have huge knock-on effects on human rights, economics, democracy, equality and social and civil justice landscapes.The cultural and creative industries already make work that reflects implicitly and explicitly on these issues listed above. We already stir the imaginations, minds, emotions, spirits and souls of audiences on these subjects. So why is environmental sustainability the topic so often missing from the list? The window for averting climate change is narrow. If we want to choose our own path, not have one forced upon us, we need to take responsibility and act now. We must have the courage to programme much more work about environmental issues…”

Guardian Culture Professionals Network – 15 July 2013:
Culture’s role in environmental change The live and digital work of the cultural and creative industries is key to a low carbon transition and future, says Hannah Rudman

Guardian Culture Professionals Network’s Facebook page

Newsletter from The Guardian Culture Professionals Network
Date: 16 July 2013
Subject: Culture’s role in environmental change | Sustainability should be at the heart of our artistic vision 

What have arts and culture got to do with climate change?

“As a sector we are a powerful collective imagination and a trusted voice” – so starts consultant Hannah Rudman in her piece for us on the role the culture sector must play in making positive environmental change. “We must tell stories of hope and warning about what the future holds.”

There’s no doubt about the capability of the arts to create life-changing experiences — and life will change quite significantly if we don’t look after our planet.

The facts and figures might speak for themselves, but the arts can make them speak louder. “Our disruptive, audacious thinking can get people engaged,” adds Hannah. “Our stories about ecological sustainability and greener living will be essential to preparing us all for a new ecosystem. Statistics cannot motivate us in the same way stories can.”

And for more stories on sustainability in the arts, read these from director of Julie’s Bicycle, Alison Tickell: why sustainability should be at the heart of our collective artistic vision; and

why reporting data will give the arts confidence to act.

Matthew Caines | Journalist | matthew.caines@guardian.co.uk

What’s new this week

Culture|Futures is an international collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an Ecological Age by 2050.

The Cultural sector that we refer to is an interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, inter-genre collaboration, which encompasses policy-making, intercultural dialogue/cultural relations, creative cities/cultural planning, creative industries and research and development. It is those decision-makers and practitioners who can reach people in a direct way, through diverse messages and mediums.

Affecting the thinking and behaviour of people and communities is about the dissemination of stories which will profoundly impact cultural values, beliefs and thereby actions. The stories can open people’s eyes to a way of thinking that has not been considered before, challenge a preconceived notion of the past, or a vision of the future that had not been envisioned as possible. As a sector which is viewed as imbued with creativity and cultural values, rather than purely financial motivations, the cultural sector’s stories maintain the trust of people and society.

Go toThis post comes to you from Culture|Futures

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From Sarah Moon: Tauris to Premiere in NYC… and you can help.

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Friend of the CSPA, playwright Sarah Moon, has reached us with a letter about the next steps for her piece, Tauris, which will premiere in New York City This June:

Erin and Bryan

Dear Friends,

I’m excited to let you know that my play TAURIS, an adaptation of Euripides Iphegenia at Tauris, on evironmental themes, will be premiering  at New York’s Planet Connections Festivity in June. We’ve put together a great team that includes Director Jenny Fersch, Composer/musician Daniel Emond, Actors Erin Layton, Bryan Burton, Matt Jacques and Laura Delhauer.

We are raising funds now to support the full production of the play. We need the support of people like you who know the creators behind the project and can either donate or help us spread the word. You can find out more about the production, watch our video and donate here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1310353082/tauris-in-planet-connections-theatre-festivity.

For those who contributed to the staged reading at the Wild Project in March, without which this production would not be happening, thank you so much. I want you to know that your support is allowing this play to reach the next step and me to achieve a dream I’ve been working toward for about ten years.

The Play: An adaptation of Euripides’ Iphegenia at Tauris, this epic musical adventure engages its audience in questions both personal and social: cultural attitudes toward environmental change, the complicated relationship between personal drive and public usefulness, and the conflict that arises when ideology gets in the way of love. Incorporating contemporary environmental concerns like mountaintop removal coal mining and the tension between fossil fuel companies and the EPA, Tauris asks audiences to consider how we transcend old enmities to find a way forward for society as a whole.

If you can attend!

Performance Dates:

Saturday 6/1/13 – 4:00pm

Monday 6/3/13 – 4:00pm

Thursday 6/6/13 – 4:30pm

Sunday 6/9/13 – 12:30pm

Wednesday 6/12/13 – 6:30pm

Thursday 6/13/13 – 8:30pm

Visithttp://planetconnections.org/tauris/ to purchase tickets

Thank you for whatever support you can provide, be it $5 or $50 or $500, or helping spread the word to people excited about new plays, original composition, and/or socially and environmentally conscious art. Please help us make this first full realization of TAURIS a success!

All Best, Sarah

The tide could turn with ‘Ten Billion’

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This post comes to you from Ashden Directory
Wallace Heim writes:

Theatre critic Kate Abbott in today’s Guardian joins Michael Billington in reporting a life-changing experience watching Ten Billion at the Royal Court.

Like the facts that Stephen Emmott presented, Abbott can recite the well-polished instructions to “help us out of this hole”:

“Never buying a car, iPod, or cotton T-shirt again … stopping our addiction to fossil fuels, starting a mass-desalination programme, building green energy power points on every strip of land, harnessing every scrap of wind, and every turn of the tide …”

But one change is missing. What about demanding that theatre itself changes? What about demanding that mainstream theatre no longer turns away from the compelling emotional, moral and intellectual questions of how humans can continue to live in a time of climate instability? Theatre is more than science, more than facts, more than an instruction manual. What about demanding that theatre takes on its full life-changing role, somewhere between fiction and fact, and becomes the place where audiences wrestle with their future?

See ‘Ten Billion’ from another side.

“ashdenizen blog and twitter are consistently among the best sources for information and reflection on developments in the field of arts and climate change in the UK” (2020 Network)

ashdenizen is edited by Robert Butler, and is the blog associated with the Ashden Directory, a website focusing on environment and performance.
The Ashden Directory is edited by Robert Butler and Wallace Heim, with associate editor Kellie Gutman. The Directory includes features, interviews, news, a timeline and a database of ecologically – themed productions since 1893 in the United Kingdom. Our own projects include ‘New Metaphors for Sustainability’, ‘Flowers Onstage’ and ‘Six ways to look at climate change and theatre’.

The Directory has been live since 2000.

Go to The Ashden Directory

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Creu Cymru partner with Julie’s Bicycle to help fourty two Welsh arts venues go green

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Whether a former miners’ institute, an Edwardian theatre or modern iconic buildings such as the Wales Millennium Centre or Galeri Caernarfon, arts venues occupy an important place in the communities of Wales. Today sees the start of a major, ground-breaking initiative to support forty two arts venues in Wales to become greener and leaner.

The venues are all members of Creu Cymru – the development agency for theatres and arts venues in Wales. They will be asked about the way they manage their use of energy and water, their waste disposal and other environmental issues. Those who choose to will take part in a more detailed investigation with on-going support.

Based on the results of the investigation venues will be given the tools and advice needed to strengthen their environmental, social and economic sustainability. By becoming more energy and resource efficient, managers of the venues will be able to save money. They will be helped to develop new strategies and communicate these to staff, contractors, suppliers and audiences. Overall, this initiative will make them fit for the future and better able to respond to the challenges of a changing world.

The initiative will address three areas;

  • energy and waste (consumption and treatment)
  • the supply chain (theatre production and touring)
  • communicating to audiences the issues and potential solutions (imagining the future)

The initiative is part of Emergence – an on-going programme of work led by Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales and Volcano Theatre Company that aims to make sustainable development a core organising principle of the arts in Wales. This Creu Cymru Emergence initiative has been made possible by the Welsh Government’s Support For Sustainable Living grant scheme through a partnership comprising Creu Cymru, Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales, the ESRC BRASS Research Centre (Cardiff University) and London-based arts and environmental sustainability experts Julie’s Bicycle.

BRASS and Julie’s Bicycle will provide the technical expertise. Both organisations have a track record of success in investigating and offering solutions for the environmental and social sustainability of the arts. Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales will use the information and learning that comes from the work to inform consultation on the development of the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Development Bill.

The Creu Cymru membership consists of Wales’ most cherished theatres and arts venues that have for generations acted as hubs of social and cultural activity. With this initiative, they will be able to continue to do this in the context of a changing world and make an important contribution to the development of a sustainable Wales.

D IS FOR DOG Announced as Recipient of Award for Sustainable Production at the Hollywood Fringe Festival

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The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts (CSPA) has awarded the second CSPA Fringe Award for Sustainable Production at the Hollywood Fringe to D is for Dog by Katie Polebaum and the Rogue Artists ensemble, directed by Sean Calweti. It is produced by the Rogue Artists Ensemble at the Hudson Theater and continues to play through August 4th.

D is for Dog explores the themes of family loyalty and compassion using iconic imagery from 1950s television blended with startling elements of horror and science fiction. Mixing puppetry, live actors, original music and video projection, the play takes audiences from the absurd to the terrifying, and everywhere in-between.

“D is for Dog was chosen because of how the Rogue Artists Ensemble careful considered their entire production.” comments Ian Garrett, co-founder and Director of the CSPA. “The nature of our process for determining the winner of this award doesn’t just focus on what a show is about; though there are mainly elements of D is for Dog which do speak to thematic to sustainability. But, it is also about the importance of being conscientious in how a show is made and addressing those questions across all elements of production and presentation, which is what led to this award going to this show.”

The award is determined by the submission of a questionnaire about how the show was produced and audience response. D is for Dog‘s production team was able to provide comprehensive technical information for the production, which showed a commitment to design and resource efficiency. This considered approach also factored into their communications and marketing. All of these factors were further supported by the themes of the play.

The CSPA Directors, Ian Garrett and Miranda Wright adjudicated the award, along with select CSPA affiliates and friends. The CSPA also supports a similar award for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August, going into its 3rd year. For the Edinburgh Fringe, Mhora Samuel and Tim Atkinson from The Theatres Trust’s European Regional Development Fund-backed Ecovenue project have helped the CSPA adapt the criteria for a UK audience, providing guidance on UK equivalents to US name brands, as well as providing insight on measuring conventions and policy. This year, the CSPA will be working with Festivals Edinburgh to further expand the impact of this program.

“The CSPA is not just another ‘go green’ organization,” says Wright.  “We hope to gather and distribute information that aids in the sustainability of the earth, the sustainability of our communities, and the sustainability of our art.  And so, the purpose of this award is not to recognize the greenest production.  Our objective in offering this award is to ask questions of ourselves, as theater artists, about the greater impact of our work on the world around us. The fringe model provides an ideal platform to introduce these ideas and the award due to the expectations and scale of the shows.”

“Even more so than we want someone to score perfectly on the questionnaire we use to evaluate shows, we want theater artists to look at the questions and think about how it helps to guide their thinking about sustainability in the their art. There may be questions asked in ways they hadn’t thought, and we hope they ask these questions of their next project and the project after that,” adds Garrett.

Ian Garrett and Miranda Wright founded the CSPA in early 2008 after individually working on each of the programs that now make up the multi-faceted approach to sustainability separately. The organization provides a network of resources to arts organizations, which enables them to be ecologically and economically sustainable while maintaining artistic excellence. Past and Present partnerships have included the University of Oregon, Ashden Directory, Arcola Theater, Diverseworks Artspace, Indy Convergence, York University, LA Stage Alliance and others. www.sustainablepractice.org

It should be noted that director Ian Garrett has previously worked with the Rogue Artist Ensmeble. He was production manager on Gogol Project and Lighting Designer for Hyperbole:Origins. He was in no way involved with D is for Dog or other Rogue project since his work on Hyperbole: Origins.

Conference 12 – Delivering Sustainable Theatres

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

12 June 2012 – Stratford Circus, London

The challenge of achieving the triple bottom line

Conference 12 looks at the sustainable design, development and operation of theatre buildings in relation to environmental, economic and social disciplines, and the challenges of delivering sustainable theatres for future generations. The conference will look at what sustainable development now means for theatres, what opportunities exist for theatre buildings in the new National Planning Policy Framework, how funding programmes are now promoting more sustainable capital development of theatre buildings, and what is needed to ensure theatres can meet the triple bottom line head on and continue to thrive.

The conference will explore the way how theatre buildings have addressed the sustainability agenda and introduced new technologies and adapted to meet rising energy costs, tougher environmental building standards, economic constraints and the expectations of the audiences,  and they will also share the experiences of the 48 London theatres on The Theatres Trust ERDF funded ECOVENUE project.

Conference 12 will be of interest to those trying to maximise economic, social and environmental returns from their theatre buildings through redesign, adaptation or new builds. It provides the opportunity to discuss these issues with other theatres, government and arts policy makers, theatre consultants and architects and take part in the debate.

Final deadline for registration is 9 June 2012

For more details and registration, click here.

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

2nd Thought Theatre Returns to Dallas, goes green

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Last year STT went green.  We switched to purely internet based marketing and eliminated playbills in favor of digital projections.  We used the money we saved to pay more to our artists as we strive to be a leader in production quality in the community. This year we are taking things one step further.  Audiences will use their smart phones to either download the playbill to their device at home or scan a QR code to interact with the website and download the playbill to their device once they arrive.  Other theaters tell you to turn your cell phones off.  But not us.  We want you to leave them on, in silent mode of course,” said Chris LaBove.

Second Thought Theatre will be announcing the 2011-2012 Season in the coming weeks.

All shows in STT’s 2011-2012 Mainstage Season will be performed in Bryant Hall on the Kalita Humphreys Campus, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd Dallas, TX 75129.  To make a donation or to find out more information, please visit www.2tt.co

via 2nd Thought Theatre Returns to Dallas.