Going Green

Kristina Wong, the Fringe’s most Divisive and “Gutsy” Eco-Commedienne, becomes a Woman of the Night

By Jingo! The Scotsman might think you need to be American to enjoy her, but Kristina Wong, “A storyteller that sends sparks flying with every line” (Broadway Baby), is moving the five star Going Green the Wong Way from 10:30 to 19:00… and she’s taking her Mooncup with her!

Bucking consensus, Going Green the Wong Way “Starts with a literal bang, but it just keeps getting better”  says Broadway Baby, but the Scotsman says Wong’s a “relentlessly self-congratulator” with simply “occasional glimpses of comic talent”. How can we explain that? Well,”To be scrupulously fair, most of the largely American full house evidently enjoyed themselves.”(Scotsman). Discover the show that “exacerbates” our cultural divisions! We don’t think you need to wrap yourself in stars and stripes (except for those from 5 Star reviews) when American Public Media Marketplace Radio Commentator Kristina Wong’s hilarious tour-de-force comedy about her hysterical triumphs and pitfalls in sustainable living moves to a later time this weekend. Starting 19 August, Going Green the Wong Way moves to 19:00 and gives away its last free breakfast at 10:30 on Saturday the 18th.

“Please make your way to HollyWong,” where, at a young age, Kristina Wong was tapped by Mother Earth and entrusted with a quest: Save the Planet. In this mad-cap comedy, Wong weaves her true-life adventures as a tireless missionary of recycling. From confrontational 6th grade performance art to 2006, when her 1981 bubble gum pink Mercedes Benz—that had been converted to run on vegetable oil—left her with a never-ending series of car repairs before it finally burst into flames on the freeway, Going Green The Wong Way will have everyone asking What Would Mother Earth Do?

Going Green the Wong Way has been called “A Hoot!” by the Miami Herald and “A smart, brazen and raunchy parody of political correctness” by LA WEEKLY. Mother Nature Network dubbed her “One of America’s Funniest Eco-Comedians” who is “…an energetic, witty, uninhibited performer… a seamless, sure-fire comedic turn” according to Backstage West. Just take it from the San Francisco Bay Guardian, “There are hundreds of ways to go wrong when attempting to go green, but going Wong can only ever be right” or Broadway Baby who says she can “Do no Wong.”

For more information about Kristina Wong:

Kristina Wong’s website: http://kristinawong.com

Kristina Wong’s full bio: http://kristinawong.com/about

Wong on Marketplace discussing Carmageddon w/o a car: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/life/commentary/come-again-carmaggedon

Venue 13 was launched in 1996 as an initiative by the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to promote the best new talent from Wales on a world stage. Now run in Collaboration with the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), the 2012 season presents productions of emerging artists from Wales and California.

Tickets may be acquired by calling the venue 13 box office at 07074 20 1313 or logging on to the Edinburgh Fringe Website at http://www.edfringe.com

http://www.venue13.com/production/going-green-the-wong-way/

Going Green the Wong Way going to Edinburgh

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CLICK HERE TO VIEW KICKSTARTER

Going Green the Wong Way is being presented by CalArts Festival Theater this August 2012 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland– the world’s largest fringe festival.  This show looks at the hilarious trials and tribulations of sustainable living, most notably, creator Kristina Wong’s experiences of running a car on vegetable oil, and subsequently, living in Los Angeles without a car.

“Going Green the Wong Way might be one of the most ridiculous shows we’ve ever seen, and we mean that in the best of ways…. Wong took a seemingly overworked topic like sustainable living and turned it into a surrealist, hilarious ride.”                           — Miami New Times

See the show in Los Angeles before it goes to Edinburgh!

This Kickstarter campaign is also a way for us to get the word out about the Los Angeles run of GGTWW at the Bootleg Theater June 28- July 22.  A donation of $35 or more will secure general admission seats for the run of the show and help us get to Edinburgh!  (See details on your right!)

More About Going Green the Wong Way:  

In her lifelong quest for sustainable living, Kristina Wong purchased a 1981 pink Mercedes that ran on vegetable oil, and endured a nightmare of never-ending car repairs and near death pursuits for the used cooking oil to fuel it. When the car finally burst into flames on an L.A. freeway, Wong lost the largest line item in her monthly budget, and gained the inspiration for this premiere production.  GOING GREEN THE WONG WAY brings our contemporary urban environment to life, revealing just how tricky it is to “do the right thing.”  Based on Wong’s true-life adventures, but elevated to surrealist heights, the production takes us from Kristina’s confrontational 6th grade science project, to her wandering years as a missionary of recycling, to her true calling as Los Angeles’ patron martyr of carbon-free living.

Going Green the Wong Way was originally produced by Mad Cat Theatre Company in November 2010 and premiered at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, FL as an ensemble piece.  It premiered as a full length solo work in San Francisco last summer (produced by Mad Cat Theatre Company and Circuit Network).  It’s also played at the Comedy Central Stage, Upright Citizens Brigade, South Coast Rep, and the Contemporary Art Center’s “The Off The Strip” Festival in Las Vegas.

“Kristina Wong is a funny — no, make that an extremely funny — performer with a wildly imaginative, sometimes raunchy sensibility.”  — Miami Herald

“Kristina Wong is a terrific physical comedienne whose love of dry humping, scrambled TV porn, reusable female necessities, scatology and vegetable oil make her highly qualified to be an ecological martyr.”   — Miami Art Zine           

“When things go wrong for performance artist Kristina Wong, you know it’s going to be a spectacular mess… There are hundreds of ways to go wrong when attempting to go green, but going Wong can only ever be right.”
— San Francisco Bay Guardian

“While her hilarious tales of being a “missionary of recycling” might make her audience laugh, the sustainable schtick isn’t just an act. Wong is serious about practicing what she preaches.”  — Good Magazine

Green Building: Where Does The Art Fit In?

This post comes to you from Green Public Art

On May 4, 2011, Rebecca Ansert, Founder & Principal of Green Public Art co-presented an American for the Arts webinar Going Green: How to Align Public with Green Building and Infrastructure with

The premise of the webinar was this: Increasingly, various levels of government are demanding that new and retrofitted public buildings and urban infrastructure meet green standards. Through case studies and policy examples we will cover fundamental approaches for integrating art that makes green technologies visible into the design and construction of green buildings, as well as public infrastructure. Participants will learn key language that describes approaches to public art that showcases green building and infrastructure technologies such as stormwater capture and energy production and how these kinds of public art can be integrated into existing and new ordinances and modifications to comprehensive plans. Productive strategies for the artist selection process, as well as green building standards materials resources and maintenance will also be covered.

The following was my ten-minute contribution to the conversation which included the examination of a LEED certification checklist, where I believe public art can play a role. I hope this will enable others to continue to advance the conversation of public art in green building in their own organizations.

I believe that the public art community has a great opportunity to take a critical and creative approach to finding sustainable strategies to incorporate into our built environment. We need a green public art movement that can set a course to increase the aesthetic appeal of new construction and city planning; to encourage projects to take a holistic approach; and encourage artists to take an active role in creating works which demonstrate green processes, and utilize green design, materials and techniques in green building projects.

THREE LEADING GREEN BUILDING CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS

BREEAM (Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method)was launched in 1990. It is a performance based assessment method and certification program for new building`s. The primary aim of BREEAM is to mitigate the life cycle impacts of new buildings on the environment in a robust and cost effective manner. There are ten categories for award points in this program

The Living Building Challenge is a program of the International Living Building Institute that was launched in 2006. It is an independent non-profit organization. The underlying principle of the Living Building Challenge is that all development projects should use nature as the ultimate measurement stick for performance. There are a total of twenty checkpoints in the Living Building Challenge and they are organized into seven categories. The major difference of this program is that certification is based on actual performance instead of modeled outcomes like LEED and BREEAM. Projects must be fully operational for at least twelve consecutive months prior to certification.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Enviromental Design) was launched in 1998 by the United States Green Building Council, or USGBC. I will focus most of my discussion on this certification program primarily because it is widely being accepted by municipalities as the green building certification of choice.

VS. TABLE

This table enables you to view each program’s certification criteria side-by-side. Notice the high amount of overlap. For instance, every certification program awards points for water efficiency and renewable energy sources. A couple of certification criteria unique to their respectful programs are BREEAM’s Management category and the Living Building Challenge’s Equity category.  It is also interesting that the Living Building Challenge is the only certification program that awards points specifically for aesthetics in their Beauty category.

The conversation continues here… PUBLIC ART and LEED – Sustainable Sites and Water Efficiency

 

Rebecca Ansert, founder of Green Public Art, is an art consultant who specializes in artist solicitation, artist selection, and public art project management for both private and public agencies. She is a graduate of the master’s degree program in Public Art Studies at the University of Southern California and has a unique interest in how art can demonstrate green processes or utilize green design theories and techniques in LEED certified buildings.

Green Public Art is a Los Angeles-based consultancy that was founded in 2009 in an effort to advance the conversation of public art’s role in green building. The consultancy specializes in public art project development and management, artist solicitation and selection, creative community involvement and knowledge of LEED building requirements. Green Public Art also works with emerging and mid-career studio artists to demystify the public art process. The consultancy acts as a resource for artists to receive one-on-one consultation before, during, and after applying for a public art project.

Go to Green Public Art

“Going Green in Theatrical Design: Set & Props”

Wednesday, December 8, 2010
6 to 7:30pm
The Broadway League
729 Seventh Avenue, 5th floor
New York, NY

The Broadway Green Alliance announces its first of several free workshops discussing sustainability in theatrical design.  From Bamboo Velour to Wheatboard, there are better & greener choices to be made. Hear what materials are available, see & touch new products, and learn tips to make your design/production more sustainable.  Open to all designers, artisans, technicians and managers who want to create greener sets & props. Feel free to pass on this invite to your fellow
colleagues, assistants or students.

Space is limited.  Contact Donyale Werle at donyalewerle@gmail.com to reserve your seat!

Robe Going Green at PLASA | iSquint.net

Robe has some huge news for PLASA next month.  They are keeping the product announcement under wraps right now, but they will be announcing 7 new products at PLASA.

What makes these seven new fixtures exciting is the commitment to going green that Robe just announced.  Robe is launching a major new green initiative – “Think of the Future – Consider Nature” – at PLASA 2010

Read the rest from  Robe Going Green at PLASA | iSquint.net.

LDI is Going Green

LDI 2009
November 19-22
Orlando, Florida

LDI GREEN DAY
Full day conference consisting of multiple panels that focus on Green Topics for the Entertainment Industry will be presented on Thursday, November 19.

GREEN TECHNOLOGY TODAY SHOWCASE -PRESENTED BY LDI AND SHOWMAN FABRICATORS
A booth on the exhibit floor that exclusively displays Green products. This showcase will be a first of its kind opportunity to bring together Green products specific to the entertainment industry.

GREEN AWARDS SPONSORED BY SHOWMAN FABRICATORS
This years LDI will be the inaugural year for two Green awards at the LDI awards ceremony.

  • The Green Product of the Year will be chosen from exhibitors in the Green Technology Today Showcase.
  • The Green Event/Show of the Year award is open for submissions from anyone in the entertainment/ live event industry. This award specifically spotlights and celebrates a show or event which was able to integrate sustainability into its production.

For more information and to register for the conference please visit www.ldishow.com or contact Bob Usdin at Showman Fabricators (rusdin@showfab.com).

Sponsored by

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Opera Grand Rapids Goes Green

Reprinted from DeVos Performance Hall

Opera Grand Rapids is rooting itself into a culture of green. The long awaited Betty Van Andel Opera Center will be a Silver LEED certified facility. The center, which will house a rehearsal hall, costume shop and offices, will be built on the West corner of Fulton and Carlton.

Currently a brown field, the parcel of land had been the home of Michigan Litho. After a fire in 2002 destroyed the printing company, the lot has set empty for years, an eyesore for a budding neighborhood on the edge of the City’s downtown.

The Opera’s future building is not the first to go green in Grand Rapids’ growing skyline, recent projects by the Grand Rapids Art Museum and the Grand Rapids Ballet are also LEED certified. Planners from the Opera Grand Rapids facilities committee note that going green was always in the plan for the project. At question was the level of certification.

As a Silver level facility, the project will meet standards that include: sustainability, pollution prevention, water efficient landscaping, water efficient utilities, optimized energy performance, construction waste management and the use of regional materials to limit transportation pollution.

Fundraising efforts continue on the long awaited project, which was jump started by a $1 Million grant from the Jay and Betty Van Andel Foundation more than seven years ago. Construction and material bids for The Betty Van Andel Opera Center have come in higher than initially expected, driving the estimated cost of the project up from $1.95 Million to approximately $2.3 Million. A groundbreaking ceremony, originally expected for this fall, will be held when 100% of the funds needed to complete the project have been raised. Currently the Company has raised approximately 80% of the new campaign goal. A public fundraising campaign will be launched later this month.

Once open, in 2009, the facility will consolidate the Company’s resources in one location. Currently the Company stages its operas and fits costumes at a variety of donated spaces throughout Grand Rapids. This means for each of its three shows time, energy and money are spent to set up temporary rehearsal spaces. With the facility, the Company’s costume shop, property and set storage as well as vocal warm up rooms and rehearsal room will all be located in one permanent facility.

The Company will begin rehearsals for the first show of its season, “Tosca” in mid-October. The show will take place Nov. 7 and 8 at 7:30pm at DeVos Hall. Tickets are currently on sale through Ticketmaster.

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Go to the Green Theater Initiative

Actually, It is Easy Being Green: Apollo Design Technology

From Live Design Online

We asked readers what they’re doing to be green, whether in design, manufacturing, or just life in general.

Here’s what Monty McWilliams at Apollo Design Technology had to say:

“Apollo has obviously gone green in a big way by switching our gobo production process from chemical etching to clean laser technology. Please click this link to view our video on our going green. We are also transitioning into recycled or recyclable packaging for all our gobo products.” 

And Blair Parkin, managing director at Visual Acuity, notes:

“As lead technology consultant on the planetarium, visualization studio, and other technology heavy areas of the new California Academy of Sciences, the world’s largest green building, we have developed new design approaches. These in turn have driven equipment manufacturers to develop their technology with a much greater focus on sustainability.

At the Academy the entire building was designed to LEED platinum status which was a major innovation. The client team are passionate about climate change and biodiversity given the nature of their institution. As such the design team elected to take the sustainable design criteria further than would have been needed to achieve LEED status. The application of LEED principles beyond scoring the necessary points led to a major shift in traditional technology design practice. This, in turn, led to new design processes being evaluated and a number of new technologies applied in a public space that had not been used before. One example would be the wide use of special LED lights developed by Philips. Another example would be the creation by Visual Acuity of a heat and power ‘budget’ for the AV/media/technology systems which was used for planning and vendor selection. In short, it would be fair to state that this project has entirely changed the way Visual Acuity and all the other members of the design team plan, design and build projects.”

via Actually, It is Easy Being Green: Apollo Design Technology.