sustainability

CSPA Supports has launched!

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The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts is pleased to announce a new initiative: CSPA Supports.

“The CSPA Supports grant program is designed to support the projects of our members as they consider issues of sustainability (ecological, economic, or cultural) in their professional work,” comments Miranda Wright, co-founder of the CSPA.

“Since founding the CSPA, it has been our goal to offer grants or commissions by re-investing a large percentage of any profit we earn back into the arts.   We hope this initiative will enable artists to work on projects that are meaningful to them, and projects that could impact the public’s perception of what sustainability means.”

Artists from all genres (and cross genres) are encouraged to apply, including those working in public art, installation, live performance, or digital work. Applicants must be current members of the CSPA.  Members of the CSPA receive a variety of other benefits, including an annual book selection, subscriptions to the CSPA Quarterly and Mammut Magazine, monthly e-newsletters, and opportunities to submit articles, essays, and information to the CSPA’s multi-faceted knowledge network.

Grants will support materials, creative fees, documentation, travel, and communications related to a proposed project.  International applications are accepted, and projects may take place anywhere in the world.  The application consists of an online form, short essay questions, and a proposed budget. The deadline for round one of CSPA Supports is March 1, 2011.

To join the CSPA, visit www.sustainablepractice.org/join-the-cspa

To apply for a CSPA Supports grant, and for grant guidelines, visit www.sustainablepractice.org/cspasupports

CSPA Quarterly: Calls for our next two issues

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We are now accepting submissions for our next two issues:  The last of 2010 focusing on International Action, with a special section dedicated to COP16 Cancun, and the first issue of 2011 on art that makes the invisible visible.

International Action

Please share with us any work that creatively addresses global issues in sustainability.  We are particularly interested in projects happening outside of the United States that pay attention to global dilemmas including global warming, rising sea levels, disappearing cultures, and economic divides.  A special section will be dedicated to work at the UN’s Conference of the Parties, summit on climate change in Cancun in December.

International Action Deadline for Submission:  January 10, 2011

Invisible Visibility

For this issue, we are interested in art projects, installations, and performances that visualize invisible threats to our environmental, economic, or cultural sustainability.  How can our creative industries call public attention to major issues that are easy to ignore because they are ‘out of sight, out of mind?’

Invisible Visibility Deadline for Submission:  February 1, 2011.


The CSPA Quarterly explores sustainable arts practices in all genres, and views sustainability in the arts through environmentalism, economic stability, and cultural infrastructure.  The periodical provides a formal terrain for discussion, and seeks to elevate diverse points of view.

Please send your opinion articles, project case studies, researched essays, and photos to: Miranda@SustainablePractice.org.

To view past issues, along with our current issue on digital work, please visit:  http://www.magcloud.com/browse/Magazine/38626

Worldchanging: Bright Green: Thank You for Seven Years of Worldchanging

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Sad news at the start of international talks….

Seven years ago, Alex Steffen and Jamais Cascio started Worldchanging with the intention of providing access to the tools, models and ideas for building a better future. They wanted to push the concept that solutions-based thinking could transform the debates about sustainability and social innovation. With a scrawny little blog, a brilliant crew of fellow travelers and a lot of moxie, an initial group of us set out to change how people think about (and prepare for) the future.

Since then, Worldchanging has published almost 12,000 essays, articles, blog posts and “quick changes.” We’ve put out a bestselling book (which has been translated into French, German and other languages). We’ve had roughly eight million unique readers, and reached tens of millions more with our ideas through talks, interviews in the media and so on. We’ve had a major impact on the debate, introducing a whole bunch of new ideas and moving forward some entirely new discussions. Many Worldchanging writers have become leading voices in important planetary conversations. We’ve coined a number of phrases, not least the idea of bright green environmentalism. We’ve won awards, earned critical acclaim and, if our mail is to be believed, offered some optimism and inspiration to a number of bright, idealistic people.

But all things change, and so it happens with Worldchanging. The organization is taking steps to close its doors and dissolve as a 501c3 nonprofit organization by the end of 2010. It is our goal to see the archive of work here maintained, though the form of that archive is still uncertain.

via Worldchanging: Bright Green: Thank You for Seven Years of Worldchanging.

“Going Green in Theatrical Design: Set & Props”

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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!

ARTIST AS ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST

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Fragile Spring: found cardboard box, India ink, 6

A nice mention of the CSPA and partners in Filter….

Revealing the value of the intangible has long been the domain of shamans, homeopaths, permaculturists and conceptual artists – and is perhaps one of the best hopes we have for rapidly shifting our culture towards one of increased efficiency and sustainability. Many contemporary artists are finding themselves inadvertently part of a new of movement that includes a sense of responsibility for defending the environment. Frustrated by a system based on mindless overconsumption of limited resources, they are choosing to develop creative, alternative ways to live, work, and communicate. Organisations such as Ecoartspace, The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts , theSheila T. Johnson Design Center at Parsons/The New School for Social Research and Art & Science Collaborations, Inc are assisting in the emergence of this new interdisciplinary field.

via Filter Magazine – filter.anat.org.au.

Sustainability in the Audio and Video Industry

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Learn about sustainability and green issues for the audio and video industries, for FREE at the comfort of your own…computer!

This one day e-conference is the first of its kind.  SustainabilityAV 2010 will be hosted by Installation Europe (IE) and Pro Sound News Europe (PSNE) taking place on Wednesday 10 November.  Here you will be exposed to pivotal forms of sustainability within the pro-audio and video sectors along with presentations geared by SustainabilityAV’s mission of “Environmental sense makes business sense.”  Professionals will have the opportunity to learn about how to run businesses in a “greener” way, save on costs while better managing budgets, and enhance marketing of green objectives/ethics and business practices.  This event will consist of six conference sessions followed by interactive lectures by international speakers who are innovating this market.  What a wonderful contribution for those in the arts who are implementing sustainability!  If you are interested in getting involved or simply want to learn more about his event click here.

Go to Arcola Energy

CultureMap Houston: B Corps take hold in Houston: Companies like New Living make doing good a rule

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Benefit Corporations continue to gain notoriety — the concept was profiled in depth in Esquire earlier this month — but the term is still foreign to many people. I didn’t know what a B Corp was until a few weeks ago, when I learned that Houston houses one. Jeff Kaplan and Adam Brackman’s New Living, a sustainability-focused green building and home store in the Rice Village (in the old historic Wagner Hardware store) is a member of this evolved new class of business model.

via B Corps take hold in Houston: Companies like New Living make doing good a rule – 2010-Sep-01 – CultureMap Houston.

Sustainability in the Audio and Video Industry

Arcola, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Learn about sustainability and green issues for the audio and video industries, for FREE at the comfort of your own…computer!

This one day e-conference is the first of its kind.  SustainabilityAV 2010 will be hosted by Installation Europe (IE) and Pro Sound News Europe (PSNE) taking place on Wednesday 10 November.  Here you will be exposed to pivotal forms of sustainability within the pro-audio and video sectors along with presentations geared by SustainabilityAV’s mission of “Environmental sense makes business sense.”  Professionals will have the opportunity to learn about how to run businesses in a “greener” way, save on costs while better managing budgets, and enhance marketing of green objectives/ethics and business practices.  This event will consist of six conference sessions followed by interactive lectures by international speakers who are innovating this market.  What a wonderful contribution for those in the arts who are implementing sustainability!  If you are interested in getting involved or simply want to learn more about his event click here.

Go to Arcola Energy

The Theatres Trust Ecovenue project at PLASA 2010

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Theatres Trust will be profiling the Ecovenue project, and all its participants at PLASA 2010 in The Theatres Trust’s very own ‘Ecovenue’ on Stand 2-M28 at Earl’s Court, showcasing the environmental efficiency practices being implemented across the London venues involved with the project. In addition to profiling the venues, the Ecovenue area in Earls Court 2 will also feature technologies designed to rationalise the environmental footprint of theatres.

As part of this initiative, The Theatres Trust will launch its first ‘People’s Choice’ award for sustainable theatrical products to complement the existing PLASA Innovation Award for Environmentally-focused products.

All exhibiting manufacturers at PLASA 2010 are invited, as part of an open call for entries, to put forward products to be considered for this Theatres Trust award. The Theatres Trust will then select those that represent either a significant step forward in the resource efficiency of an existing product or a new product intended to contribute to the resource efficiency of a theatre to be featured in the area.

Visitors to PLASA 2010 will be able to vote on the product they feel best represents progression towards sustainability, while also learning about the advice that the Ecovenue participants are receiving and the experiences of the 24 already signed up to the project.

The PLASA Show runs from the 12th – 15th September. For a Theatres Trust ‘People’s Choice’ award application form, please email Tim Atkinson.

via Ecovenue – Resources – The Theatres Trust.

An Open Letter To Entertainment Industry Manufacturers

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At LDI in 2009 and at USITT 2010, there was a lot of discussion about sustainability. Hundreds of your current and potential customers attended sessions with “green” in the title and participated in events where sustainability was a topic of discussion. This was an edifying exercise in talking about environmental responsibility, but it is time for our industry to take the next step.

We are writing to ask you to help us support our clients in their efforts in sustainability, which may, at the same time, help you promote your products. While much of our equipment is exempt from ASHRE standards and is not considered directly in LEED building certification, the point is not the certification; it is behaving responsibly.

Read the full letter at Live Design’s Website here: An Open Letter To Entertainment Industry Manufacturers.

Curtis Kasefang is trained as a lighting designer and embarking on his 20th year as a theatre consultant. He is a principal with Theatre Consultants Collaborative, LLC. Prior to his consulting work, he was a production manager for a four-theatre complex. He also chairs his local Historic Districts Commission. He will participate in the Green Day Think Tank at LDI2010.