Yearly Archives: 2013

Green Captains Program Expands Beyond Broadway

Regional theatres everywhere are going green!

Building on the success of our popular Broadway Green Captain program– where the BGA has a backstage liaison at nearly every show– we are expanding the program to include off-Broadway and regional theatres.

Last spring we brought our Green Captain program to college theatre departments by working with New York University professor Chris Jaenig and his student, Franklin Swann, to develop a “kit” of ideas for greening college productions and a sample timeline for implementation.  Now we are working with our brand new off-Broadway committee (see below) to come up with an off-Broadway Green Captain kit that tweaks the Broadway model, adding things relevant to the off-Broadway world and broken down into separate venue and theatre company sections.

Going even further we are now taking our Green Captain program to regional theatres.  After the BGA was asked for greening ideas by regional theatres like Studio 1 in North Carolina and the Dr. Philips Center for Performing Arts in Florida we worked to turn our Green Captain kit into a useful guide for greening regional theatres. The regional kit includes a section highlighting the terrific greening programs already in place at several regional theatres to help inspire others to start their own greening programs.  Major green overhauls have taken place at theatres like La Jolla Playhouse in California where permeable pavement reduces water run-off in their parking lot and the Walton Center in Arkansas where the concessions have all been re-designed to reduce packaging.

Nearly a dozen Regional Theatre Green Captains are already in place and we have sent out an interest letter explaining the program to over 75 theatres across the country encouraging others to join.  We hope to eventually gather feedback from member theatres that will allow us to better tailor the kit to the needs of regional theatres.

If you know of an off-Broadway theatre or theatre company or a regional theatre who might be interested in learning more about the BGA Green Captain program, please let us know or encourage them to reach out to green@Broadway.org.

The Broadway Green Alliance was founded in 2008 in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) is an ad hoc committee of The Broadway League and a fiscal program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. Along with Julie’s Bicycle in the UK, the BGA is a founding member of the International Green Theatre Alliance. The BGA has reached tens of thousands of fans through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other media.

At the BGA, we recognize that it is impossible to be 100% “green” while continuing activity and – as there is no litmus test for green activity – we ask instead that our members commit to being greener and doing better each day. As climate change does not result from one large negative action, but rather from the cumulative effect of billions of small actions, progress comes from millions of us doing a bit better each day. To become a member of the Broadway Green Alliance we ask only that you commit to becoming greener, that you name a point person to be our liaison, and that you will tell us about your green-er journey.

The BGA is co-chaired by Susan Sampliner, Company Manager of the Broadway company of WICKED, and Charlie Deull, Executive Vice President at Clark Transfer<. Rebekah Sale is the BGA’s full-time Coordinator.

Go to the Broadway Green Alliance

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Eco Drama’s Carbon Innovations

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

185286-greener-together-community-awards-eco-drama-pr-pic-stripeEco Drama is a touring children’s theatre company based in Glasgow.  They deliver theatre productions, drama workshops, teacher training and creative learning experiences to schools, community venues, theatres and festivals throughout Scotland.

The company are dedicated to creating meaningful experiences which engage and inspire children, young people and the wider community in the values of caring and being responsible for the natural world. Through the creative experience, the company aims to reduce carbon emissions by inspiring positive behaviour change.

Eco Drama has a green ethos at its heart and tour in the eye-catching Magic Van, run on 100% recycled vegetable oil, which helps reduce touring carbon emissions by 85%. The following case studies illustrate some of the company’s latest work and highlight the real benefits that the project is bringing to young people and communities.

The Forgotten Orchard

The Forgotten Orchard is a production written by Eco Drama for ages 8+.  The show draws inspiration from Scottish apples and our lost orchard heritage, and aims to spark imaginations and re-connect young people emotionally and intellectually with their food and where it comes from.

The show is currently being delivered to primary schools across Scotland, as well as being performed at Apple Days, festivals, community venues and theatres.  During 2012-15, Eco Drama, in collaboration with ‘The Appletreeman’ Andrew Lear, will help plant 34 school orchards across Glasgow City, as well as a community orchard at the new Townhead Village Hall in Glasgow city centre. Teachers are provided with Orchard Training and 3 Scottish apple trees to get started, made possible with support from the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund.

The Worm; An Underground Adventure

Eco Drama’s new performance for 3-7 year olds, ‘The Worm’ is an immersive, musical tale celebrating the wonder of life beneath our feet. Post-performance the audience get to see some real worms and learn about the importance of ‘worm poo’ in helping us recycle food waste and its importance in contributing to healthy nutritious soil. Nurseries and schools booking this performance receive a wormery and kitchen caddy to start them on their composting journey.

Process Drama & Creative Learning

Eco Drama have also been delivering creative learning workshops ‘Recycling Heroes’, ‘Eco Gadgets’ and ‘The Oil of Life’, all of which enable learners to explore environmental topics in greater depth through the medium of drama and inspire that we can all make a positive difference to our natural world.

The Carbon Calculator, Qualitative Evaluation & Research

Eco Drama is committed to evaluating the social and environmental impact of theatre and drama education on behaviour change, carbon emissions and on young people’s personal development. In recent years the company have developed an online Carbon Calculator, which enables both Eco Drama and schools to monitor the amount of carbon output each class of students produce both before and after the experience.  So far the carbon reductions from positive behaviour change have been significant.

Between April 2011 and March 2012, following a range of workshops and productions in West Dunbartonshire schools, the company were successful in making a CO2 reduction of 548.72 tonnes across the schools in the areas of waste minimisation, reductions in energy usage and sustainable travel.  By touring in a van run on bio diesel instead of conventional diesel fuel, a saving of 2.1 tonnes of CO2 was made to Eco Drama’s own carbon footprint during the lifespan of the tour.

To calculate the reductions made within schools, results from the ‘before’ questionnaires were inputted into the carbon calculator, which gave baseline data for current behaviours and current carbon output in relation to the three target areas – waste minimisation, reductions in energy usage and sustainable travel. Then, several months after the experience and subsequent classroom activities, a second questionnaire was carried out, and the ‘after’ results inputted into the calculator.  The results were then measured using carbon data obtained from the Scottish Governments Low Carbon Route Maps for Travel & Energy, from www.wasteawarescotland.org and the TSCB Programme Support Plan Template – Number 7 ‘Tonnage/Carbon Impact Detail’. This enabled us to calculate what carbon reductions had been made from positive behaviour change in these areas.

Going forward, Eco Drama has new projects and productions that tie in with the new Zero Waste Regulations passed by the Scottish Parliament.  Carbon reductions will be calculated in the area of food waste minimisation by carrying out food waste audits in the schools we work with, again both before and several months after the experience.  The company are on track to achieving similar, if not substantially better carbon reduction results for 2012/13 and beyond.

Image courtesy of STV News

The post Blog: Eco Drama’s Carbon Innovations 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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