Monthly Archives: October 2008

growing – greenmuseum.org

Since 2001, greenmuseum.org has been dedicated to spreading the word about environmental art. Just two of us in a room most of the time, plus kind folks like Moe and Tyler, our Board, donors and friends and of course, the growing number of artists and people out there making this stuff… and together we’ve made it work. On a shoestring budget, we’ve introduced millions of people to the catalyzing mix of art and ecology. FREE for the world to see 24 hours a day.

We’ve depended on the extremely generous donations of few people, but challenging economic times are forcing us to broaden our revenue sources. With your help, we have an opportunity to reach out to the greater environmental art community and bring in support from around the world.

We need to raise $100,000 through Membership donations and grants by the end of 2008. To do this we need your help. JOIN US NOW so we can introduce these ideas to another few million people.

~ Thanks! ~

Go to Source

LEED standards don’t stand in the way of artistic expression

This Post was originally posted to Mike Lawler’s ecoTheaer blog on July 19, 2007. We are reposting it here to share this ecoTheater classic with new readers while MIke continues to regain his health. You can read his blog about his ongoing battle with cancer, The “C” Word, by clicking here.

Today I spoke with Scott Bowne, the production and facilites manager for Theatrical Outfit (TO)–number 5 on mySummer 2007 greenList. They may have been alphabetically #5, but chronologically, they were #1. Remember Tom Key (We wanted to do the right thing), TO’s executive artistic director? Key was the first–and thus far, only–leader of a theater going (or gone) green to tell me without hesitation that he was eager to build green.

Since Bowne has only been in his current position with TO for less than a year, he’s still trying to catch up with the idea of managing a green facility. And, unfortunately, the idea hasn’t quite fully infiltrated their way of producing theater.

But, what was most interesting about our conversation was Bowne discovered that the USGBC wasn’t interested in inhibiting theater artists from doing their jobs, and creating the kind of work they should. Bowne encountered this especially when TO was mounting a production of Doris Baizley’s Shiloh Rules and the dilemma of using fog or haze came up. After putting a call into the equally-new-at-this-LEED-stuff staff of Portland Center Stage, Bowne says he was reassured to learn that the folks at the USGBC, while concerned about the air quality issues of theatrical fog or haze,weren’t in the business of telling artists how to create art. Of course, such issues are not new to the theater business either, and Bowne still had to keep in mind the health of the performers and audience. Since TO’s Balzer Theatre has a state of the art ventilation system that monitors CO2 levels while introducing fresh outside air to control air quality, the hazing issue became one that caused little problems. The Balzer’s ventilation dissapated the haze so quickly that it became somewhat of a non issue. “We decided not to combat that,” Bowne said, and so the haze made brief appearances at the top of each act.

The hope is that Bowne will continue to learn and grow into his position (which he has held for less than a year, after a long career with Alliance Theatre). He has the opportunity to make a difference with a company that has already taken huge steps in their commitment to sustainability.

Vaughn Bell Hilarity

I’ve been holding back for long enough: Vaughn Bell is hilarious. The Seattle-based artist creates sculpture and performance works that examine our relationship to nature in a manner that’s fun and funky.

Besides the Personal Biospheres above, where folks can isolate their heads in their own private landscapes, Bell has created a pet mountain, a Cultivation Utility Vehicle (i.e. a plant stand), and a dress that allows anyone to carry a plant around like a belly baby.  In the end we all look kind of silly regarding the planet as our personal playtoy.

Her work, and the work of many other inspired environmental artists, is currently on display at the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art as part of the exhibition Badlands: New Horizons in Landscape. The personal Biospheres at MassMOCA will be based on the landscapes of North Adams, MA, where the museum is located.

Go to Source

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts (CPSA) in partnership with EARTH MATTERS ON STAGE: Ecodrama Playwrights Festival and Symposium on Ecology & Theatre at the University of Oregon, Eugene is asking for presentations from the national arts community focused on building ecologically and economically sustainable models in the arts.   The EMOS Festival and Symposium takes place May 21-31, 2009.

The CSPA is a start-up arts-service organization focused on researching, developing and implementing change to increase the ecological and economic sustainability of the arts in the United States. The CSPA will be hosting a series of focused sessions within the larger symposium to deal with practical change and repeatable models.

While the content and format of the presentations is open to the creativity of presenters, preference will be given to presentations that focus on critical analysis, scientific data and documentation as the basis for support of a project’s relationship to issues of sustainability. We seek shareable and repeatable models for active change in arts practice.

Based on the proposals received, presenters may be grouped into topical sessions and may also be asked to participate in roundtable and/or panel discussions to be able to best compare and contrast existing and proposed models of sustainable change, especially as it may highlight the balance of the ecology and economy in contemporary arts practice.

Possible topics include presentations on the impact or future impact of LEED certified arts facilities, company greening initiatives, the creation of efficiency standards for the arts, government initiatives, production methodology, education of theater artists, individual projects created with ecology in mind, re-use programs and any practical documentation of positive ecological sustainable change.

While the CSPA’s session at the symposium will focus on practice and the practical application of change, we encourage all presenters to also submit to the general call from The Ecodrama Playwrights Festival and Symposium on Ecology and Performance. They seek “creative and innovative proposals for workshops, round-tables, panels, working sessions, installations, or participatory community gatherings that explore, examine, challenge, articulate, or nourish the possibilities of theatrical and performative responses to the environmental crisis in particular, and our ecological situatedness in general.”   See the EMOS Call for Proposals at: www.uoregon.edu/~ecodrama or email ecodrama@uoregon.edu.

Please send a one-page proposal and/or abstract by January 1, 2009 to:

Earth Matters Symposium 2009
The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts

(attention Ian Garrett)

c/o LA Stage Alliance

644 S. Figueroa St.

Los Angeles, CA 90017

Or you may email your materials to conferences@sustainablepractice.org

Please feel free to direct any questions to the CSPA via email at conferences@sustainablepractice.org

Please Welcome EcoTheater

Along with the syndicated new from the Green Theater Initiative in New York City, we are adding the syndication of MIke Lawler’s EcoTheater blog. I consider this blog to be one of the most central and important tools as the sustainability movement has come to the theater industries, and Mike is an all around swell guy to begin with. 

On a sad note, Mike is again deep in the trenches of his fight with cancer. If you have a momenet I ask that you also visit his blog about his fight called the “C” word. 

Because of Mike’s health, there will understandably be little activity from EcoTheater right now, but we will be posting some of his earlier posts periodically in the coming weeks.

Lindsay Jones responds

Something that frequently gets lost on blogs is the nuance of life — the other side of the story.

When I recently posted a previously unpublished entry entitled Planes, Trains, and Automobiles on the trouble with the abundance of travel in American theater I asked my friend Lindsay Jones to help me understand the issue from the perspective of a theater artist who travels frequently to do his work as a sound designer. In some ways, I left off bits of what he said in the interest of brevity — or, rather, directness. But in the leaving out, I skipped over what Jones feels was an essential part of his point, and I’d like to give him an opportunity to explain it (in full) here.

He wrote the following to me in an email Friday night. I have not edited it, and have removed only the parts addressed personally to me.

It’s weird because I kinda feel like I’ve been placed in this role of the bad guy (which is not your fault), due to my line of work, and I kinda feel like there’s only been one side of the context that I provided, which was that I must travel to do what I do. That’s bad for the environment, and I understand that that was the point of your post, so I kinda let it go.

But, in seeing all these people picking up the discussion, I really feel like they’re missing the other side of what I wrote (and was not printed), which is that I think that a constant infusion of new artists collaborating together is actually very good for the future of theatre. Good art comes from new challenges and new ideas and, many times, that comes from new people and new situations. That happens by artists being in new environments, and, a lot of times, that happens through travel. I understand that your research shows that travel is now bad for the environment. And I totally see your point on cultivating a theatre that is based entirely in the surrounding community would be good for the community as a whole, but I thought that that kind of theatre already existed as “community theatre” (a term that has unfairly gotten a bad rap over the last couple of decades, but the principle and practice of it is still very strong, as far as I know). The type of theatre that I work in is different from that, and if you dislike the idea of outside professionals working in your community, that’s absolutely your prerogative. No one says you can’t make your own theatre your own way. But I do see some great theatre in the stuff that I do, and I believe that these theatres have a place in our cultural offerings. Not always, but quite a bit.

For the people who say that the future of theatre lies entirely in the hands of people who can do many different skills, I have to say that certainly sounds good, but only up to a certain level. I can guarantee that the person who thinks this policy applies to all situations across the board has never worked inside of a larger regional theatre or commercial theatre structure. The assumption that these theatres are just a bunch of dumbasses who never thought about combining people’s job skills in order to save money is simply ludicrous. Trust me, theatres are CONSTANTLY looking for ways to have less people do more work. They have the staffs they have because that is the bare minimum of what they need in order to get the work finished. I’ve seen what kind of hours those people put in, and I sure don’t see anyone in those situations sitting around, waiting for something to do. They all work very hard at the jobs they have. I honestly have no idea how they would consolidate their positions any further.

And, frankly, I’m no exception either. I have to justify my job to people all the time. Everyone has an Ipod now, everyone has a computer, and a whole lot of people think what I do is really a piece of cake or even completely unnecessary altogether. But my job is more than just technical skills, it’s a very specific craft that I have honed in over 500 professional productions now. And that’s the other point that I was trying to make, which is the one thing that I feel I was misrepresented in your comments to your original post. You say that “the implication that talented designers simply do not exist in certain parts of the country is nonsense”, but in fact, I only said that that was a possible reason why I might be hired. That situation has happened, the theatre told me that when they hired me. It hasn’t happened often, which I also mentioned in my email, but it has happened. But the larger point is that they may have talented people who do my job in their region and yet those theatres hire me anyway. Why? Because they hate locals? Because they love spending money? No. Because they believe what I have to offer them and their production is worth bringing me in for. They think that what I can do will make the overall product better. Am I the only one with this skill? No. But by this point in my career, I’m confident in what I have to offer. I feel like it’s worth it, and I work as hard as I possibly can to make it worth it. And while I’m happy to apologize that my air travel is ruining the environment, I won’t apologize for the work that I do. It’s good work, and I’m proud of it.

That being said, I’m not looking to engage in an argument with people who have an axe to grind. I feel extremely fortunate to have the career that I have, and I know that by even writing any of this to you, I run the risk of looking petty or egotistical or elitist. I know that you wanted to have an honest dialogue on this subject, and that’s honestly the reason that I’m sending this to you, because I really do respect your position and hope you’ll see my point of view as well.

Q & A with Scott Georgeson

Recently, I thought it might be nice to have a sort of guest speaker here on ecoTheater who really knows what they’re talking about. I’ve asked a few people over the last several months if they’d be interested in answering ten specific questions about green theater, and the one person who has really come through and given us all a window into his informed perspective is Scott Georgeson, a theater architect with HGA Architects & Engineers in Milwaukee.

Georgeson first caught my eye a few months ago when I noticed his name cropping up repeatedly in regards to green theater buildings. He co-presented the session “To LEED or not to LEED” at this year’s USITT conference, presented a two part series entitled “On Greening Historic Theatres” for the League of Historic American Theatres Conference (LHAT), and was part of the panel at NATEAC’s entitled “The Greener Theatre.”

The interview below was conducted via email.

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ecoTheater: what kind of work do you do?

Scott Georgeson: I have been fortunate. My first job out of school in the mid 1980’s, was with the architectural firm designing the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre (MRT). This was an unbelievable experience. We spent countless hours working with MRT’s management, technicians, designer and performers to get every theatrical detail right. They were also concerned with audience accessibility before ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) was a regulation and reducing energy use before LEED was standard practice. MRT also pushed us to think beyond the needs of the theatre company. This resulted in saving a landmark building, rejuvenating an area of downtown Milwaukee and building one of the first sections of the river walk. I bring the lessons learned from MRT to all my Arts projects. Since then I have completed programs and designs for over 100 facilities for the performing arts, including one of the first LEED rated theatres in the US. Since the mid 1990’s I have been giving “Green Theatre” presentations to theatre organizations. The theater community’s interest in the “Green Theatre” continues to grow. This year I presented at the League of Historic American Theatres Conference (LHAT), United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT), North American Theatre Engineers Architects Conference (NATEAC) and attended the Theatres Trust Conference on Building Sustainable Theatres in London.

eT: what role do you play in the greening of arts organizations?

Being a theater architect, planning and coordinating the engineering of theaters is the expected role. The unexpected role is to develop a green agenda. I open up the conversation to the bigger picture, bringing alternative views, and showing the connections between seemly unconnected issues. The first challenge is to make clear it is easier to be “green” than you think. For example, the Peninsula Players Theatre in Fish Creek, Wisconsin did not start out thinking they wanted to be green, but it seemed a natural fit for them. They are located on a beautiful wooded water front site. Their old theatre had a problem with rain noise and flooding and their ugly, white rubber roof was visible from everywhere. It also developed mold from the high humidity and shade from the surrounding forest. A vegetative roof was the perfect way to control the flooding, provide acoustical density, add life span to the roof material, and it looked great! The mixer of seedums and wild flowers blended perfectly in the surrounding cedar forest. This was a green solution that solved a lot of nagging problems.

Second, you need to think beyond the bricks and mortar and look at the big picture. One of my first presentations on green theatre was to LHAT. An audience member claimed “we can’t be green because we are a historic theatre.” I pointed out there is nothing greener than reusing a building. They are also located in the downtown and could jump start a renewal of the area, saving other buildings and using existing city infrastructure including public transit. The theatre was built before air conditioning, relying on natural ventilation through a floor plenum and roof exhaust vents. This would allow for a displacement air system, which is very efficient and a trend in the HVAC system designs in green theaters. We talked about reusing the theater seats, starting a recycling program, changing out building equipment, etc. He started to understand the bigger picture and concluded they were already on track to be green.

eT: how do you define sustainability?

Sustainability is about conserving resources, having a minimum impact on our surroundings and understanding the long term impact of our actions. Sustainability understands the difference between “needs” and “wants”. Sustainability requires you to look for new ways to become more efficient and save resources everyday.

eT: do you think sustainability is an appropriate term in the arts, or even an acheivable goal — or, should we simply call it “green,” or “eco-friendly,” or “eco-responsible?”

A couple of years ago a web search on “sustainable theatre” would bring up articles on the “financial sustainability” of theater organizations. Today there are more links to “green” articles. I believe both topics are related. Theatres are a business and need to survive in order to present their Art. Reducing and saving resources should be an integral part of every non-profit’s plan, especially when operation money is always short. I do like the term “eco-responsible” – it speaks to a broader thinking.

eT: what role do you think arts organizations can (or should) play in creating sustainable communities?

This is a great follow up to the previous question. My broad view is that arts groups are crucial to our quality of life and add to the livability of our cities. The arts reach across all income levels, education, race and political beliefs. I don’t think it is an accident that cities with great art institutions are the most desirable and rank high in livability. Holding together cities reinforces sustainability by preserving investment in existing infrastructure, reusing resources and creating community. At an organizational level, each arts group should take the lead in promoting sustainability. For example, historically movie theatres in the 1940’s and 50’s were used to sell the idea of air conditioning to the general public. A regular audience is a marketer’s dream and arts groups should continue to take advantage of this to promote sustainability and their own green programs.

eT: what are the major obstacles for arts organizations when they consider taking steps towards greening their operations?

Change is not easy for anyone. But, through simple and clear steps, greening an organization’s operations can save money and improve the working environment. These are the top four reasons I have heard from theatre groups for not being green and an alternative way to look at the issue.

1. We don’t have the time. The show comes first. Time is always critical and may not allow you to change your process. But this shouldn’t stop you from changing your thinking. Time may only permit putting the struck set in the dumpster. A green solution would have the dumpster picked up by a company that recycles wood and the set materials.

2. We don’t have the staff for extra tasks. I just want to focus on the show. There are many things you can do to make work easier and save you money – changing standard light switches to motion detection light switches, for example.

3. We don’t have the money for expensive building systems. Most energy saving devises are inexpensive and simple. Using LED lights in exit signs and fluorescent lamps in support areas will save energy and money over the bulbs life span. (Some studies show savings of over $40 a bulb.)

4. We have always done it this way. Yes we have, and that is what has gotten us into this mess.

eT: How important are green buildings in reversing the adverse effects of global climate change?

Reducing a building’s energy use is VERY important and our best hope at having an immediate impact on reducing our energy consumption and green house gases.

Buildings use 40% of all US energy. Studies show that the energy use of our current building stock can be reduced by 30%. This improvement would reduce the USA’s total energy needs by 13%. That is more than all the energy provided by the renewable energy systems now in use; 7% with out hydro generation. A 30% reduction in your theatre’s energy is not as hard as it sounds.

The example of the Theatre Royal, in Plymouth, England was presented in June at the Theatres Trust Conference “Building Sustainable Theatres”. Simple steps were taken to reduce energy use and reduce CO2 output. These steps include switching incandescent lights to LED’s and fluorescents, adding motion sensors to switch room lights, reprogramming the energy management system and trusting it to work, taking advantage of outside air temperatures for preheating and precooling, installing more efficient fans and pumps and developing ongoing performance monitoring to ensure savings were realized. This program resulted in the Theatre Royal reducing CO2 output by 33% and great savings in fuel costs.

eT: Can theaters go green in a meaningful way without greening their buildings?

Yes. Making changes in an organization’s daily operation has a big impact. For example, my firm, HGA Architects, is always reviewing ways to reduce waste and green our operations. Some of our practices include:

a. Recycling programs for paper, glass, plastics, metals.

b. Setting copiers to print double sided. (Resulting in a reduction of our paper use by 1/3)

c. Direct deposits eliminating paper checks.

d. Promoting staff usage of mass transit and bicycles. (All offices have bike rooms and changing rooms with showers)

e. Eliminating bottled water in favor of filtered tap water.

f. Using biodegradable cups and utensils instead of plastic.

g. Using green cleaning products.

h. Buying energy star equipment

i. Supporting similar minded suppliers for goods and services.

Some interesting programs that non-profit groups have taken on to support sustainability include; becoming a central drop for battery recycling, setting up ongoing fund-raiser recycling programs with local scrap yards, displaying information on global warming and the environment in business lobbies and buying renewable energy from the local utility company. Every little step helps.

eT: what is the most important step the leadership of a theater company can take towards sustainability?

It is critical to set a clear “sustainability” agenda. Establish a committee to examine the theatre’s daily practices. Be willing to look at everything, establish your priorities, have clear bench marks, and keep the long term in mind. Take advantage of the theatre’s community profile and support sustainable activities and organizations. From a building stand point, have an energy audit done. This will provide benchmark information on your building’s mechanical and electrical systems and you can pin point were your energy dollars are going. The results can be surprising. We recently looked at energy use for a theatre and found little difference in the days they had shows and the days they didn’t, highlighting how important it is to reduce a theatre’s daily energy needs. If you are upgrading HVAC systems, zone the HVAC to the use schedule of the theatre, and look into natural ventilation and energy star equipment. Adding natural light in backstage support areas can have a big impact on energy use.It will take time, a change in thinking and some investment, but in the long run you will create a better work environment, saving both money and the planet.

eT: what hopes do you have for the future of theater?

I am hopeful for the theatre arts. We are rediscovering our need for community and human interaction. Studies are proving how important arts education is to the well rounded student.People are moving back into the city to rebuild neighborhoods. Even retailers like Starbucks have recognized the need for our “Third Place.” The new Guthrie is certainly a large scale example of an arts complex trying to become a community living room. On a more intimate scale is the Tricycle Theatre in London that blends into the retail street and reaches into neighborhood with “alley like” lobbies. My hope is that arts complexes of all sizes strive to knit themselves into their surroundings to become the cornerstone of the community.

With regards to the building, every one needs to get past the perception that theatres and buildings for the performing arts can not be “green”. The reality is the typical theatre can be “eco-responsible”. The key to designing, constructing and operating a sustainable theatre is a commitment of the theatre company to question every detail, material, design concept and construction method.The big moves are important to create an efficient arts complex.But if you don’t get the little details, systems and materials right, they will continue to cost you operations money for years to come.

Ultimately, the future of theatre really depends on the writers, designers, technicians, directors and performers creating great theatre and this I know will continue.

ride your bike to the theater?

The other night I went out to dinner with my wife and my in-laws. We went to a great Indonesian restaurant not far from our house that we’d never visited before. After a great meal, I noticed a little sticker on the front door: blue and white with a stick figure riding a bike, it read “Bicycle Benefits.” I reached in my back pocket for my notebook to jot it down and look into it, but the notebook was missing. So, I said to my wife, Dawn, “remember bicycle benefits.”

Bicycle Benefits is a basic incentive program, and it works like this: individuals buy stickers, slap them on their helmets, and ride their bikes to participating businesses (restaurants, coffee shops, retail, etc.) and receive discounts. This could be adopted by virtually any business, encouraging people to get out of their cars and onto their bikes — including theaters.

Walking the talk, part II

Almost a year ago I wrote a post entitled (you guessed it) “Walking the Talk.” In it I explain that I have taken the job as production manager for CTM and how the move has put me in the difficult position of putting into practice my ideas on sustainable theater.

As I’ve said repeatedly, it’s been rough. As the only year-round member of the production team, I regularly hire on new labor on a show by show basis, and act in many ways as the theater’s technical director as well. It’s not easy keeping everything in the production department rolling while pushing greener practices too. But I try.

Yesterday, however, I was a bit shamed by our Producing Artistic Director when she told me in a staff meeting that it would have been a much greener move on my part to track down linoleum remnants for the floor covering we need for our upcoming production, rather than buying about 1100 square feet of it brand new (albeit at a very good price). Yikes. How could such an easy idea have slipped by me without a thought. I even had a phone conversation with a local dealer, telling them who I was, and what the linoleum was for — and failed to simply ask, “do you guys have any remnants or unwanted linoleum (or vinyl) that you’d be willing to donate?”

I’m human, of course, and I often feel like I’m merely treading water as a production manager/technical director of a small theater company, with my hands in so many areas of the organization — but I am disappointed in myself for that one. The good news, of course, is that we now have enough of this versatile material to cover most of the floor in the theater space we perform in most frequently. And it can be reused several times over.

Mayor of London releases “Green Theatre” report

Boris Johnson, London’s mayor since May, has just released a comprehensive report on the greening of London theater entitled “Green Theatre: Taking Action on Climate Change.”

Once I have more time to go over the report, I will write more about it. For now, you can see a good news piece on it here and download the full report here.