Green Arts Initiative Spotlight: Saughtonhall Drama Group

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Saughtonhall Drama Group is one of our newer Green Arts Initiative members and have been very successful in spreading the word about their green work. We recently heard from the theatre group about their latest activity.

CCS: What is your most recent action related to sustainable operations or programming?

SDG: Our preview article in the Edinburgh Evening news was linked to the fact that we are a green venue. We took the opportunity to encourage people to come by the new tram which has a stop only about 300m from our venue. Talking to some of the audience in our outdoor café pre show they mentioned they had never thought of using the tram before they saw the article. As a result they had left their car at home and found the tram a great way to travel.

CCS: What have you most enjoyed about being a member of the Green Arts Initiative?

SDG: The opportunity to spread the word about green activity. We operate from a Church that is a member of Eco Congregations, with various initiatives including solar panels and low energy lighting. We discovered one of the journalists writes a green web article. We took the opportunity to give a briefing on the Green Arts initiative which then was mentioned in the SmartestEnergy web publication.

CCS: What are you most eager about for the 2014 summer festivals season?

SDG: We have now finished for the summer, the next production is our pantomime 26-28th November, featuring Sleeping Beauty and a very special guest. On the green front we are taking stock and thinking- what next? Our key concern is the hot drink cups. We are exploring other options such as china mugs.

CCS: Do you have a top tip for new GAI members?

SDG: Make best use of the initiative with your audience. It is a new thing to talk about, most audiences only think about the show, so it is great to find an opportunity to talk about the venue and how the venue is playing its part for the environment. This also gives an opportunity to profile some of the rest of the team that make for a great night out.


Saughtonhall Drama Group produced “Beyond a Joke” by Derek Benfield  as part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe 4-9th August 2014.

Image: Cast of comedy ‘Beyond a Joke’ by Derek Benfield © Saughtonhall United Reformed Church

The post Green Arts Initiative Spotlight: Saughtonhall Drama Group appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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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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