For Earth Day 2023, we wanted to highlight dance companies around the world who are taking big steps towards a sustainable future. We decided to shine light on these efforts with hopes of starting conversations and sparking inspiration to more dancers and organizations throughout the industry. Scroll to find more information and links to our cited sources. Royal Opera House on Eliminating Big Oil SponsorAfter enduring a sponsorship of 33 years, The Royal Opera House in London, England has cut financial ties with BP, one of the world's leading oil companies. The decision is no doubt a result of climate crisis activists who have highlighted the attempts by oil companies to artwash their polluting impact through the good PR of cultural institutions like Royal Opera House. Read the Full Story Here: https://www.euronews.com/culture/amp/2023/01/27/royal-opera-house-cuts-ties-with-bp-other-cultural-institutions-in-europe-play-catch-up Kidd Pivot's 1Day for the ClimateSince 2015 Kidd Pivot has been hosting 1Day for the Climate, an employee-company partnership that dedicates one day of work per year to climate protection. Kidd Pivot has measured their touring footprint and has offset over 1000 tonnes of CO2e(carbon dioxide equivalent) since 2015. Kidd Pivot is the first dance company to tour carbon neutral. learn More About 1Day for the Climate Here: https://kiddpivot.org/1day-for-the-climate/ ODC SF on Demonstrating Sustainable InitiativesODC provides a platform for environmental education events, and has hosted a panel discussion on intersections of the arts and the environment, as well as volunteer work days for ODC staff in partnership with a local community farm. ODC's repertoire includes many iconic works responding to the environment, including On a Train Heading South by Brenda Way and Dead Reckoning by KT Nelson, both of which explore what it means to navigate human relationships in an uncertain climate change world. One of ODC’s dancers, Cora Cilburn, is also acting as the Sustainability Ambassador, working to promote eco-friendly behaviors within the organization and to increase environmental arts programming. Learn More About ODC Here: https://odc.dance/about-odc Learn More About Cora Cilburn Here: http://www.coracliburn.com/ Watch ODC's Climate Related Works Here: https://youtu.be/1N41d7BjShY Oregon Ballet Theatre’s Sustainable New WorksLauren Lovette premiered ‘Eco’ for OBT in April of 2023, a piece that utilized entirely recycled sets and costumes, shedding light on the importance of reducing waste in the production of new works. OBT is also collaborating on a sustainable new work with ACC and choreographer, Makino Hayashi for their ‘Made in Portland’ program in the 23/24 season. Lauren Lovette on her new work for OBT: https://www.obt.org/blog/lauren-lovette-on-creating-space-setting-a-tone-and-being-present/ Learn More About 'Made in Portland' Here: https://www.obt.org/23-24-season/made-in-pdx/ Learn More About Lovette Here: https://www.lauren-lovette.com/about Scottish Ballet’s Partnership with Imperfect PointesOn their journey to reach Net Zero by 2030, Scottish Ballet is using the Theatre Green Book to guide them. They’ve also created an environmental group within the organization to evaluate their progress. Additionally they are the first company to use Imperfect Pointe’s tights; the most sustainable ballet tights. They are 92% recycled, have a 100% emission free production, and are recyclable. Learn More About Scottish Ballet's Environmental Progress Here: https://www.scottishballet.co.uk/articles/responding-to-the-climate-crisis-creating-a-committee Imperfect Pointes Partnership: https://imperfectpointes.com/blogs/imperfect-insiders/convertible-ballet-tights-transition-sustainable-dancewear Paris Opera in Line with The United Nations’ Climate AgendaThe Opera wishes to initiate a Sustainable Development policy in line with the objectives of the 2030 Agenda defined by the United Nations, which will include the implementation of concrete actions to measure the overall environmental impact of our activity, monitoring indicators and defining improvement objectives. So far the Opera has decreased electricity and water consumption, purchases electricity from renewable sources, and on the roof of the Opéra Bastille uses agro-ecology to add to thermal insulation of the building that also provides fruits and vegetables for POB's employees and the local community. Learn More About Paris Opera Here: https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/my-committed-opera/building-a-sustainable-development-strategy English National Ballet’s New Sustainable SpaceIn 2019 ENB moved into a new building that was made and designed around the environment and sustainability. The building takes into account its material, the construction, and intelligent systems (efficient heating and cooling, LED lighting, natural ventilation, and recycling facilities throughout). This has resulted in a BREEAM rating of “Very Good”. ENB also applies the Theatre Green Book guidelines for the creation of new productions and has a target to recycle 50% of commercial waste. Learn More About ENB's Climate Initiatives Here: https://www.ballet.org.uk/mulryan-centre-for-dance/environmental-responsibility/ The UK’s Theatre Green BookUK’s Theatre Green Book helps productions make changes to create more sustainable art in the theatre. A guide that has inspired Scottish’s Ballet’s and ENB's climate initiatives as well as other UK based Theatre Companies. The guide includes three volumes of recommendations created in collaboration with UK Theatre groups and sustainability experts, Buro Happold.
Learn more about the Theatre Green Book Here: https://theatregreenbook.com/
My name is Keaton Leier. Co-founder of Artists Climate Collective and professional dancer with the Atlanta Ballet. When I first decided to start this mini project for ACC, I was thinking of a personal mantra that I like to remind myself of, but often forget.
No action is too small when it comes to spreading climate awareness and building foundations for change. Coinciding with these thoughts, the world was reeling in the new year and I had just listened to an episode from one of my favourite podcasts, How to Save a Planet. The episode covered how and why we should create climate resolutions for 2022. It inspired me to think of one on my own. After doing this I thought - how could we use something as simple as sharing a climate resolution to not only inspire people to critically think about the climate crisis, but also become more engaged in it? With the creation of ACC, it has been an ongoing goal of mine to increase climate change awareness and inspire positive change especially within the dance community. Through this series of shared resolutions, I was hoping to get both our collaborators and viewers more serious about these “pledges” by sharing them on social media, while also continuing to build more community engagement. After we started gathering resolutions from dancers around the world, I began to notice that many of them were increasingly similar, and they seemed to focus on individual impact or “footprint”. This can be a good first step, and we hope that it will be a stepping stone that leads to more meaningful change. I firmly believe that systemic change is extremely necessary for environmental progress and that large corporations have greatly contributed to the impacts of the climate crisis, but in times of doubt, I like to remember the mantra that I mentioned earlier. I trust that together, individual action and community building can grow to make a major impact for the future that we believe in.
Hello and welcome to Artists Climate Collective! My name is Charlotte Nash and I am a professional ballet dancer with Festival Ballet Providence in Rhode Island as well as the founder of this initiative. I have spent the past 6 years dancing and living all over the United States. From Seattle to San Francisco, Houston, Columbus, and now Providence! I have had the privilege to experience life in each of these places and it has truly opened my eyes. I am originally from Sammamish, WA, a predominately white, middle-high income suburb. My community was fairly environmentally conscious and had the resources to build institutions that reflected this. I attended an elementary school that was named after Rachel Carson, marine biologist and conservationist. I was taught how to compost and recycle in the 1st grade. I frequently took school trips to wetlands and diverse forests. I was under the impression that my childhood experience was similar to everyone’s with a public school education but when I moved away from my hometown bubble my awareness began to widen. I have learned a lot (and am continuing to learn) about the unequal access to education, opportunities, and control that has left so many people vulnerable and misinformed about the threats and impacts of climate change. I feel unsettled that those that are most vulnerable are also those who are denied the resources they need to protect their health and communities.
Climate change is undoubtedly one of the greatest threats to public health, movement towards social equality, and security that we face today. Exploitation of finite resources, uncensored pollution, and consumption have pushed us to an extreme edge. We are peering into a future that will certainly be dramatically different from the world that we live in today. However, if we take the correct actions right now, we have the chance to transition to a sustainable world. My vision behind Artists Climate Collective is to engage artists in joining the conversation and inspire audiences to feel the emotions intertwined with the impacts of climate change. It is my goal is to give people access to content that doesn’t require prerequisite information to understand. I hope to see the workings of science expressed in every sector of art so that we can inspire as many people as possible. I want artists to feel empowered by the fact that they can use their expertise to fund research and social movements. I want to tap into this valuable resource of creatives to help move us closer to a sustainable future. I want more people to feel like they have a place and a voice in this movement. So…stay tuned and contact us to get involved, we would love to hear from you! Charlotte Nash Founder (she/her/hers) |
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