Sustainability Resources for Artists
The Festival of the Arts is dedicated to sustainable practices.
This means that festival organizers, performers and artists use sustainable materials such as recycled paper and pre-worn costumes. We try to minimize our use of paper and packaging. When we serve food, it is meat-free and locally produced whenever possible. On a creative level, many of us inform our practices by taking Brandeis classes such as Ecology and Art, or Visions of Nature and Environmental Theater. We engage in symposiums, cross-genre projects, and inventive digital workarounds in order to make art more sustainably.
Greening the Arts
Brandeis is part of a larger movement to green the arts. Read on to learn about other artists working at this intersection and for resources on sustainability practices in various artistic fields.
“Today, interesting artistic work about climate change is popping up all over the world, in all kinds of venues. It shows up in opera houses and hip hop poetry slams, in established galleries and on-the-fly exhibitions, in off-Broadway houses and regional theatres. The goal of this blog is to track these works and gather them in one place. It is both a study of what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. We deeply believe that what artists have to say about climate change will shape our values and behavior for years to come. For that reason alone, we should pay attention.”
Superhero Clubhouse is a New York-based collective of artists and scientists working at the intersection of environmentalism and theater. They create fictional performances rooted in complex environmental questions, practice ecological production, and collaborate across disciplines and communities to enact a thriving society. Superhero Clubhouse believes theater is an essential tool for evolving our consciousness in the face of global environmental crises.
The Center for Art + Environment is an internationally recognized research center that supports the practice, study and awareness of creative interactions between people and their natural, built, and virtual environments.
The Arctic Cycle exists to support the writing, development and production of eight plays by playwright Chantal Bilodeau about the impact of climate change on the eight countries of the Arctic: United States, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. Operating on the principle that complex problems must be addressed through collaborative efforts, each play will engage artists across disciplines as well as geographic and cultural borders; solicit input from earth and social scientists; and actively seek community and educational partners to foster public conversations and provide strategies for action.
CLIMARTE is bringing together a broad alliance of arts organisations, practitioners, administrators, patrons and academics from across the spectrum of the arts sector, including the visual arts, music, theatre, dance, literature, architecture, and cinema. By joining this alliance we acknowledge the enormous risks that human induced climate change poses to our world and we commit to advocating for immediate, effective and creative action to be taken to restore a safe climate, capable of supporting a healthy and sustainable environment.
Resources
Make and Mend sells gently used and new creative materials at its brick + mortar shop in Somerville and online.
The Broadway Green Alliance is an industry-wide initiative that educates, motivates, and inspire the entire theatre community and its patrons to adopt environmentally friendlier practices.