Green Resources for Theatre Artists

We would like to thank all of our amazing bloggers this month. We were so honored to be able to share their green experiences, Eco-friendly initiatives and resources with you.

• Joanne Haas tells us how to Keep Costumes out of Landfills
• Lory Henning asks What's the Triple Bottom Line
• Kevin Stirnweis gives us tips for Using Materials for the (Theatre) Arts
• Sarah-Jane Stratford introduces the "Green Captain"
• FABnyc shared their Sustainability Initiatives
• Jeremy Pickard asked if you are an Eco-theater Artist
• And some advice on how to be a Green Audience Member
  

Also, check out this article by Jeremy Karafin. He shares the experiences of some of the Eco-friendly productions being presented by the Wild Project.


Here are some great and easy resources that will help OOB productions save some green while being green.

• Need to know where to recycle batteries? Or computer paper? Or plastic bags, construction debris or electronics? Earth 911 helps you locate recycling centers/drop offs near you
• Check out the Superhero Clubhouse, a sustainable collective of theater artists and environmental advocates
• Check out new initiatives at The Broadway Green Alliance
• Use and donate reusable production materials to Materials for the Arts 
• Donate to and rent costumes from The Costume Collective

 

Arts meet Sustainability

Contributed by By FABnyc

Arts meet Sustainability in the East 4^th Street Cultural District

FABnyc (Fourth Arts Block) is the nonprofit leadership organization for the Lower East Side, headquartered in the East 4^th Street Cultural District—a historic and vibrant arts cluster in Manhattan between Second Avenue and Bowery. As part of this leadership role, FABnyc is heading up an interconnected effort to match existing energy, waste and water reduction programs to arts groups, residents, and small businesses in the Cultural District. As an arts organization, we are trying to bring more creativity to connect our community to sustainable practices.

For example… In 2010, FABnyc noticed that local theaters were “loading out” sets and materials directly into dumpsters after productions ended their runs. Not only were the materials being disposed of inefficiently and unsustainably, but this “junk” was often of great value to other artists in need of materials. As a creative response, FABnyc initiated “Load OUT!,” a biannual event in which local arts and cultural groups, non-profits, and community members donate sets, costumes, props and office equipment they no longer need to a collection site. On the day of “Load OUT!” local artists and the general public are invited to take away any materials they find at the site for creative use in new projects! Hundreds of artists and residents have benefited, either through collecting the lightly used materials, or by donating items they no longer need or want. The program continues to grow, now including textile and e-waste collection for the entire community.

At the most recent Load OUT! event in March 2012, local arts groups such as La MaMa E.T.C., New York Theater Workshop, and Millennium Film Workshop donated incredible materials to the “Load OUT!” site. With the help of our sustainability partners, FABnyc was able to divert over 6 tons from the waste stream, including more than 1 ton of e-waste and almost 1 ton of textiles. This is the largest single diversion we have accomplished to date.

We have completed energy and lighting assessments for many of the theaters on our block, and we plan on developing a program to better inform local theaters about the benefits of efficient waste disposal and energy use practices. We have also worked with White Roof Project to cover 30,000 square feet of roof with white reflective coating to reduce the heat island effect; in June, La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theater building will be coated as well. Through these efforts, we are creating a tighter-knit community that is able to collaborate and collectively solve our environmental problems. For now, you can get involved now by saving all your “junk” for the next Load OUT! event, and be sure to stay tuned for more tips and tools from us that will help make our city more sustainable!

Click here to learn more about our Sustainability Program.

OOB-er Waste

Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Neal Freeman

First let me say that I’m honored to be featured as a guest blogger and that I don’t have a particular theme in mind for the week. Rather, I’m planning to write about a few topics that I often chew on myself without worrying about tying them together. I’ve also got a special guest for one of the posts later in the week. I welcome comments, feedback, and differing opinions. And now, on to the blogging!

This, by the way, right here, is my first blog post EVER.

-Neal

OOB-er Waste


As Executive Director of an Off Off company, I often find myself (as I suppose many do) wearing any number of different hats around the theater. Volunteer carpenter is one of them, and despite my hatred for power saws (frankly, they scare me), I spend a lot of time in the theater assembling or dismantling our sets.


Our procedure is something like this: Go to Lowe’s. Buy a bunch of lumber and paint. Hire “man with a van” for $30 to bring it the 4 blocks back to the theater. (Seriously, it’s only 4 blocks.) Ask him to help us unload it. He declines. (Did I mention he only had to drive 4 blocks?) Over the course of 2 or 3 weekends, chop up the wood and assemble it according to whatever set we’re building. Paint it. Take pictures of it at a dress rehearsal. Charge people $18 to see it 12 or 16 times over the next 2 or 3 weeks. Then on the Sunday evening after the last performance, dismantle it as quickly as possible, chop it up into pieces no more than 5 feet long, and put it out with the garbage. Repeat 7 more times. Every season.


This is reductive, of course. We go to Materials for the Arts whenever we can, and as a company with our own space we have many stock items like flats and platforms that we re-use. But for every show there’s still a good amount of lumber we buy that will be cut and screwed into and onto various pieces that isn’t practical to keep when the show is over. We don’t have the space for all of it, and because of our limited storage we have to make smart decisions about things we might actually want again vs. things that are just going to get crammed in a corner and take up valuable space before they are thrown out in 5 years, un-used.


I also know that as a company with our own year-round space, we have it easier than itinerant companies for whom it must be significantly harder to avoid throwing out nearly everything at the end of a production.


I’d love to donate things at the end of a show to MFTA or to other theater companies. Sometimes we do. More often, we simply don’t have the resources to truck materials around the city after every show or to keep them around until someone else can pick them up. Besides, a lot of it gets destroyed in the process of trying to take it apart, or has been permanently altered in the construction phase into some specialized shape that isn’t useful to others. Ultimately it’s a hell of a lot easier to throw it away then it is to deal with donating it to someone else.


And this doesn’t take into account the paint, which of course cannot be re-used once it has been applied.


I wish I was leading up to some brilliant epiphany about how to work in a less wasteful way but I don’t have one.


For now I just accept that the fleeting nature of theater makes us far less responsible as consumers than I’m comfortable with.