Greening Arts Centres Niamh Ní Chonchubhair (axis), Val Ballance (arts Council), Gaii Founder And Project Leader Catriona Fallon And Anna Walsh (theatre Forum) Low Res (3)

Theatre Forum is delighted that the Greening Arts Centres project, led by the Green Arts Initiative in Ireland (GAII) founder Catríona Fallon, is to receive an Arts Council’s Capacity Building Support Scheme award.

The seven participants in this project are axis (Ballymun, Dublin), Belltable (Limerick), Hawk’s Well (Sligo), Pavilion Theatre (Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin), Theatre Royal (Waterford), Town Hall Theatre (Galway), and Visual (Carlow).  This project was devised as a response of the Irish arts sector to the target of 51% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 set out in the Climate Action Bill (2021).  Working with these arts centres and in association with the Association of Irish Stage Technicians (AIST), Catríona plans to build capacity in each of the staff and stakeholder teams so that by April 2022, these arts centres will be leaders in their communities responding to the challenge that is climate change.

This programme of capacity building includes creating in-house Green Teams, building stakeholder engagement, delivering training around waste management and the circular economy, developing skills around energy efficiency and changing behaviour as well as drawing up environmental policies and adaptation strategies. A programme of online events with talks and workshops in association with the AIST underpins the project and arts centres will nominate an artist to join their project and engage with the core issues surrounding climate change.

Speaking about the project the Arts Council’s Head of Arts Centres, Val Ballance, said “We are keen to support these arts centres to build their own ‘green’ capacity which will lead them to change in their working models, foster new relationships with artists and partners to effect positive and sustainable change in the medium and longer term.”.

Director of axis and project participant, Niamh Ní Chonchubhair, said “Through our Cultural Adaptations project, we’ve already begun work on how axis engages with artists to respond and adapt creatively to climate change. So this project is another important and big step in greening axis.”.

AIST’s Chair Liam Fitzgerald added “We welcome and support the Greening Arts Centres project in showing how our members can play their part in greening the country’s arts centres, theatres and cultural venues to bring great efficiency and sustainability benefits to all of the arts and culture sector.”.

Green Arts Initiative in Ireland (GAII) founder Catríona Fallon concluded “The key goal of this project is to empower the stakeholders in each venue to reduce the environmental impacts of their organisations, particularly their carbon footprint. We hope this project will set a course for the wider community of arts organisations to shift towards a green economy and create a better more sustainable future for all.”.

Ends.

For more information contact:

Catríona Fallon, catriona@greenarts.ie

Green Arts Initiative

Green Arts Initiative in Ireland

The GAII is a Theatre Forum Initiative in Association with Creative Carbon Scotland

Photo Credit ©Ste Murray