The Green Arts Initiative in Ireland, with the support of Theatre Forum, is running a pilot project which aims to reduce the carbon footprint of a number of arts centres and venues.
The aim of this pilot project is to support venues and arts centres that wish to reduce the overall environmental impacts of their organisations. Addressing issues such as energy usage, waste management, biodiversity, and water usage, the pilot project will undertake an environmental audit of eight venues and make recommendations which would support venue managers in improving the green credentials of their organisation.
Seven venues are participating in the pilot project: Pavilion (Dun Laoghaire), Hawk’s Well Theatre (Sligo), Town Hall Theatre (Galway), Axis (Ballymun), Visual (Carlow), An Taibhdhearc (Galway) and Belltable (Limerick).
Participating arts centres and venues will also be provided with workshop sessions for their staff team or other stakeholders, facilitating staff engagement in the development of a greener business model.
Venues and arts centres wishing to take part in this pilot project were asked to submit an expression of interest outlining why they wish to ‘Green’ their organisation. Participants needed to demonstrate an enthusiasm for improving the environmental credentials of their building and be willing to participate fully in the initiative.
Each participating venue was asked to contribute €500 towards the cost of the audit, with the remaining costs being subsidised by Theatre Forum.
Ongoing restrictions have delayed the completion of the project, given the limited access to the physical venues. It is hoped that the partial lifting of restrictions will allow for the completion of the project by the end of summer 2021. A summary of the findings can then be shared with the wider GAII membership.