Making Odds On Sustainably
Making Odds On Sustainably
Environmental Responsibility is an Investment Principle for all new Arts Council funded projects. As a company who hasn’t consciously worked sustainably before, we trialled a new approach when making Odds On. Over 9 days of Rehearsals, Voice Over Sessions & Filming we used Theatre Green Book's resources to measure our impact, minimise new purchases and reduce waste.
What we used:
Materials Inventory
We sourced costume from charity shops, props from friends and hired film equipment from local sellers across London. We kept track of all materials used for props, costume , set & tech, with an aim to only use online deliveries as a last resort. We ordered less than 10 things online & returned / passed on things we didn't use.
In doing so we met Theatre Green Book’s Baseline Target for sourcing Set, Props & Scenery (>50% were reused / recycled), and their Intermediate Target for sourcing Costume and Technical Equipment (>75% reused / recycled).
Green Production Rider
We used Theatre Green Book's template to create a rider stating our sustainability targets and shared it with our Production and Costume Designer, Kat Heath, to consider when developing plans & sourcing materials.
Carbon Calculator
We used a template from Creative Carbon Scotland to calculate our electricity, water, waste & travel. The template helpfully converts this usage into C02 emissions, so you can track what is the highest emitter. We're using this data to set targets for future projects, minimising car travel as a priority.
What we learnt:
- It’s hard to avoid last minute amazon deliveries!
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Sourcing materials sustainably takes time & resources. You need a lot more time to wander around charity shops, buy things in person & hire tech so factoring this into schedules & budgets helps
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Knowing what materials are necessary, and what can be flexible helps to prioritise what to source
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Having conversations with the whole team means everyone can take responsibility together
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Online deliveries & car travel were our largest emitters - so this is a focus for future projects
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Start monitoring data early to keep track throughout - avoiding a large job at the end!
We are looking forward to being part of wider industry conversations on sustainability to learn more and have conversations with artists to support each other in this journey to being more sustainable!
If you're an artist trialling more sustainable approaches we'd love to hear from you! Drop us an email: admin@danteordie.com
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