Spotlight Productions on Tour Taking a production on the road presents both opportunities and costs in terms of environmental sustainability. On the one hand, the more people who get to see a show, the lower its relative impacts become. In addition, by travelling to an audience, a production reduces the impacts from audience travel. On the other hand, the impacts of transporting set and equipment can be carbon intensive. The key to sustainable touring is in the planning. o Contact receiving venues and festivals early on in the planning process to see what equipment and props you might be able to source locally and what stock items might be available on site. o Work with your designer to minimise the size and weight of the set to reduce transport emissions. o Try to avoid airfreight where possible. Using sea freight rather than air freight can reduce transport emissions by at least 25 times. See ‘Up in the Air or Out to Sea’ by Tristan Smith: www.juliesbicycle.com/resources/fact-sheets/air-and-sea-freight o Use train, coach or other public transport options for cast and crew travel where possible. o Use a green rider when planning your tour to communicate your environmental commitments to receiving venues and festivals. You can download a template from: www.juliesbicycle.com/resources/jb-green-riders o Try to choose travel operators and hotels that act responsibly and have robust environmental policies. Rented apartments have a much lower environmental impact than hotels, so use residential accommodation where possible and appropriate.
Resource Green Mobility Guide For more comprehensive information and support on greening your tour see the Julie’s Bicycle Green Mobility Guide: www.juliesbicycle.com/resources/green-guides/green-mobility-guide
Case study As the World Tipped: Moving by Sea In their 2011 production ‘As The World Tipped’ Wired Aerial Theatre was commissioned to explore the theme of climate change and toured UK outdoor arts festivals in the summer and autumn of 2011, followed by a tour to Sydney in January 2012. Wired Aerial deliberately sent the production materials to Australia by sea freight rather than air and reduced the size of their crew compared to their summer 2011 tour. They identified that the total impact of the travel, accommodation, freight and show power would be 54.4 tonnes of CO2e. If they had followed a ‘business as usual’ approach and sent the materials by air and not reduced the size of their crew, their emissions would have been 200.9 tonnes of CO2e – an increase of 370% from what they eventually achieved. Read more in their case study: www.juliesbicycle.com/resources/casestudies/production
Fact Bus Benefits On average, coaches produce 70% less emissions per passenger when compared to car travel.
sustainable production guide – Measure and manage your carbon emissions
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