Økoscenografi og svaret på Hodge-rapporten

A happy new year to all our subscribers, and a big thank you to everyone who responded to our call for support for Theatre Green Book as we become an independent organisation.

Theatre Green Book is free to use but it's not free to run. For details of our suggested donations for theatres and other organisations using Theatre Green Book, and to find out how you can support our work as an individual, go to theatregreenbook.com/support.

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Ecoscenography - free event 22 January

Tanja Beer is an award-winning designer, community artist, researcher, and educator. She is Associate Professor at Queensland College of Art and Design, Griffith University, Australia.

Tanja's research and practice is centred on advancing sustainability in the performing arts. She has led the development of the field of 'ecoscenography', or ecological design for performance. This includes her 2021 book on the subject, an online platform of theatre artists and designers at ecoscenography.com, and a Facebook community of more than 2000 members.

Tanja will be the keynote speaker at "Eco-Scenography and the Theatre Green Book; How can we support the next generation of theatre designers?", a day-long symposium hosted by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, in conjunction with the Theatre Green Book Education Committee. Other speakers include Kenneth Macleod, Reset Scenery, Design Education Network and  The Envelope Room

The event takes place on Thu 22 January at the RCS in Glasgow. The morning sessions, including Tanja's keynote, will be live streamed. The event will be invaluable for any design or scenic students studying on theatre, film or television courses, and with an interest in sustainable design.

You can book a free place here to attend in person or register to watch online.

Register to attend in person or watch online­

Responding the the Hodge review of Arts Council England

Baroness Margaret Hodge's eagerly anticipated review of Arts Council England was published last month.

Our response to the review notes that environmental sustainability is only implicitly treated in the review. This is a missed opportunity: the UK has been a world-leader in sustainability within cultural funding, and any future ACE strategy should embed climate justice and environmental responsibility as a core part of sector resilience.

The progress our industry has made towards more sustainable practice has both been led by ACE and driven by artists, workers and organisations across our industry.

It's change that's top-down, bottom-up and side-to-side, with peer learning supported by Theatre Green Book and many others. The result has been real innovation, positive change and a rare good news story on climate. It’s a model for effective policy in action.

We welcome indications that national-remit organisations should be assessed at an appropriate national level, rather than being required to over-claim local impact. Many of us supporting the sector work across borders and across all four nations, and are essential to a coherent UK cultural ecology.

Read Theatre Green Book's response to the Hodge review­

News and events

Congratulations to the many outstanding individuals recognised in the King's New Year Honours, including several who work for Theatre Green Book's partner, supporter and user organisations. To highlight just one: congrats to Paule Constable OBE, a pre-eminent lighting designer and a great advocate for sustainable practice.

The One Dance UK Awards will be presented on Sat 7 February in a ceremony in Bradford. This year's nominees for the Green Dance Award, supported by SAIL, are Dance Consortium (here's their environmental action plan), Highly Sprung (read about their sustainability journey) and Move Orkney dance studio.

Coming up....

The Sustainable Culture Forum takes place on Tue 20 January at La Tricoterie in Brussels, and includes an English-language programme curated by Théâtre de Liège in association with Event Change. Register for free.

The Society of British Theatre Designers Sustainable Design Woking Group is running a day of accredited carbon literacy training for theatre designers, directors, production managers and their associates. Thu 22 Jan 10am - 5pm at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff. Places cost £48 plus booking fee -- book here.

We run regular, free introductory webinars to help you get started using the Book and its key tools. The next Theatre Green Book introduction webinar is on Wed 21 January 2-3pm and Production Calculator webinar is on Wed 11 Feb 1-2pm.

For any past events you may have missed, including the recently concluded series of Operations Webinars, you can see our archive here.

See all upcoming events  ­

Stories, learning and inspiration

Sustainability advocate and dance teacher Laura Tuckey, together with human geography lecturer Daniel Bos, have published their research paper "Steps to Sustainability: Dance as a Learning Pathway to Enhance Engagement with Sustainability". They present an argument for dance as a unique medium for translating sustainable development concepts into lived experiences, drawing from their research at the University of Chester. The article can be read and downloaded at the Royal Geographical Society website.

A short case study from the Royal Ballet and Opera's George Townsend about the painstaking job of upgrading the Royal Opera House's auditorium lighting - nearly 1,000 fixtures including 14 candelabras in the Grade 1-listed building - to LED. Working with theatre lighting specialists Push the Button, the result of the 18-month project was an 84% decrease in energy consumption.

As Bradford 2025 concludes its year as UK City of Culture, they're sharing stories about how they embedded sustainability into their activities, along with the sustainability principles that informed their planning.

Browse our resources and case studies­

Thank you

Thank you for being part of the Theatre Green Book community. If you have events, stories or questions you'd like to share via this newsletter, do get in touch: admin@theatregreenbook.com

The Theatre Green Book team

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