Biodiversity and the Arts10th October 2019 Arts Council England webinar

Chiara Badiali, Julie’s BicycleBecky Hazlewood, Julie’s Bicycle

Guest: George Collum, Learning Producer, Somerset House Trust#greenarts

Housekeeping

•  Raising hands•  Asking questions•  Recording content

WELCOMEVery wide range of participantsDifferent sizes and locationsDiffering stages of the sustainability journey

AGENDAIntroduction to Julie’s Bicycle & Arts Council Environment ProgrammeBiodiversity: Becky Hazlewood, Julie’s BicycleCase Studies: Chiara Badiali, Julie’s BicycleGuest: George Collum, Learning Producer, Somerset House TrustQ&A

Arts &creative industries

Environmental sustainability

SKILLSBUSINESS &

OPERATIONS

CREATIVITY STRATEGY&POLICY

•  Energy efficiency & carbon reductions

•  Resilience•  Benefits beyond carbon savings – creativity, team morale, strategy, collaboration, reputation

Becky Hazlewood, Julie’s Bicycle

 CHANGES IN LAND AND SEA USE: what is our role?

•  Food/catering offer and procurement, reducing food waste•  Procurement and use of other materials e.g. timber, paper

for everything from office use, set building, construction, instruments, cotton fabrics, etc.

•  Biofuels procurement•  Capital development and planning•  Creation and maintenance of green spaces and spaces for

wildlife•  Ethical sponsorship policies•  Programming, partnerships, and campaigns

 OVEREXPLOITATIONwhat is our role?

•  Food/catering offer and procurement, reducing food waste

•  Programming, partnerships, and campaigns

 CLIMATE CHANGEwhat is our role?

•  How we power our buildings and events•  Touring •  Audience travel •  Resource use and procurement including food and other goods•  Programming, partnerships, and campaigns

 POLLUTIONwhat is our role?

Direct and indirect pollution, such as:•  Chemical and fuel use and spills•  Plastic pollution•  Water pollution from improperly managed wastewaterOutdoor events or creative installations: •  Direct noise pollution and light pollution•  Direct damage to e.g. tree roots, bird’s nests Air and noise pollution from construction and capital development projects  Direct and indirect pollution from food/catering offer,

such as the use of pesticides, chemical fertilisers

 DISCONNECTION FROM NATUREwhat is our role?

•  Programming and engagement activities and associated audience development

•  How green spaces are used at venues and buildings and how these are framed as part of wider ecologies

SHIFTING OUR FRAMES AND NARRATIVES

Humans can conquer natureNature has no intrinsic valueNature should be exploited for maximum benefitNature presents an engineering challengeNature’s manifestations are resources- valued, owned, bought and sold

Everything is connectedHumans are part of natureEarth, including us, is a holistic living organismEarth is the ultimate in creativity beyond our existing knowledge and humans have much to learn

Culture can conquer the worldCulture will drive growth across the economy Artistic priorities are the most importantCulture has a small environmental impactCulture can buy, own, exploit, sell natural resources

Culture is reliant on a thriving worldCulture encompasses tangible and intangible heritage (nature/language, beliefs, customs)Culture is dependent on the Earth as the ultimate source of life and flourishingCulture has much to learn from nature beyond muse

CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT + PHYSICAL SPACE•  See your spaces (buildings, offices, homes, event sites) as part of habitats

CREATIVE PROGRAMMING, INSPIRATION, CAMPAIGNS•  Foster a deeper connection to nature, raise awareness, and campaign for action•  Fundraising and donations

REDUCE YOUR USE OF RESOURCES AND MATERIALS•  A key driver of the loss of nature is our over-consumption of renewable and non-

renewable resources, the amount of land we need to feed ourselves and our activities

PROCUREMENT•  Follow minimum standards that protect people and environment

TAKE ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

STORIES FROM THE SECTOR

CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE

•  Employed ecology consultant•  Used Sussex Biodiversity Action Plan to identify

short- and long-term measures to enhance biodiversity of its parkland

•  Planted species with value to wildlife, including drought tolerant and low maintenance plants

•  Keep piles of wood on site (instead of removing) to create homes for invertebrates

Chichester Festival Theatre. Photo: Philip Vile

VILLAGE UNDERGROUND’S LIVING ROOF•  Green roof to dampen concert noise instead of concrete•  Habitat for insect and plants, including a beehive and pollinator-friendly vegetation like lavender

HOME MANCHESTER’S BEES•  Two honeybee colonies – celebrating Manchester’s

emblem•  Old theatre lights, stage props, exhibition materials, and

washing drums repurposed into potting containers for plants for the bees

•  Four staff members trained as apiarists at Manchester District Beekeepers Association

Village Underground. Photo: Julie’s Bicycle

PHOENIX ARTS CENTRE LEICESTER•  Raised beds in the middle of the city•  Tended by volunteers•  Fresh herbs, salad, other produce served in the on-site café•  Royal Horticultural Society Britain in Bloom Awards

JONY EASTERBY•  Regenerative approach to public artwork: support biodiversity•  Maesteg, Wales: former coal washery for 100 years, heavily polluted. Transformed into a 1-hectare

wetland with a network of ponds, 2,000 native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers planted with help of local community.

•  Barrier planting, sculptural monoliths, and raised paths help create ‘buffer zones’ and sanctuary for wildlife will still allowing people to visit and use the site.

BYRON BAY BLUESFEST KOALAS

•  Koala management plan approved by New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment

•  Collaboration with University of Queensland on year-round surveys of koala population around festival site

•  Providing antibiotics to sick koalas, tree-planting to improve habitat, eliminating wild dogs

IN THE EYES OF THE ANIMAL: Marshmallow Laser Feast + Abandon Normal Devices

•  Immersive virtual reality experience recreating sensory experience of British woodland species

•  Look through the eyes of a midge, dragonfly, frog, owl moving through their habitat•  Shift our human-centered experience

TEST SITESArts Catalyst•  Bring together local community, artists, scientists, other

experts•  Explore flooding, pollution, species loss and their impact

on local communities•  Water governance: impact on well-being and resilience in

Yorkshire Calder Valley, which has a history of flooding and water pollution

•  Bringing together artists, anthropologists, and academics from University Leeds

•  Workshops, water-testing, walks, riverboat journeys to spark conversation about the role of local water systems

Jason deCaires Taylor

•  Underwater sculptures as conservation•  pH neutral materials with textured surfaces

and strong fixtures to the ocean floor: creation of artificial reefs

•  Sited away from natural reefs to draw away visitors from more fragile ecosystems and create new habitats

•  Small entrance fees charged to visitors to support local conservation projects

Photo: Karli Drinkwater, CC BY-NC 2.0

NotWeed PaperTrajna / Gaja Mežnarić Osole + Andrej Koruza•  Paper created from invasive Japanese knotweed•  Address challenge of invasive species, which are

also damaging to ecosystems – create alternative approach to this plentiful biomass that otherwise needs to be eradicated at great cost

•  Using traditional methods to create paper on a semi-industrial scale

•  Circular economy system within City of Ljubljana

Green LungsMAC Birmingham + Ampersand Projects

•  Creative activities to introduce and connect recently settled refugees in Birmingham to green spaces in the city

•  Participants collaborated with artists to co-create works to express their experiences in the landscape

•  Exhibition at MAC

Natalie Jeremijenko –Mussel Choir

Artist Natalie Jeremijenko’s Mussel Choir tries to help people make sense of data and better understand their local water quality.

Mussels, or bivalves, feed by filtering water, in the process also filtering out chemicals and pathogens. The rate at which they open and close is an indicator of how polluted or clean the water is.

For Mussel Choir, Jeremijenko linked mussels up to sensors so they could ‘sing’ to people about the quality of the water they were in.

The piece has been installed at the Venice Architecture Biennale, in the East River in New York City, and at Melbourne Docklands.

Living Symphonies – James Bulley and Daniel Jones

“Living Symphonies is a landscape sound work that grows in the same way as a forest ecosystem. It portrays the thriving activity of the forest's wildlife, plants and atmospheric conditions, creating an ever-changing symphony heard from a network of speakers hidden throughout the forest itself.

Working with ecologists and wildlife experts, the artists develop a detailed map of the flora and fauna that inhabit the forest site. Each species is depicted by a unique set of musical motifs that portray its changing behaviours over the day and night, coming to life as the species awakens, and moving, developing and interacting just as the organism it represents. Dozens of these motifs can be heard at any moment, mapped across the real space of the forest and heard back through a three-dimensional speaker system.”

The Colour Green Podcast

•  Baroness Lola Young in conversation with artists and activists of colour on climate justice, race, power, and inequality

•  A green space of their choosing as starting point for the conversation

•  Challenge cultural paradigms around our relationship to our environment

May Project Gardens + Hip Hop Garden#creativegreen

•  Urban grassroots community garden and green space working to address poverty, disempowerment, and access to resources

•  Permaculture principles and nature, community, biodiversity, creativity

•  Hip Hop Garden: entrepreneurial course for 16-24 year olds – classes from DJing to gardening

GUEST:George CollumLearning ProducerSomerset House Trust

Q&Ainfo@juliesbicycle.com

www.juliesbicycle.com

@juliesbicyclefacebook.com/juliesbicycle