Environmental sustainability

Brighton Museum and Art Gallery will close for about a month this summer so urgent repair work can take place.

The project is funded by a £1.5m grant from Arts Council England, matched with £500,000 from Brighton & Hove City Council.

The necessary repairs were identified in a structural survey in 2019. The museum says the work will help improve the care of collections and enhance the visitor experience, while reducing maintenance costs and carbon emissions.

The project will include restoring two Georgian glass roof lanterns, which span the building above the central main gallery.

Replicating the original lighting scheme, which included light wells and sun pipes, will mean “the whole gallery will be lit by daylight” and reduce energy costs, the museum said. 

In addition, upgrades and repairs to the building’s two large, glazed roofs will include better ventilation and insulation.

Two galleries will close for the duration of the project, but the majority of the museum will stay open for most of the work. The work is expected to be finished next summer, according to The Argus newspaper.

Hedley Swain, Chief Executive of the Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust, said the work on the roof “needs to be carried out at a time when the weather is expected to be dry, to reduce the risk of water damage while the work is being done”.

"The summer months are the best time to conduct this work and will mean the closure time will be shorter."

Swain added that following the repairs, “visitors to the museum will be able to appreciate our artworks and exhibitions knowing the building is more sustainable, energy-efficient with better lighting and ventilation”.
 

The Science Museum has confirmed its sponsorship deal with Norwegian oil and gas producer Equinor has ended.

Equinor had sponsored the museum’s Wonderlab gallery for children since 2016.

In a blog, the museum’s Chair, Sir Tim Laurence, said that “those we partner with must demonstrate that they are moving with sufficient urgency along the transition pathway to meet our aspirations”. 

Emails disclosed to campaign organisation Culture Unstained following a Freedom of Information request show Equinor had been contacted several times after it was concluded that Equinor’s business was not aligned with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, a threshold set by the museum for its corporate sponsors.

In July 2022, the museum’s sponsors were notified of the criteria set by the museum expecting partners to achieve alignment with the Paris 1.5˚ pathway by the end of March 2024.

Culture Unstained Co-Director Chris Garrard called the end of the sponsorship a “seismic shift”. “After years of mounting pressure, the Science Museum has now adopted red lines on climate change which have led to Equinor being dropped,” he said.

The announcement has brought about refreshed calls for the Science Museum to also end its sponsorship ties with oil giant BP and Indian coal mining conglomerate Adani.

“With BP also failing to align its business with Paris Agreement goals and Adani the world’s biggest private producer of coal, the museum must now hold these companies to the same standard and stop promoting their toxic brands,” Garrard added.

A theatre that will only allow vegan food to be consumed on site is to open in Canterbury.

Kent Online reports that the performing arts building of a former Steiner school in the city has been transformed into the Garlinge Theatre which will welcome the public to its first production next month.

The school closed suddenly last year after Ofsted inspectors highlighted a range of failings.

Anything eaten or consumed in the 300-capacity venue must be vegan, a rule that applies to anyone renting the site, organisers have said.

“We need to reduce cruelty and industrial agriculture," Terry Thompson, a member of the collective running the venue said.

“What we should be moving towards is an organic and non-cruel system that would free up land for food production.

“I felt the entertainment industry, especially in a theatre, was not offering enough of that and getting on people’s radar.

“We are not going to have it on every production promotion, but it will be underlying so people can ask questions.”

A group of 30 Arts Council England (ACE) National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) responsible for producing around a third of the portfolio's total carbon output have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by two-fifths since 2018, a new report commissioned by ACE has revealed.

The Culture, Climate and Environmental Responsibility annual report 2022-23 utilises data provided by 2018-23 NPOs covering a variety of environmental impact areas such as touring, business travel, electricity and gas use, and waste, focusing on the completed environmental reporting of 656 organisations - 79% of the current portfolio.

The report, produced by the culture and environmental charity Julie's Bicycle, includes data from 30 'Spotlight' organisations chosen because they have been identified as being responsible for around 30% of the carbon emissions created by NPOs.

Among this group – which includes the Royal Shakespeare Company, Baltic Contemporary Art Centre and the National Theatre – the findings reveal that over the five years, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been reduced overall by 40%.

This cohort also reduced gas use by 32% and electricity by 19%. However, some of the reduction in GHG emissions is due to the decarbonisation of the National Grid.

For example, the report states that in 2022/23, the actual reduction in carbon emissions associated with improved/reduced electricity usage is 13%.

Overall, the report found that NPOs have reduced their energy use by 20% over the last five years.

Examining insights provided by 562 NPOs in 2023 as part of the Beyond Carbon survey, the report found that 94% of NPOs now feature environmental sustainability in their core business strategies, compared to 78% in 2018.

Nearly three-quarters said they have either programmed or produced work that explores environmental themes. This figure was just 48% in 2018.

The upward trend is continued in several other areas, with 66% of the NPOs formally recognising environmental responsibilities in job roles - up from 44% -  and 81% having taken steps to eliminate single-use plastic compared with 64%.

While action to be more sustainable is often perceived as costly, 52% of the respondents reported financial benefits from their actions, and 55% reported creative and artistic opportunities.

In her introduction to the report, Alison Tickell, Founder and CEO of Julie’s Bicycle, called for decarbonising in the arts to become "business-as-usual", adding that "pathways to decarbonisation and regeneration are central to cultural purpose and relevance".