Environmental sustainability

UK theatres need additional funding to make them more sustainable, the national advisory body for theatres has said.

Jon Morgan, Director of Theatres Trust, said “a record number of applications” for the Trust’s Theatre Improvement Scheme “shows the urgent need for funding for sustainability improvements”.

Seven theatres across the UK have received funding awards totalling £124,000 in the latest round of the scheme, which is supported by the Wolfson Foundation.

The funded projects demonstrate “the range of ways that theatres can make a difference,” Morgan said.

He added: “This grants scheme, along with our ongoing work on the Theatre Green Book, is part of our overall mission to make theatres more sustainable.”

Funded projects include the Grade-II listed Leeds Grand Theatre, which aims to reduce its water use by up to 50% with new taps, toilet flushes and shower valves.

The Garage in Norwich is using its funding to install solar panels and LEDs, reducing its lighting energy use by up to 80%.

The other funded venues are: New Diorama Theatre in London; the Old Fire Station, Oxford; Tyne Theatre & Opera House, Newcastle; An Lanntair in Stornoway; and Cast in Doncaster.

Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation, said: “At this time of high energy costs, we know that improving the environmental and financial sustainability of buildings has renewed urgency for the sector.

“These seven projects are excellent examples of the practical changes organisations can make.”

The next round of the Theatre Improvement Scheme is now open for applications, with £115,000 to be awarded in grants of up to £20,000.

The Royal Opera House is ending its sponsorship relationship with oil giant BP after 33 years.

In a statement the opera house said an agreement between the two parties to not renew the funding partnership has been made.

“We are grateful to BP for their sponsorship over 33 years which has enabled thousands around the country to see free opera and ballet through our BP Big Screens,” a spokesperson told the Guardian.

The move leaves just two major arts institutions – the British Museum and Science Museum – with fossil fuel sponsorships.

The British Museum is currently in a five-year funding deal with BP, which is due to finish on 19 February, but it is yet to comment publicly on whether or not the partnership will be extended.

The Science Museum is currently sponsored by Shell and Adani despite long-running protests and the resignation of several board members.

Director of Campaign Group Culture Unstained Chris Garrard said: “What we are witnessing is a seismic shift, a near total wholesale rejection across the arts of BP’s brand and the climate-wrecking business it represents.

“By bringing down the curtain on fossil fuel funding, the Royal Opera House can now play a leading role in creating the culture beyond oil we so urgently need.”

A strand of Coventry’s UK City of Culture creative programme helped local audiences engage with nature, sustainability and social change, according to an evaluation report.

Green Futures, which took place in 2021/22 and was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, was designed to increase awareness of environmental issues and use of outdoor spaces.

An evaluation report by the University of Warwick and Coventry University found the programme was delivered by 170 partners and artists and reached over 150,000 people.

More than three quarters (78%) of participants in one project, which saw the distribution of seeds to create 10,000 square meters of ‘pollinator pathways’ in Coventry, said they felt an increase in civic pride. The project has also been attributed to a 74% increase in footfall along the Coventry Canal during the City of Culture year.

The evaluation also says the Green Futures programme facilitated spaces for previously seldom heard groups to come together, share stories and connect with their communities.

Martin Sutherland, Chief Executive of Coventry City of Culture Trust, says the report “evidences that the many artists, organisations and members of the public who came together in the pursuit of a green future did so extremely successfully and the role of arts, culture and collaboration in finding solutions to the climate crisis is clear”.

 “One of the key goals of the City of Culture year was to engage the public with nature and set the tone for lasting social and environmental change,” he added.

“Green Futures has always been a driving force of our plans for the future and we look forward to continuing this work in the city through the legacy of City of Culture.”

Musicians' unions have welcomed the news that the bows used to play stringed instruments, predominantly made from pernambuco wood, will not be subject to crippling new restrictions from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The Musicians’ Union, the Independent Society of Musicians, the Association of British Orchestras and UK Music worked with the government on a campaign to exempt bows made from the wood from proposed new restrictions that would have subjected travelling musicians to complex paperwork. The move would have also decimated the bow-making trade and hampered sales of antique bows. 

Pernambuco wood, which only grows in Brazil, has been subject to some CITES restrictions since 2007 but at the 19th CITES Conference of the Parties, held in Panama, a proposal to heavily tighten restrictions on using the wood was replaced with a requirement that all pernambuco products, including finished bows, are presented with a CITES permit the first time they leave Brazil.

Dave Webster, Head of International for the Musicians’ Union, described the decision as “a significant victory for musicians' right across the globe”. 

“This outcome provides real peace of mind for our members and all musicians with pernambuco bows,” he said.

The new restrictions “will balance Brazilian concerns for the protection of its national tree while avoiding new and unnecessary red tape for musicians and instrument manufacturers across the UK”, said Tom Kiehl, Deputy CEO of UK Music.

“We will continue to monitor the implementation and compliance to ensure the new policy works as intended,” he added.

Plans to demolish part of the Barbican Estate to make way for two new office blocks are based on misleading data, a residents group has claimed.

The proposal by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Sheppard Robson to demolish the current home of the Museum of London and Bastion House office block met fierce resistance from Barbican residents when it was first announced last year.

In May the City of London, which owns the Barbican Estate and is leading redevelopment plans, published a whole-life carbon assessment for the development which concluded 'that retaining the existing buildings is not appropriate in this instance’.

It added that the new buildings ‘would perform 10% better’ in terms of CO2 emmissions per square metre per year.

However, independent structural and whole-life carbon reports commissioned by Barbican Quarter Action claim the City of London’s assessment ‘used misleading data’ to ‘wrongly dismiss options to retain and retrofit existing structures’.

The residents group report also questions the original report's concerns about the structural challenges of retrofitting Bastion House.

A planning application has yet to be submitted for the new office blocks proposal.