By Daniel de la Motte-Harrison
The other week, Julie’s Bicycle hosted their inaugural Creative Green Awards, held in the splendor Of Somerset House, and presented by Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion. These awards are in recognition of environmental, sustainable and ethical commitment, understanding and improvement within arts and cultural venues, galleries and festivals.
The Creative Green Award-winners with Caroline Lucas. Photo by Alick Cotterill.The Young Vic was delighted to be nominated for three awards; Outstanding Achievement, Best Commitment; and Best Performing Arts Venue. We were even more delighted to win the last award. In recent years, the Young Vic has become a 4* accredited Industry Green venue and has undertaken small-scale and larger initiatives to green the theatre, its ethos, staff and productions further.
Recent changes at the Young Vic have included:
- Becoming a zero-waste-to-landfill theatre
- Securing our energy from green sources
- Installing LED lighting in our corridors and public toilets
- Putting on two 'Classics for a New Climate' productions, most recently La Musica, which had almost half the energy emissions of a similar scale production[1]
- Dealing with the waste we create through productions as sustainably as possible. Two tonnes of peat from A Midsummer Night’s Dream went to a local community garden, and the sand used in Ah, Wilderness! was donated to a local nursery.
We are also proud of the ethical and sustainable commitments of The Cut Bar, widely regarded as one of the best theatre bars and restaurants in London. There are several vegetarian and vegan options available, and produce comes from local, ethical or organic suppliers. The beer on tap come from Bermondsey, just 0.4 miles down the road, and the wine comes from a biodynamic vineyard in Tuscany.
Janie Dee in Ah, Wilderness! Photo by Johan Persson. The sand used in this production was donated to a local nursery.The Young Vic will always continue to work closely with our friends and colleagues at Julie’s Bicycle and the London Theatre Consortium to collectively attempt to reduce our emissions and impact further, making work of the highest artistic quality which doesn’t cost the earth.
For more information on the Young Vic’s sustainability policies and practices, or with any ideas on how we can improve further, please get in touch with Daniel at danielharrison@youngvic.org.
[1] 5.38 tonnes of CO2 created through energy use, compared to 9.88 tonnes created through energy use during The Changeling in the same space.
