Having staged three major conferences together in 2010/11, Volcano and Cynnal Cymru have taken the initiative in two parallel directions. Volcano is leading an examination of how the concept of sustainable development informs and influences the creative process and artistic practice while Cynnal Cymru convened a partnership involving (the development body for theatres and arts centres in Wales), BRASS and Julie’s Bicycle to address sustainable development in the context of the built environment and theatre estate. The Creu Cymru project has gathered a data baseline of the environmental impacts of 42 venues around Wales. From this baseline, working with a pilot group, the project will provide tools and support to enable theatres and venues to improve their environmental performance and influence the behaviours of audiences, staff, suppliers and business partners.
The then proposed Welsh Government Sustainable Development Bill (now the Well-being of Future Generations Act) provided a context for this project. This legislation will place a statutory duty upon public bodies in Wales to adopt the concept of sustainable development as the central organising principle upon which all organisational decisions are made and to provide evidence on how this is implemented in practice.
Many Creu Cymru members are part of a local authority structure and most are in receipt of Arts Council funding. In both these respects they can assume that the Bill will have an impact upon them. The project helped to provide Creu Cymru members with the means and data to demonstrate compliance in advance of The Bill’s implementation.
View and download: Creative practice for a sustainable future Compiled and curated by Fern Smith and Rhodri Thomas
Emergence is an initiative by Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales developed and presented in partnership with Volcano Theatre with the support of The Arts Council of Wales and British Council.
