Freelancers make theatre work
The Climate Crisis
If theatre is to be part of the most vital conversation humanity faces, then it has to change its practice.
“The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: Climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and planetary health. Any further delay in concerted anticipatory global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.” -6th IPCC report on climate change
Freelancers Make Theatre Work are adding our voices to the campaign for urgent action on the climate emergency – in recognition that it is one of the biggest and most pressing challenges facing humanity today.
Theatre brings people together to create a physical living thing on stage, a thing that has a lifespan of weeks, possibly months and occasionally years. We require people to travel to see this thing, and we require buildings and spaces in which this engagement occurs.
All parts of this process cause environmental harm via emissions and resource use. As an industry we need to acknowledge this, and respond in ways which reduce the harm caused. We also need to acknowledge that even at a reduced rate, harm will still be caused, and we need to find ways to support activities and organisations that are replenishing nature and drawing down CO2 from the atmosphere.
We need to do this not just out of benevolence or because it is the morally right thing to do; we also need to do this to be an integral part of shifting what is regarded as normal from consumptive to regenerative. For to fail to do so risks famine and displacement on large scale, food shortages and ever more intense extreme weather events, all of which will ultimately undermine the balance upon which the existence of society, and consequently theatre, depends.
The transformation required needs to be both top-down and bottom-up. It requires that those who lead organisations fully understand the crisis, and the urgent necessity and urgency to transform that which we think of as normal. And it requires space being made to actively engage the more transient freelance community in this conversation. Too often freelancers are left out of this work – left unaware of changes being made or disempowered and voiceless in the buildings and companies they work within. The climate Crisis is about all of us. It need not curtail imagination nor be punitive. We need to join hands and make work differently together and all share in the work and responsibility that takes. We have to do this work together.
FMTW will work collaboratively and proactively towards this goal, and to ensure that our own practices support and prioritise it.
Our asks, commitments & acknowledgements
12 asks of the industry and ourselves to help us on our journey. From sharing knowledge with each other to offering freelancer training.
The Creative Freelancer’s Climate Almanac
Designed specifically with freelancers in mind, the Creative Freelancer’s Climate Almanac is a companion for artists, independent creatives, community practitioners and producers, created by Julie’s Bicycle.
The Theatre Green Book
The Green Book is an initiative by the whole of theatre – working with sustainability experts Buro Happold – to work more sustainably. It sets standards for making productions sustainably, for making theatre buildings sustainable, and for improving operations like catering and front of house.
Useful websites and networks
Websites, networks, organisations and innitiatives already created by cultural freelancers and theatres.
Studies & reports
Studies and reports on theatre/the arts and the climate crisis.
Reading list & podcasts
A collection of books and podcasts around climate change and the arts.
Campaigns
Campaigns freelancers can support, take part in and be aware of.
Training & Toolkits
Links to free, subsidised and paid for Carbon Literacy Training for those in culture and the arts.