Sustainability

As an independent dance maker, I aspire to make work that is relevant to the world we live in and helps us articulate new ways of living together and connecting with each other. I believe that the arts sector has the capacity to transform the conversation around climate change in our society and translate it into action. As artists, we have the responsibility to consider the impact that our work has on the environment around us. We need to think and act creatively in order to make our practice and operations more sustainable and inspire others to do the same. Joan Clevillé Dance is a small independent company with limited resources, but we are fully committed to making our work as sustainable as possible. This Green Policy is just a first step towards achieving our goals. We know that this is just the beginning and we still have a lot learn. But we are extremely passionate, and we invite everyone, venues, audiences, participants and collaborators to join us on this journey.

Joan Clevillé

In 2017, the company joined the Green Arts Initiative and over the past year have been producing our first Green Policy; a list of commitments we will aim to carry forward into our 2019 tours and beyond to reduce our carbon footprint.  Joan Clevillé Dance’s Assistant Producer Vicky Wilson will act as the company Green Champion.  If you have any feedback or suggestions that can help us reduce our carbon footprint please contact Vicky on vicky@joanclevilledance.com / 07502225825.

Travel and Accommodation on Tour
We will:

  • Only take flights when travelling outside of the UK unless train travel time adds more than 3 hours or involves an extra night away from home
  • Take direct flights wherever possible
  • Ask all staff members to report on their travel connected to the company
  • Monitor our carbon foot print using claimexpenses.com as recommended by the Green Arts Initiative
  • Ask staff members to cycle or walk to company engagements under 2.5km away unless they are carrying luggage
  • Offer staff members 20p per mile for travelling by foot, bicycle or public transport to company engagements over 1.5 miles
  • Trial use of Trainsplit to get cheaper train tickets making long distance train travel more affordable
  • Use skype/phone calls rather than face to face meetings where possible, or combine trips with other company/non company activity to make the trip more worthwhile
  • Assistant Producer and Production Manager to consider the impact of freight for international dates
  • Favour accommodation with green credentials where availability and cost allows
  • Ask venues to share postcode and travel data with us where possible to get an overview of the environmental impact of those coming to our performances
  • Look at possibilities for ask audiences to contribute financially to the carbon footprint of the tour on a voluntary basis.


Sourcing and Suppliers
We will:

  • Use the Ethical Consumer Guide to source the most environmentally friendly / sustainable suppliers and materials. Built for household goods but it could be applied to Electrical Appliances, Household AV Equipment, Clothing/Costume, Household consumables / Banking / Computer equipment, where cost allows.
  • All new specialist technical purchases to be as energy efficient as possible
  • Switch to using carbon neutral printers


Reducing Waste
We will:

  • Encourage audiences to hand back printed programmes to be reused
  • Encourage venues to consider carefully their print usage and order less where possible
  • Ask venues to supply an estimate of the print left over, to highlight any wastage
  • Create a JCD footer encouraging people not to print emails and digital materials
  • Encourage the use of reusable resources on tour including but not limited to bags, water bottles, thermos, cutlery, and Tupperware
  • Work with our collaborators to minimise the amount of throwaway items in set design


Green Advocacy
We will:

  • Include information about the company’s green policy on the website and in performance programmes
  • Encourage audiences to consider their own carbon footprint when coming to performances
  • Attend green meetings / conference as time allows and be part of the conversation
  • Use the Green Arts Initiative branding on the company website and all print
  • Share our environmental policy with all new collaborators and members of staff at the time of contracting
  • Add a ‘Green Policy’ page to our marketing, technical and promoter packs with suggestions of how we can work with venues to reduce our carbon footprint.
  • Our Green Advocate will familiarise herself with the Green Policies of our venues in advance and disseminate relevant information to the team, so we can best support the venue’s green ambition
  • Encourage company members who work from home to use green energy providers