PRESS RELEASE: Leading sector organisations launch website sustainability exploration project
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Orchestras Live is delighted to be collaborating with leading arts and technology organisations, Supercool, the Arts Marketing Association and The WOW Foundation, on a digital sustainability project, which will explore how arts organisations can reduce their websites’ environmental footprint.
Many arts organisations are now considering their online carbon footprint as part of their sustainability strategies, but it can feel like a big task requiring technical specialist support. The four organisations will work together to collaborate and test approaches with their own websites to find out what is effective and efficient.
Led by digital agency for the arts, Supercool, the four organisations will work together to:
- Benchmark and understand the current digital impact of their websites and identify what they can each improve to reduce their individual carbon footprints.
- Work on a clear set of collaborative actions to improve their long-term digital sustainability and monitor these through a careful evaluation process.
- Share the results of their learnings/findings with the arts and culture sector to help improve best practice in this area — including through the Arts Marketing Association’s free resource hub, AMACulturehive.
"I’m delighted that Orchestras Live will be taking part in this exploration project. Our Environmental Responsibility working group of staff and trustees has been considering ways to improve monitoring and reduce our digital carbon footprint over the last year. It has sometimes felt daunting as we are a small organisation with limited tech specialists. We’re looking forward to exploring this issue in more depth as part of a fantastic group of sector collaborators."
~ Sarah Derbyshire, CEO, Orchestras Live
"We've been focusing on digital sustainability a lot at Supercool. From auditing all our suppliers to publishing our sustainability pledges and becoming a climate positive workforce with Ecologi, sustainability has been a focus over the last couple of years. We want to find new ways to support our clients and the sector. Working with WOW, Orchestras Live and the Arts Marketing Association is a great opportunity to share ideas, learn from each other and reduce the impact we have on the environment. I'm looking forward to seeing what we achieve and developing tools and strategies during the project that we can share with more organisations.”
~ Kate Mroczkowski, Strategy Director, Supercool
“We’ve been on a journey to improve the AMA’s long-term sustainability with the goal of reaching net-zero. As a remote-working organisation with lots of digital activity, it’s really important that we drill down into how sustainable our online presence is, and ensure we’re reducing the carbon footprint of our activity. We’re seeing a growing trend of audiences looking to cultural organisations to reduce their carbon footprints and set an example for society. To do this, we need to start by getting our own houses in order and address the unseen environmental cost of our digital work. We hope to develop resources that consider both the successes and challenges of the project with the sector, and to help arts and heritage organisations in their efforts to reduce their own environmental impact online.”
~ Cath Hume, CEO, Arts Marketing Association
“WOW - Women of the World Festivals are dedicated to tackling the world’s biggest issues, including how to build a more sustainable world, and digital is now a huge part of that conversation. It’s important to WOW that we take the time to reflect on our own activities and policies, and build innovative strategies and working practices to improve our environmental impact. As a small team, it’s invaluable to work alongside this group of innovative organisations and an excellent opportunity to learn and share knowledge together.”
~ Charlie Marshall, Head of Communications and Marketing, The WOW Foundation
The project is expected to conclude in March 2023 and findings will be shared with the sector in due course.
For further information, please contact Alex Marshall, Communications Strategist alex@orchestraslive.org.uk