Environmental Responsibility

OUR VISION

Environmental Responsibility is a core value at Without Walls, and we are committed to embedding sustainable practices across our activities and initiatives.

As a network of 35+ festivals, we work actively with partners, artists, arts organisations and sustainability specialists to explore innovative ways of creating and touring outdoor arts that are low carbon and low waste, contributing to a more sustainable society.

We recognise that we are in a state of global climate crisis, and believe that we have a duty to act as a socially and environmentally responsible organisation. Innovation is embedded in everything we do, and ambition towards continuous learning and improvement drives our work around environmental responsibility.

The scale and diversity of our activities, and of our networks, provide us with the opportunity to inspire and encourage positive action on environmental sustainability among our partners, artists and the wider outdoor arts sector.

We place a strong emphasis on supporting artists to create work that is ambitious and groundbreaking, and that addresses environmental sustainability and social justice issues – inspiring audiences across the country and harnessing the power of art to encourage positive transformation.

OUR COMMITMENTS

The main areas of focus are:

Artistic Programme

Each year we support artists to develop ambitious and innovative work addressing issues relating to environmental sustainability and wider social justice issues – in thematic content and/or in the process of production;

Skills Development

We provide regular training and peer-learning sharing opportunities to network partners, artists, staff and Board members, improving the network’s overall understanding of environmental sustainability in relation to creating and presenting outdoor work;

Communications, Advocacy and Sector Leadership

We collaborate with leading sector organisations, groups, campaigns and initiatives to support and inform strategic activity. We have taken part in the Culture Declares Emergency initiative in 2021, are an active member of the Vision:2025 Industry Steering Committee, and as a Manchester-based organisation, we regularly take part in meetings of the GMAST (Greater Manchester Arts Sustainability Team) network, among other activities.

Governance

In 2021 Without Walls formed the Environmental Responsibility Action Group (ERAG), which takes the lead on defining and monitoring our commitments to environmental responsibility, and which reports to the Board of Directors.

Both the Policy and Action Plan (links at the bottom of this page) are reviewed by the Board of Directors every two years, or whenever there is a significant change in working practices.

Management and Operations

Every new member of our team and of the Board are required to be familiar with the Environmental Responsibility Policy, adhere to it, and implement the actions outlined in the Action Plan, as it is relevant to their role.

As a small team, we share the responsibility of many of our environmental targets across the team, and encourage conversation on the topic, and shared input.

Monitoring and Reporting

In order to better understand and reduce our carbon impact year-on-year, we monitor and report annually through Julie’s Bicycle’s Creative Climate Tools (CCT). This helps us study trends, progressions and set targets for subsequent years.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY POLICY AND ACTION PLAN

We regularly review our Environmental Responsibility Policy and Action Plan. These documents and their reviews are approved by the Without Walls Environmental Responsibility Action Group (ERAG), and by the Without Walls Board of Directors. This is how we monitor our commitments, and hold ourselves accountable for them. Both documents can be found at the links below.