Greening the Arts

We are the first UK council to integrate environmental reporting into our arts funding in a pioneering Greening the Arts project with charity Julie's Bicycle.

We are working with charity Julie's Bicycle to green Oxford's arts scene, working with the cultural venues, organisations and events it supports to help them become as environmentally sustainable as possible.

Arts Council England became the first arts council in the world to introduce environmental reporting for its major revenue funded organisations. 

Eleven Oxford arts organisations are so far involved in the project:

• Modern Art Oxford 
• Pegasus Theatre
• Oxford Playhouse
• Fusion Arts
• Oxford Contemporary Music
• Arts at the Old Fire Station
• Story Museum
• Film Oxford
• Cowley Road Works (organisers of Cowley Road Carnival)
• Ark-T
• OVADA

The project supports collaboration and idea exchange amongst the organisations and all ten will be reporting on their energy and water use. They are also encouraged to address the impacts of waste, travel and production associated with their events and buildings.

Greening the Arts is being led jointly by our Environmental Sustainability and Culture teams and is an exciting opportunity to connect these areas of work in Oxford.

All arts organisations involved in the project are required to produce Environmental Policies and Action Plans to reduce their environmental impact, and annual emissions reporting is completed via Julie's Bicycle's IG Tools platform - free carbon calculators developed by Julie's Bicycle specifically for the arts and creative industries.

Julie's Bicycle offer a range of support for arts organisations wanting to reduce their environmental impact, including some practical guides covering all aspects of event organisation.