Conference Climate Action

Conference Climate Action

TCG_Climate_Track_image__1_.png
Image designed and provided by the Conference Committee on Climate

 

TCG recognizes that we chose to host our 2019 National Conference in a port city at the forefront of climate action in the country, as it faces the immediate threat of rising sea levels. Given this, along with the growing concern around climate change across the nation, the robust climate justice movement in our theatre field, and the increasing impact that climate change is having on our theatres and communities across the planet -- the TCG Conference team is making climate action a key focus of our Miami Conference, as part of the Wellness and Well-being track, as it relates to global health. Please read on for some ways this focus will manifest in Miami.


Conference Committee on Climate
Artist-In-Residence
Conference Climate Programming
Additional Information and Resources
TCG’s Commitment to Sustainable Event Practices: A First Step


Conference Committee on Climate

This work would not be possible without the guidance, wisdom, and efforts of our first Conference Committee on Climate, which has taken the lead on designing most of the climate-focused programming. The Committee is: Annalisa Dias, Tara Moses, and Ronee Penoi (Groundwater Arts); Elizabeth Doud (Fundarte/Climakaze); Lani Fu and Jeremy Pickard (Superhero Clubhouse); with additional consultation from Chantal Bilodeau (Climate Change Theatre Action).



Artist-in-Residence

 TCG is piloting a new role in Miami: artist-in-residence, embodied this year by Miami-based environmental artist, activist and scholar, Xavier Cortada, who is a frequent collaborator with our Miami theatre community and Climate Committee. Xavier is a multi-disciplinary artist who has dedicated his life’s work to addressing climate change through his art, fostering personal and intimate connections to what many approach as a distant or abstract issue. Read more about Xavier and his body of work here. At the Miami Conference, Xavier will generously contribute prints of his Arctic and Antarctic ice paintings to be displayed around the public spaces of the Conference, but will also activate several participatory installations over the three days.

Do Not Open: On Wednesday, June 5, during the How We Show Up session at lunchtime, Xavier will introduce the opportunity to participate in his ongoing Do Not Open project. Conference attendees will be invited to pen letters to the cultural leaders of the future, to be stored in Xavier’s archives, and not opened for at least 100 years. This is an opportunity for us to ask ourselves the question: When it comes to the health and longevity of our world, what kind of ancestors do we want to be? Read more about Do Not Open here.

Longitudinal Installation: On Thursday afternoon, June 6, at the top of the plenary session, Xavier will activate his long-running Longitudinal Installation, with the help of 24 Conference attendees and their shoes. Having started as an experiment in the South Pole, this installation places 24 shoes around a circle representing different longitudinal coordinates as a proxy for people across the globe, conceptually diminishing the distance between them. The 24 participants then read quotes aloud from those very geographic locations about the effects that climate change is having on their lives. Read more about Longitudinal Installation here.

2008_Cortada_90SA-55_web-1_jpg-1.jpgAntarctic Ice Paintings | Global Coastlines, Xavier Cortada.

Conference Climate Programming

Pre-Conference Drink & Read: 5 Minute Climate Plays

Tuesday, June 4 | 6-7pm


TCG Lab & Field Trip Hybrid: Forming a Green New Theatre
Wednesday, June 5 | 9am-12pm

This Field Trip is also a hybrid TCG Lab session, and is open to anyone who wants to build the Green New Theatre! Join us for this trip to Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center at Crandon Park in Miami, where we will embrace and celebrate our natural environment, while discussing all the work we can collectively do to save it. Please note that TCG will provide limited shuttle service, but you are welcome to join us at the Center even if the shuttle is at capacity.


Lunch Info Session - Force of Habit: Nuts & Bolts of Sustainable Practice

Thursday, June 6 | 12:30-1:30pm


Picnic at Miami Circle: A Climate Justice Dinearound

Thursday, June 6 | 6:30-8:30pm


WellSpace Activation: Contemplative Movement and Climate Justice

Friday, June 7 | 9:30-10:30am


Breakout Session - Ripple Effect: A Primer on Presenting, Producing, and Creating Performance in the Era of Climate Change

Friday, June 7 | 11:15am-12:30pm



Additional Information and Resources






TCG’s Commitment to Sustainable Event Practices: A First Step

We couldn’t present this much content on climate change without considering the steps we could take to reduce the Conference’s sizeable carbon footprint. This year, we will:


  • Partner with a hotel who is the largest purchaser of wind energy in Florida, and has its own green initiative;
  • Drastically reduce the Conference’s print materials and rely more on our digital resources;
  • Where possible, print on recycled materials;
  • Distribute name badges and lanyards out of biodegradable and recyclable materials, and collect them afterward for re-use;
  • Cut back on Conference swag, and where it’s used, encourage eco-friendly materials only;
  • Use a carbon counter to measure our Conference’s carbon footprint, and provide information on carbon offsetting to our attendees;
  • Work with the hotel to provide as many non-disposable catering supplies wherever possible, and to make sure plenty of recycling receptacles are readily available;
  • Encourage Conference attendees to utilize the Metro Mover public transit system in Miami when venturing out around town.

We encourage our attendees to consider your own habits and practices as you join us in Miami, and to look out for opportunities provided by TCG and the InterContinental for reducing your individual carbon footprint.




Please contact Devon Berkshire at dberkshire@tcg.org with questions about the climate-related content at the 2019 TCG National Conference, or suggestions about further programming or practices on this crucial topic.