Sustainable Solutions for a fair future

5 May 2011

The series of monthly discussions called 'Sustainable Solutions for a Fair Future' will start on 28 April. The talks will be expert-led, focusing on the exciting and challenging aspects of sustainability.

We talked to Hackney Friends of the Earth coordinator Kate Hand to find out more:

How did this project come about?

We've had a good relationship with the Arcola for a while. They're very environmentally conscious (with plays about climate change, their 'Green Sundays', hosting a Green jobs event with Jean Lambert and more). We screened Food Inc. at one of their Green Sundays last year, and have done some cross-advertising of events.

Who thought up the idea?

We've been thinking about having short talks in our group meetings for a while, to find out more on the issues we're interested in.

We realised they might be of interest to a much wider audience, particularly people who wouldn't normally come to one of our meetings, so we started talking to Feimatta, the Arcola's Sustainability Projects Manager.

She was really excited by the idea, and it meets the theatre's emphasis on innovation and sustainability, and so the talks were born...

Who worked on it most?

Tony and myself from the group along with Feimatta came up with the concept, a list of potential speakers, and how the talks would actually work.

How did you turn the idea into reality?

Once we had a few speakers confirmed, we did a bit of research with a small group of people we thought would be interested. They gave some helpful thoughts and some constructive criticism - generally they were very positive so we felt confident to go ahead.

Who'll be speaking?

The first speaker will be Sue Riddlestone from BioRegional. After that, we've booked in Anne Power from LSE, Charlotte from Solar Century, Maria Adebowale from Capacity Global, Andrew from Client Earth, and a few others.

Any advice for other groups doing something similar?

I think you need some kind of timeline. We always said we'd start at the Arcola's new premises, but without some kind of boost it would be easy to talk about it for ages and never do anything!

Working with an external partner really helps with that, and obviously working with someone who has free space just makes everything much easier.

Come along

It'll be a fascinating series. There'll be a different discussion every week, so don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity.

You can find more information on the Hackney and Tower Hamlets Friends of the Earth website. You can also contact femiatta@arcolatheatre.com or on 020 7503 1645.

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