Studio Wayne McGregor

OUR COMMITMENT

At Studio Wayne McGregor, we are concerned about the huge climate and ecological crisis, and the issues of climate justice that the world is currently facing.

To address this, we understand it is critical that we – as art makers, leaders and role models – proactively change, innovate and consistently re-evaluate our practices across the breadth of our activity.

We are fully committed to mitigating our impact on the environment by ensuring robust, environmentally responsible, and sustainable processes and practices are at the heart of our creative and operational activity.

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP

We have a dedicated Environmental Working Group who are responsible for implementing our sustainability policy and action plan, tracking the environmental impact of our activity, and raising awareness of our environmental actions across the organisation.

The group includes staff members from various departments across Studio Wayne McGregor, all of whom are passionate and committed to making our organisation as environmentally friendly as possible.

TREES FOR LIFE

As well as taking action to reduce the environmental impact of our creative and operational activity, we also consider the positive environmental impacts we can have.

We have a grove in the Caledonian Forest managed by Trees for Life, a charity dedicated to re-wilding protected sites in the Scottish Highlands.

For every premiere, we donate 10 trees in support of Trees for Life’s conservation initiative of crucial biodiversity preservation, providing a resilient space for wildlife and forests to regenerate and flourish for the future.

To view and support our grove, please click here.

CULTURE DECLARES

We support Culture Declares, a growing movement of nearly 1,500 individuals and organisations in arts and culture declaring a climate and ecological emergency and pledging to take action.

CONTACT

For further information on our environmental commitments and to request a copy of our Policy and Action Plan please contact us at studio@waynemcgregor.com.

Image: Set design for The Dante Project, courtesy of Tacita Dean.

OUR ACTIONS

OUR STUDIO

- Since 2018, our annual usage of energy and water has remained under the recommendations set by Julie’s Bicycle’s Office Benchmarks.
- We use a renewable electricity supply.
- We have an office switch-off policy to ensure all lights and IT equipment are switched off when not in use as well as motion-sensor LED lights installed in all non-utility spaces to reduce our energy use.
- We have recycling facilities at our Studio that cover mixed recycling, cardboard, food waste, batteries, CDs, and coffee capsules. We are currently working with our landlord Here East to improve our recycling processes and to set-up regular recycling workshops for staff. For large items including furniture removals, we research and use environmentally friendly collections services including Green Man & Van.
- To reduce our single use plastic waste from food and drink, we provide a fully fitted kitchen with reusable plates, bowls, glasses and cutlery alongside easily accessible water dispensers for all those in the Studio to use.

PRODUCTIONS & TOURING

- For Company Wayne McGregor productions, we consider the materials and technologies we use in the creation, touring and performance of the works, ensuring they are sustainable and energy-efficient. For our latest work Autobiography, we created the set from aluminium and in modular form to minimise as much as possible the load weight of the set to reduce emissions from freight travel and to reduce the amount of wastage during the life of the set, as repairs and replacements could be implemented on smaller individual parts rather than on the set as a whole.
- We aim to reduce emissions from freight and personnel travel as much as possible by ensuring sustainability is embedded in our tour planning decisions. Where possible, we plan tours to reduce the amount of back-to-base travel the company does between venue visits.
- To address the huge environmental impact of touring Company Wayne McGregor productions, we took a strategic decision at the beginning of 2022 to shift away from a traditional touring model to focus on digital and hybrid projects and localised productions with reduced international touring.
- From January to March 2022, we participated in Arts Council England’s leadership development and peer exchange programme, International Touring and Environmental Responsibility, which continues to be an invaluable information source.

BUSINESS TRAVEL AND ACCOMODATION

- To reduce the need for travel and accommodation, we encourage staff to attend meetings and events virtually where possible.
- If travel is required, we encourage staff to use sustainable travel modes and carefully plan journeys to minimise unnecessary travel. We have a train and coach-first policy for travel in the UK.
- Our new focus on hybrid and localised productions will also reduce the quantity and distance of the journeys made by our creative teams, dancers, and technical staff for future performances.

OPERATIONS

- We are conscious of our paper use and operate a paperless system in our Finance department. This significantly reduces the amount of paper we use, enabling us to save 17% of a tree per year, as well as reducing the environmental and climate justice impact of producing and shipping paper.
- We are currently reviewing our procurement to ensure our suppliers have strong environmental credentials that align with our own commitments.
- We are committed to embedding sustainability into our digital operational processes. Following an extensive review of our digital use data in 2022, we identified several key areas that we are now taking action to improve, including our cloud storage, digital communications, and website.
- We aim to encourage and motivate all our staff to contribute to our sustainability vision through engaging campaigns that raise environmental awareness and support the development of skills in best sustainable practice. In 2022/23, we will celebrate Earth Hour, Earth Day and Cycle-to-Work day, as well as arranging monthly team walks to local nature spots and Swap Shops to promote the circular economy. We also curate a quarterly green newsletter featuring updates from our Environmental Working Group as well as articles on environmental issues and resources to help us reduce our environmental impact.

COMMUTING

- We encourage our staff to consider accessible and low greenhouse gas emitting commuting options including walking, cycling, and public transport (train/bus), adhering to Transport for London’s smart commuting travel hierarchy.
- 84% of our staff commute by sustainable transport, with the average journey to work less than 90 minutes.
- Our working patterns have dramatically changed since the Covid-19 pandemic with staff working more frequently from home and attending meetings via video conferencing. We actively encourage this flexible working, which has greatly reduced our weekly travel to the office and has therefore reduced the environmental impact of our commuting.