How The Arts Are Going Green

Editor's Note: Because of space limitations in the September print issue, we were unable to publish all of Jenn Ballentine's wonderful round-up of all the arts organizations "going green" in Atlanta. Here is the expanded version of the story.

The Woodruff Arts Center
The Woodruff Arts Center, home to the Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the High Museum of Art, has made great strides in Atlanta’s growing initiative to "go green."

Recently, a 6,680-square-foot vegetated green roof was added to the top of the High Museum’s administrative office building to help clean and reduce storm water runoff, reduce the urban heat island effect, lower energy consumption, extend the roof life and improve air quality. This particular green roof also has the ability to retain about 62,000 gallons of storm water per year, the equivalent of the average person’s indoor water use for two and a half years.

The Woodruff Arts Center has also established a new energy team led by Vice President of Operations Mike Flood. He and team members have instituted a number of energy-saving initiatives throughout the center, including rainwater collection, recycling, donation of leftover food to homeless organizations and promotion of alternative transportation among employees and patrons.

Other environmental efforts include a new partnership with Energy Star, a voluntary government program that helps American businesses save energy and money with tested and proven energy-efficient products and practices. They offer an energy management strategy to help measure energy performance, set goals, track progress, and reward improvements to commercial and industrial buildings across the U.S. By working with Energy Star, the Woodruff Arts Center has set an aggressive goal to lower energy usage by 10 percent over the first year.

Flood is excited about the move towards lower energy consumption. "Being green is responsible," he said. A lot of people in the arts are supportive of this effort. There is tremendous excitement from the staff, performers and patrons. We’re quite proud of our efforts."

The Atlanta Opera
In its new home at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, the Atlanta Opera is looking into ways to go green. Currently, the Opera recycles paper, magazines, and boxes and hope to begin recycling cans and plastic soon. Several employees carpool and/or use public transit to get to work.

To reach its customer base, the Opera is investigating cost-efficient ways to make its direct mail more "green" (e.g. using recycled paper). In addition, the Opera will launch a new Web site in September with more direct e-marketing tools designed to communicate with customers in a paperless way.

The Atlanta Ballet
While currently at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre along with the Atlanta Opera, the Atlanta Ballet’s new facility at 1695 Marietta Blvd. is going to be a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified building. The facility, expected to open some time in 2009, will boast a white roof, light pollution reduction, 30 percent water reduction, bicycle storage, car pool parking and energy-efficient lighting, heating and cooling.

The construction of the facility will be environmentally friendly as well. Builders intend to use regional materials, including 30 percent reused furniture and furnishings, low-emitting materials and controllable lighting. Additionally, builders plan to divert 75 percent of the typical construction waste from going into a landfill.

Arts at Emory
With an office of sustainability and more than 20 LEED-certified buildings, Emory University is a leader in the environmental movement. Its arts programs are no exception. According to Tracy Clark, the associate director for programming at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts at Emory, the center is "committed to conserving energy and reducing waste."

Clark and the center’s facility’s staff recently instituted a number of initiatives that have reduced the center’s energy use by 13.9 percent in the last year, despite an increased number of performances.

Initiatives introduced include turning off lights when not in use; not using stage lights during cleaning, since they burn at a significantly higher rate than fluorescent work lights; and installing timers on rehearsal room lights so that lights will be off overnight. The building, which was built in 2003, was outfitted with motion sensors in the restrooms and in the practice studios, compact fluorescent bulbs, and large windows in practice studios to take advantage of natural light. Recycling bins are located near each dressing room, and catering services use re-usable plastic trays and serving utensils.

The Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University is also part of Emory's Sustainability Initiative program, which is committed to reducing the university’s energy footprint by 25 percent by 2015. The museum has already switched over to new energy- efficient lighting in parts of the building and added recycling bins, and staff members are conserving energy by turning off lights in unused offices and storage areas, unplugging computers and other large electrical devices at the end of each workday, and using the stairs instead of elevators.

The Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech
According to Stephanie Lee, interim director at the Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech, the center does not use plastic water bottles any longer and instead offers water coolers with cups. The Center encourages patrons to recycle their programs so they may be reused.

Given the nature of the performance space, which has numerous companies and artists coming in and out, the Center works with each artist and company to help reduce their environmental impact to the extent possible. For example, a show by the Tania Perez-Salas Dance Company last year called for 550 gallons of water. The Center was able to use water from Georgia Tech’s well for the show. After the show, the remaining water was put into the campus landscaping.

Theatre Decatur
Like the Ferst Center, Theatre Decatur works with its performers to reduce waste and reuse materials whenever possible. Artistic Director Sonny Goff chose this season’s shows, which require little in the way of sets, purposefully.

"I try to utilize the staging and suggestive scenery as much as possible," Goff said. "It’s very important in theater. It’s great to do big, fancy sets, but what do you do with them afterwards?"

Many of his shows use the same sets with some variations. Theatre Decatur even shares sets with other theaters so they do not have to rebuild. Costumes are also reused when possible.

Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta
With the generous assistance of board members Elizabeth and Michael Klump, Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta received an eco-friendly bus, the Imagine It! Express, to bring groups of children to the museum.

The Imagine It! Express is fueled by bio-diesel fuel produced from the waste cooking oil supplied by the Chick-fil-A at Peachtree Center and converted to biodiesel in partnership with Refuel Biodiesel, a program of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. Both Chick-fil-A and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy are underwriting the fuel costs for Imagine It! Express.

The Carter Center
According to Tony Clark of Public Affairs at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, President Carter was "green" before "green" was fashionable. As president in 1979, he proposed a wide-ranging energy bill that called for a number of alternative energy and energy-efficient programs, as well as funding research to make the United States energy-efficient.

In planning for the library, President Carter put those beliefs into practice. Two-thirds of the library’s storage capacity is underground, which reduces energy requirements. The roof is better insulated and reflective to reduce energy costs, and the building has an energy management control system that controls the temperature and humidity. The windows are tinted to reduce sunlight and infrared light, and the men’s restrooms are outfitted with waterless urinals. The library is also purchasing two new energy-efficient chillers and four new energy-efficient air handlers.

Southern Arts Federation
Employees of the Southern Arts Federation have been making a conscious effort to reduce their use of paper and to deliver more information electronically. For example, the Federation will not print a paper copy of its annual report this year; it will only be available on the Web site†or via e-mail. At their annual Performing Arts Exchange Conference, held September 24 - 27, the employees are switching from a 400-page Resource Directory to including the same information on a CD.

Since many of the conference attendees are arts-presenting organizations, the Federation is including a tour of the Balzer Theater, the first LEED-certified theater in the country. Attendees are encouraged to carpool to the conference and walk to the various conference venues. In place of bottled water, reusable water bottles will be distributed to attendees.