SUSTAINABILITY

So is Small World Theatre’s work and the new building interconnected? Is it sustainable?

Well yes, says Bill Hamblett Artistic Director. Sustainable? Of course, our new building has many sustainable features. The Air source heat pump feeds the under floor heating, 30% of the roof is growing, 70% recycled slate, 60% of the water from the roof is harvested into the toilets, showers and washing up water. The bricks in the lobby were fired about 100 years ago just a few hundred yards away from clay dug from this site. Six great Douglas Firs from a local managed woodland hold up the building and the big oak beams are from Ceredigion. The sand for concrete comes from a couple of miles away and local willow laths form the curving outside lime/clay walls. Recycled paper insulation features in this attempt at a carbon free theatre. Experimenting with some of these newer technologies enables compliance with new rigid regulations. The local architects and contractors are compelled to come up with imaginative solutions and cost savings. Choosing them also keeps the money in the local economy.

Celtic Bull. materials: Cotton cloth, balckerry & hip juice, wet peat, clay charcoal from a fire pit

It is not just the building that is forging a carbon free future. Many projects are linked to food and culture. The space and the work are interconnected. The bicycle-powered smoothie-making machine is a giant strawberry attached to a bike trailer is one way in which we are also looking at healthy lifestyles. The recent community feast was based on produce from our allotment and 200 mackerel that we caught from Cardigan Bay. Environmental art projects continue in schools too. As for performances, Cot Myrddin / Merlin’s Coat tours schools featuring Merlin’s “new” global warming prophecies, accompanied by a workshop looking at the complexities of transition towns. The Transition Teifi group has meetings here. A new show Coedauewydd, commissioned by the forestry commission looks at how trees act as a carbon sink. Not every subject we deal with will be environmentally focused but the majority of materials in productions will be.

30 years ago Ann Shrosbree was asked by The Centre for Alternative Technology to make a show about Ecology (as it was then termed) since then our focus has been on shows highlighting environmental issues. Our touring puppet theatre was the educational component in a community forestry project in Sudan where over a million trees were planted in more than 56 villages. A forest stands where once there was a desert. An international strand of work with Arts, Culture and Theatre for Development projects now exists in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. We have evolved participatory methods that help communities to have a say in their own development, negotiating behavioral change and raising awareness of rights and responsibilities Bringing stories home and being more Wales focused we needed this building not only as a dry working space but a place reflecting our green credentials and participatory processes. A place with no corridors, flexible, accessible, inspiring and inexpensive to run. A place to pass on skills to a successor generation. A creative space for a creative community. Canolfan Byd Bychan / Small World Centre (CBB/SWC) is a place to share our experience in Arts and Culture into a Carbon Neutral future. CBB/SWC is a hive of activity with many opportunities opening up. Although not yet revenue or core funded maybe after 2012 there will be sense at the end of the tunnel. Small World Theatre’s participatory approach will continue to feature in work with communities seeking artistic, cultural and environmentally low impact solutions and a growing awareness that the future is NOW.

This article first appeared in Arts professional October 2008

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Small World Theatre, Canolfan Byd Bychan, Bath House Road, Cardigan, Ceredigion, Wales, SA43 1JY

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