Green Week set to soar into action

A mass paper plane throw, building a better world with recycled materials and a clothes swap are just some of the activities to feature in a new ‘green’ venture by Newcastle Gateshead Cultural Venues (NGCV) this month.  

NGCV is a partnership involving Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, BALTIC, Dance City, Life Science Centre, Live Theatre, Northern Stage, Sage Gateshead, Seven Stories, Theatre Royal & City Hall, and Tyneside Cinema. The venues have been working together since 2009 to share information and learning and develop joint projects.  

One of the key areas of the group’s work is sustainability and environmental impact and in 2012 it introduced an NGCV Green Campaign.

This year NGCV is holding a Green Week from Saturday September 9 to Sunday September 17, when all venues will run themed activities and initiatives for the public and staff.

They are also asking the public to share their green ideas online about how venues and visitors can be greener.  Everyone will have the chance to enter a fantastic prize draw, with 10 prizes to be won for the best ideas, including free tickets to some great shows and activities, shopping vouchers and family passes.

Starting at Life Science Centre, which is dedicating its Making Space activities to recycling and upcycling over two weekends, children and families can make a motorized dinosaur on 9^th and 10^th September and at the end of Green Week on 16^th and 17^th September, use ‘roar’ materials to make your own flat pack dino!

Sage Gateshead soars into action on Monday (11^th) from 10 to 12, with a mass paper plane throw in its main concert hall, using recycled paper and newspapers.

From Monday to Friday (11-15^th), Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums are inviting children and families to design and build something using recycled materials to help make the world a better place, as part of their Play + Invent Design Challenge at Discovery museum in Newcastle.

Dance City is holding a staff ‘clear out and recycle day’ as well as a clothes swap event for staff and visitors on Friday (15^th) afternoon.

Seven Stories is running Story times with a ‘green’ theme on Wednesday (13th) and at 6pm that day, Tyneside Cinema is hosting a special screening of An Inconvenient Sequel (the follow up to An Inconvenient Truth).  On Friday (15^th) Tyneside Cinema is encouraging visitors to travel green, with discounts on hot drinks at their Vicolo café for people who show they have travelled by bike and discounted cycle hire from The Cycle Hub all September for Tyneside Cinema customers.  You can also get 50p off a cup of tea or coffee at McKenna’s in Northern Stage if you bring your own cup on Wednesday (13^th).

Staff at Live Theatre are pledging to car share or use public transport and read scripts from the screen rather than printing out and every day BALTIC will be raising awareness of the venue’s green achievements through information on the ground floor for the public and staff.

Theatre Royal is challenging staff to get creative and put together an interesting lunch using left-overs and back of the cupboard items and sharing the recipes on social media.  Both Northern Stage from Monday (11^th) to Thursday (14^th) and Theatre Royal on Wednesday (13^th) are hosting collections for foodbanks. They are also both staging a Pedometer Challenge to encourage staff to walk more.

Lucy Armstrong, Chair of Tyneside Cinema, said: “I’m delighted to support NGCV Green Week which presents a great opportunity for our cultural venues to highlight the good work already being done to be more environmentally friendly. It will engage both staff and the general public in accessible activities which support ‘greener’ behaviour, and look to what more can be done to help promote a sustainable future.

“I’m particularly pleased that Tyneside Cinema’s Green Week activities include a focus on promoting sustainable transport through efforts to encourage cycling in and around NewcastleGateshead.”

Philip Bernays, Chief Executive at Newcastle Theatre Royal and NGCV Green Champion, said: “We started our NGCV Green Campaign in 2012, believing that working together we could do more to make our venues and visits to them more sustainable. Five years on, we have achieved a lot in terms of reducing our collective carbon footprint, saving energy and minimizing waste, as well as promoting recycling, sustainable transport and energy and resource efficiency. 

“NGCV Green Week will help reinvigorate our campaign and enable staff, the public and visiting artists and performers to engage in fun activities, which also promote green behaviours and positive messages across our venues and beyond.”

NGCV is also running its annual audience travel survey until 13^th October, which looks at how people travel to the venues, with a view to helping people travel more sustainably. Last year the survey attracted more than 16,000 responses and this year 3000 people have already responded. To take part and also have the chance to win £50 work of shopping vouchers, simply go online and complete the short survey.

People can get involved in Green Week on Facebook or by using the hashtag #NGCVGreenWeek and to see a list of all the activities available for the public during Green Week and for a full list of prizes and links to the Green Ideas Draw and NGCV Travel Survey, go to NGCV’s website.

Green Ideas prize draw

There is a prize draw for the best green ideas from the staff and public.  We would like to hear about green ideas which will: make our venues and activities more environmentally friendly; help visitors be more green when they visit; raise awareness of green issues; and/or introduce more green activities with a cultural flavour.  

Deadline for entrants midnight 17^th September, winners announced 25^th September

Entrants will be judged and can choose their preferences from the following prizes and 10 individual prizes will be awarded (preferences cannot be guaranteed)

• BALTIC: £25 gift shop voucher
• Life Science Centre: Pair of Family Tickets to the Science Centre
• Dance City:  2 free dance classes
• Live Theatre: 2 free tickets to one of their upcoming shows (subject to availability)
• Northern Stage: Family ticket for the Christmas production of Alice
• Sage Gateshead: 4 tickets for The Snowman on December 23^rd at 2pm
• Seven Stories: Family day pass to Seven Stories
• Theatre Royal: 3 pairs of tickets for the Panto, Dick Whittington
• TWAM: 4 free tickets to TWAM’s Play Tyne (interactive water play area for under 7s 11am-4pm at Discovery)
• Tyneside Cinema: 2 pairs of free Tyneside Cinema tickets