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ACE Accelerator Programme

12 October 2018

We are pleased to share that we have been chosen to be involved in Julie's Bicycle's inaugural Accelerator Programme, in two consortiums, as part of our work on the first Creative Green Certified Tour of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake.

Julie’s Bicycle has been working in partnership with Arts Council England to inspire environmental action across the arts and cultural sector for over a decade. This collaboration led to a pioneering policy intervention in 2012, when the Arts Council became the first cultural body to make environmental reporting and policy part of funding agreements for National Portfolio organisations. Collectively, these organisations have reduced energy consumption by 22% and made savings of £11 million.

'Arts Council England and Julie’s Bicycle offer one powerful blueprint to inspire the leadership we need.'
 - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The Accelerator Programme is a new strand of this work, which aims to foster enterprise, innovation, future thinking and creative perspectives on climate and the environment in arts and cultural organisations. Between 2018 to 2022, Julie’s Bicycle will recruit two cohorts of up to ten organisations and consortiums to take part in the programme. The programme will be looking at everything from touring models and audience engagement to design and supply chains, income generation and governance.

We will be involved as part of the following two consortiums, working with:

  • Norwich Theatre Royal and Sadler’s Wells to create a change in the relationship between touring companies and receiving houses, and with hopes to develop a new blueprint for environmentally sustainable touring.
  • Metta Theatre, Improbable, Blackpool Grand Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Young Vic and ATG, another collaboration working on green touring models, aiming to be an incubator and resource network for sustainable thinking in the touring sector.

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