Environmental Sustainability Commitment

Purpose

The purpose of this statement is to outline our commitment to environemental sustainability. Although a small arts organisation, Kirkstall Art Trail is aware that operations may still contribute to the ongoing climate emergency. 

We continue to work towards building on our environmental commitment, and are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our organisation. We are members of SAIL (Sustainable Arts In Leeds), who support the creative and cultural industries to be environmentally sustainable.

Travel and transport

• Committee members, volunteers, and commissioned artists are encouraged to consider travel options which minimise carbon emissions such as walking, public transport, cycling, or car-pooling if the use of a car is unavoidable.
• Our meetings are held locally and within walking distance of most members. However, if possible and appropriate, video conferencing is considered as an alternative to travelling to a meeting from members who are not local and live a distance away. 
• Exhibitors and workshop facilitators are encouraged to consider travel options which minimise carbon emissions such as walking, public transport, cycling, or car-pooling if the use of a car is unavoidable. This is communicated in the acceptance mail, and through FAQ. 
• Visitors are encouraged to make sustainable travel choices when visiting the trail. This is emphasised by providing clear information about green travel on the website and social media (e.g. bus routes and timetables and cycling routes).

Materials and Waste

• We use the three ‘Rs’ when we think about our relationship to materials and consumption. Reduce, reuse, recycle.
• We aim to implement a materials inventory. This will enable us to keep a track of what we have, what we use, and what and how we discard materials. 
• We aim to carefully consider the materials and methods we use:
  • purchasing recycled materials where possible
  • reusing and upcycling existing materials
  • repurposing materials from donations, charity shops, Scrap (who are based in Leeds and sell discarded materials, originally destined for landfill) etc.
  • by sourcing from environmentally responsible and local suppliers as much as possible. We can do this by seeing their own environmental policies. 
• When sourcing new materials we assess their sustainability in advance so that they can be used for future events.
• Printing is kept to a minimum and correspondence is sent electronically where possible.
• Where materials cannot be reused, they are recycled.
• We aim to provide guidelines for participating artists on the Art Trail’s environmental policy, encouraging the use of sustainable materials and practices.
• We will make use of a Circular Network, where we can and it is possible, before buying new. We will also use this to rehome what we can no longer make use of.  

Programme of Events

• We aim to include in Kirkstall Art Trail, events and exhibitions that creatively engage with environmental issues. 
• We aim to consider both the short and long term environmental effects of our projects. We aim for them to have a lasting positive impact both physically and through public engagement. 
• We will write green guidelines into contracts for future project work. 
• Due to the variety of the venues that we use, it is difficult to guarantee that they can or do consider their environmental impact. 
  • Where we do have an ‘Environmental Sustainability Policy’ for individual venues, we will link to it. 
  • We will include our environmental commitment in Venue Packs. 

Digital Impact

We are aware the impact that internet has on the consumption of electricity and the resultant carbon emissions. To this point we have considered how our website has a part in this. 

• We use Fasthosts, which is a UK based green cloud storage and web hosting company.
• We use WordPress, who are the most ethical Content Management System. It’s free, open source and they’ve made commitments to sustainable change.
• We use the Website Carbon Calculator to check our Carbon footprint. Our website has a ‘carbon rating of B’ (last tested 8 October 2024). You can see our current rating on the Website Carbon Calculator website.
• In addition to the carbon calculator, we also use the PageSpeed Insights tool. It diagnoses performance issues and gives a breakdown of where and how we can make improvements.

Communications

• We aim to advocate positive environmental practices and policies across all areas of our work.
• We aim to promote local green initiatives through our programme, newsletter and social media.
• We aim to create opportunities for environmental and climate related creative projects.
• Our aim is that all committee members have an understanding of the importance of environmental issues, with preference for having a board member in place who is actively involved in this area.

Monitoring and reviewing 

We monitor our commitments and aims as we work. We review this statement yearly, or earlier if required.  

Review

The policy was last reviewed on 24 February 2025