The winners of the third annual Creative Green Awards have been announced. 

The awards celebrate the many outstanding organisations and individuals taking action on climate and the environment. The ceremony took place at Curzon Bloomsbury yesterday, as part of the Mayor of London’s inaugural London Climate Action Week.

The event featured a keynote by leading international environmental lawyer and XR activist Farhana Yamin, contributions from climate champions across the sector. It was hosted by spoken word artist and Barbican Young Poet Amani Saeed, with music from Orchestra for the Earth, and a selection of sustainability films it will be a packed and provocative evening. 

Powerful collaborations

Prizes will be presented by a roll-call of luminaries from the arts world, including acclaimed international artists Michael Pinsky and Heather Ackroyd, musician Fay Milton of the Savages, Baroness Lola Young, poet and activist Judy Ling Wong CBE OBE, Head of Communications at Universal Music UK Jonathan Badyal and Lyric Hammersmith Chief Executive Sian Alexander.

This winners comprise a dynamic and diverse group of climate leaders to celebrate and inspire, including trailblazing organisation Shambala, who in the past few years have dramatically reshaped the festival landscape. 

The awards also recognised powerful collaborations such as the London Theatre Consortium shifting the way we experience and produce great theatre, and pioneering artistic programming from the minds of Studio Eliasson. 

Julie’s Bicycle’s Creative Green programme frames the actions that each and every UK cultural organisation can take, right now, to drastically reduce their carbon footprint and drive change across the sector.

The awards are a moment for the sector to showcase their leadership in climate action, with over 350 Creative Green certificates awarded since its launch in 2009

Ecological emergency

Farhana Yamin, international climate change lawyer and XR activist, said: “The climate and ecological emergency needs action like never before. The Creative Green community of cultural organisations is a community of action – and these winners are showing the way.”                                                   

Specially commissioned commemorative plates made from recycled materials and bio-waste by ECOR and Material Driven will set the standard for the next generation of ethical awards cabinets.

The 2019 Creative Green Winners are:

Outstanding Achievement: Shambala
Highest Achievement for Commitment:London Theatre Consortium
Highest Achievement for Understanding: Festival Republic
Highest Achievement for Improvement: Norwich Theatre Royal
(sponsored by Good Energy)
Best Newcomer: Opera North
Best Festival: Electric Picnic
Best Cultural Venue: Almeida Theatre
Best Multi-Arts Centre: HOME Manchester
Best Creative Group:Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
Best Creative Programming: Studio Olafur Eliasson

Julie’s Bicycle also announced five individual ‘Green Champions’making shockwaves across the sector, these are:

Tref Davies, Capital Administrator, Battersea Arts Centre
Andrew Ashton, Company Dancer, New Adventures
Andrea Bottaro, National Theatre
Karishma Rafferty, Curator, Public Realm and Partnerships, Somerset House
Antonio Seitelmann, Procurement Manager, Onassis Cultural Centre

This Article 

This article is based on a press release from Julie’s Bicycle. 

Image: Shambala, George Harrison.