Greener Touring
The Touring Network hosted an online workshop in March 2026 with Sheena Miller (Rural Touring Agency) and Penny Chivas (dance artist), who shared practical ideas and conversation starters from their time working together.
In 2023, Penny’s show Burnt Out toured Scotland from Shetland to Dumfries using public transport, which had significant carbon reductions but also implications to all aspects of the tour.
From here, Penny and Sheena began to question how they could make the greatest impact when making and touring work, and how venues could respond and tie in their own aspirations for lowering their carbon impact.
As well as Burnt Out receiving the inaugural Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Sustainability Award, the tour was highlighted in Creative Scotland’s Environmental Sustainability Review 23/24. The show also sparked conversations en route through carefully curated post-show discussions connecting communities.
North East Arts Touring (NEAT) supported the event by sharing findings from artist submissions on their sustainability practices, which were incorporated into the presentation.
Notes from the workshop
Read the notes from the Greener Touring workshop, which aim to provoke ideas, thoughts and reflection on the following aspects of production and touring:
- Creating the show: Lighting, Costuming, Insurance
- Touring the show: Travelling by public transport, other transport, accommodation, marketing
- People: Wellbeing, Green Team meetings on tour, budget implications
- Technology: AI, digital, email servers/Google drive, banking
- Attitude
Further resources
Penny and Sheena have curated the following list of resources:
- Culture for Climate Scotland’s Digital Carbon Footprint guide
- Circular Arts Network within Scotland
- Arts Resource Management System (ARMS): Sharing resources in the Scottish performance scene
- Request props/costumes/set/tech equipment from National Theatre of Scotland (NTS)
- Theatre Green Book
- Australian version of Theatre Green Book as a reflection on how this intersects with First Nations justice
- The Work Room’s Groundwork Manifesto and Podcasts
- MotherTree’s Bank League Table – explore the carbon impact of UK banks
- What Metals are in LED lights: real world case studies in lighting
- Washington Post: The hidden environmental cost of using AI chatbots
- Smash for transferring files
- Tourbook – to increase tourplanning efficiencies / reducing digital footprint
- CivicDigits: The Carbon Footprint of Online Digital Performances
- The Artist Wellbeing Company
- Culture for Climate’s Green Arts Initiative – An interactive community of Scottish cultural organisations
- Culture for Climate’s Green Tease – an ongoing informal events programme connecting cultural practices and environmental sustainability across Scotland.