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SUSTAINABILITY POLICY (Reviewed January 2024)

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Breathe Music (BM) is committed to working sustainably. As a cultural organisation, we believe we have a responsibility to work towards and contribute to a more sustainable UK and UK cultural sector, and a fairer, healthier and more equitable planet. To achieve this, we will: 

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  • Identify areas where action can be taken to minimise the environmental impact of our office and operations 


 

  • Communicate effectively with our students, teachers, audiences, collaborators and funders to let them know about our sustainability efforts, with the aim of promoting sustainable behaviour more widely. We will endeavour to incorporate concepts that promote our sustainable policy into our pedagogy and concerts

 

  • Advocate for sector-wide development to encourage the trans-formative changes necessary for the classical music industry to thrive in a net-zero society. 
This Policy sets out guiding principles and practical steps to continue our journey towards greater sustainability. This is a dynamic document which are regularly updated to reflect BM’s progress on its journey towards its place in a net-zero society. 
 
Details of how we will achieve greater sustainability are described below. 


 

Management and Staff:

BM staff will receive an introduction to BM's sustainability goals and practices as part of their induction to the organisation, and each staff member shall be responsible for adhering to BM's Sustainability Policy in relation to their role within the organisation. 


  • The Sustainability Policy is intended for and shall be shared with all employees, collaborators and consultants as well as anyone else who may work or provide services to BE on a temporary or regular basis. 

 

  • The Director will review the environmental impact of our activities on a regular basis, to ensure the continued development and effectiveness of this policy. 


 

  • Meetings will be held whenever possible on the telephone or using virtual video conferencing software 


 

  • The Sustainability Policy will be reviewed annually, in March by the Director

 

Office, Procurement & Recycling

  
In the BE office, the following policies are adhered to: 

  • All electronic equipment and lights should be switched off at the end of the day. 


  • All computers are shut down and printers are switched off at the end of the day

  • Documents should only be printed when strictly necessary. 


  • Double-sided printing and multiple pages per sheet are to be used whenever possible to minimise paper and ink usage. 


  • When procuring goods and services, sustainability should be taken into account alongside cost effectiveness. 


  • It is expected that all members of staff make full use of recycling facilities. 


  • All paper used by BM for office purposes or marketing comes from FSC-accredited sources and is 100% recycled whenever possible. Sustainable inks are used whenever possible. 


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Marketing, Print & Communication 


Educational material, promotional print and concert programmes represent a significant proportion of our paper production. BE recognises that although this is currently a necessary component of our work, we can take the following actions to mitigate the environmental impact of our communications: 


  • Use alternative platforms of communication, where appropriate, to engage with students, teachers, audiences, supporters and stakeholders such as email, website and social media to reduce paper usage. 

 

  • Actively promote environmental issues to a wider audience by communicating our commitment to sustainability, displaying recycling requests at the foot of all emails, on our website, and on all print materials. 


 

  • Operating a 'one programme between two' policy at concerts. 
             

 

Travel

In order to reach our students and our audiences, travel is essential to BM’s activities. 
We recognise that travel is emissions intensive and that it forms a significant proportion of our carbon footprint. 
BM has therefore identified travel as a key area for carbon reduction going forward. BE will aim to reduce its carbon footprint by adhering to the following principles: 


BE promotes the use of sustainable travel to all staff and musicians. Our preferences are ordered as: 

 

  1. Walking & cycling 


  2. Use of public transport: train and bus 


  3. Car-pooling 


  4. Coaches 


  5. Flying

 

When
 booking travel, consideration will be given both to environmental impact as well as cost effectiveness. Train travel should take precedence in domestic travel bookings. 

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Advocacy

BM realises that it has a unique opportunity to affect wider change within English and UK cultural, musical and educational sectors. We want to use our platform and resources to share our knowledge and ambitions with our peers, students and audiences, driving innovation.


 

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For further information on this policy, contact:

 

Joanne Green

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admin@breathe-music.co.uk

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