Arts on Tour (AOT) and Theatre Green Book Australia (TGBA) have partnered in 2025 to deliver The Green Circle, a new initiative to support leading theatre and dance organisations to adopt environmentally sustainable practices. 

Facilitated by TGBA’s Dr Grace Nye-Butler, the initiative has provided a support and knowledge framework to a Circle of companies including Sydney Dance Company, Bell Shakespeare, Griffin Theatre Company, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Belvoir Street Theatre, Performing Lines and Monkey Baa. The goal of participants is to achieve ‘Baseline Standard’ of the internationally recognised and newly developed Theatre Green Book Australia V2.0 framework across their productions, operations, and buildings.

Designed to generate collective action, this Green Circle has run as a six-month program of workshops, information sharing, resource development and peer support. Organisations commit to adopting environmentally sustainable practices and are given the support to trial and embed these practices in their organisations.

The shared structure has motivated action and created accountability among the companies. It has also catalysed inquiry and ensured that sustainable approaches become integrated within the creative and operational life of each company. Importantly, the Theatre Green Book Australia V2 allows practices to be tailored to the unique needs, capacities, and business models of each organisation, as we recognise that there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

HOW HAS THE GREEN CIRCLE HELPED?
Arts on Tour and Theatre Green Book Australia surveyed participants and created a progress report with their findings so far from the initiative, which you can read here. All participants said that the Green Circle helped them and their organisation to adopt sustainable practices and address their sustainability goals.

NEW SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES
Each of the Green Circle organisations has introduced new sustainability strategies whilst taking part in the initiative. Examples include using 50% reused/recycled materials on set builds, embedding environmental considerations into contracts; and monitoring and tracking of specific production elements through Circulate, an emissions calculator designed for measuring emissions for productions, events and creative business operations in Australia/NZ.

Building on their existing "Care for Country" principle, Bangarra Dance Theatre said that the Green Circle has encouraged them to look at how they’re creating set pieces and to consider what materials they’re using.

“When we built Illume and the build of a large set element - an oversized trumpet shell (pictured above)- we discussed various methods of building it,” Bangarra’s Production Manager, Cat Studley, said. “We decided on 3D printing in a recycled black ABS (a thermoplastic known for its strength, durability, and impact resistance). This really helped us to ensure that we're overachieving in our goal of 50% of everything onstage is from recycled or reused sources.”

WHAT’S NEXT?
The Green Circle companies were also asked to identify their environmental goals for 2026 and beyond. The majority said that they would benefit from a shared storage space to share set, costumes, and production resources with an online library. Other initiatives included eco literacy workshops designed for performing arts, a workshop that builds to Theatre Green Book standards, and more training to use and implement the Theatre Green Book Australia.

Additional goals included, forming a ‘Green Team’ within their organisation to expand strategies across multiple departments; focussing on pre-production planning and what creative modifications can be discussed/modified to make a tour or long season more sustainable whilst maintaining the Director’s vision; and focusing on how they can make tours and mainstage shows that are easier to remount, and have a longer life cycle.

GREEN CIRCLE EVENT
To mark the end of the initiative, the companies will come together for a Green Circle Event at Bangarra Dance Theatre on Tuesday 4 November. This Event will celebrate the successes of the Green Circle companies, launch Theatre Green Book Australia V2.0 (by Grace Nye-Butler and Chris Mercer), and outline initiatives and strategies identified by Green Circle members to support the adoption of environmentally informed practices across the performing arts sector.

Top banner image: Mark Rogers