Midlands Arts Centre

First opened in 1962, Midlands Arts Centre – also known as MAC – is a pioneering arts complex for everyone. Our mission: to make art an important part of people’s lives. MAC is a contemporary arts centre and charity, set in the magnificent surroundings of Cannon Hill Park, just two miles south of the city centre. MAC provides arts for all, for every age and background, with the mission to make art an important part of people’s lives. As one of the liveliest arts centres in the Midlands, MAC welcomes over one million visits from audiences every year - from the local community and beyond. Specialising in contemporary work, the centre offers a busy programme of theatre, independent cinema, visual arts exhibitions, and special events, as well as a wealth of practical classes in all aspects of creativity. MAC recognises our environmental responsibilities and the need to proactively work towards a more sustainable culture. Rooted in our local economy and communities, we are committed to ensuring our work, through the commercial, operational and artistic strands of the organisation, has a minimal impact on the environment and actively promotes sustainable ways of working.

We will continue build on the work of our Green Champions, to embed sustainability across the organisation. We will use our arts programme to engage audiences on environmental and climate issues. We will use our networks to share best practise and support other organisations and artists in their environmental journey.

To find realistic and practical solutions to allow us to work towards Net Zero as an arts charity.

The challenge of decarbonisation is huge, and it is something that we can only tackle together. MAC believes strongly in a collaborative approach, and alongside SWM and WCMA and other net zero pledgers, we can work to share best practise and challenges to achieve our shared goal.

We use Julie’s Bicycle to calculate our Carbon Footprint annually, there has been a year on year reduction since 2016. We installed Solar Panels in 2012; these generate around 9000 kWh per year for our venue. In 2022, we had a major programme of LED replacement resulting in a measurable decrease in MAC’s electricity use. In 2021, we replaced our boilers with more efficient models, the boiler pipework has been well insulated and we’ve recently made changes to the building management system to ensure we are only using the gas we need. We developed a short, free, “Carbon Awareness” course which is available to all staff. A quarter of all staff have received the training so far, with the view for all staff to undergo this training where possible.

Reducing energy use also means savings in energy costs, which is increasingly important to our arts charity in the current environment. Engaging staff on climate issues helps them to feel actively involved in the organisation. Our Green Champions group has dedicated members from every department, and we meet regularly to discuss possible improvements across programming, marketing, administration, technical, IT, and catering. The GCs also work on our annual Environmental Festival, creating interactive events to encourage our audiences to get more involved in our Green work and initiatives. Helping staff to find sustainable modes of travel has added benefits for staff wellbeing, and creative campaigns have led to more engagement from our audiences, considering how they travel to MAC and utilise Cannon Hill Park. We have installed new bike racks for staff to encourage sustainable travel. MAC’s audiences expect us to act positively on environmental issues and we are able to demonstrate our commitment to the benefit of our reputation. We proactively consider how to communicate our Green Work to our stakeholders

We hope to continue our programme of LED replacement so that all lighting in the building is as low carbon as possible. We plan to upgrade the Building Management System to allow better control of our heating and cooling systems. We intend to Investigate our options for insulation so that the building fabric is more efficient. We will host sessions for staff members to improve their confidence with bike riding, to encourage further sustainable travel.