Project Pledge
Instructions, template language, and downloadable versions of the SAGE Project Pledge for your next exhibition or theatre set.
How to Use
We invite your project team to take the following Pledge as you begin planning (each) project.
This is a more-detailed Pledge to use for each project. We encourage you to bring your team together at each project kick-off meeting, and go through the Project Pledge to identify circular practices you will plan to deploy.
Please review the Project Pledge fillable PDF and determine which circular actions are a fit for your project. Please aim to commit to at least 10 actions, but it is up to your team to determine which ones you can accomplish for the particular project you are planning.
Please note: The percentages listed in the Project Pledge are suggested minimums (or maximums). Please adjust to whatever percentage commitment your team thinks is reasonable for each project.
You may choose different commitments from one project to the next depending on circumstances, such as the availability of used materials for that project or particular design elements that may require different material types.
We encourage the project manager and all members of the project team to sign this Pledge.
You may also leverage this Pledge for awards submissions, and if you make the Project Pledge early, you may use it to accompany funding requests or sponsor proposals.
Also use this Pledge to check-in that the team is integrating these commitments into the project, and again in debriefing the project at the end of the exhibition or theatre production. The goal is continuous improvement in your commitment to integrating circularity into development of theatre sets and exhibition development.
We hope the Pledge will serve as inspiration and a roadmap for your success.
Pledge Template
[name of organization]
Our SAGE Pledge for circularity in our exhibition/theatre set development
We pledge to integrate circularity principles into the development of our [insert name of the exhibition or theatre performance to be developed] exhibition/theatre set [choose one or the other]. We commit to engaging our team in pursuit of the 5Rs of circularity: Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recirculate.
We pledge to pursue circular development of the [insert name of the exhibition or theatre performance to be developed] exhibition/theatre set.
We are engaging our team in pursuit of the 5Rs of circularity: Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recirculate in order to reduce and eliminate waste and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.
The following are our commitments for this production:
Rethink
- We will bring the team together (internal and external service providers) to establish circularity goals at the project kick-off – be as specific as possible and invite ideas.
- We will rethink how to be creative and innovative while planning how to avoid waste throughout the production process: design, materials selection, building and unbuilding.
- We will share our Pledge for Circularity commitments and outcomes with our team and our audiences in increasing knowledge of how to avoid waste and associated greenhouse gas emissions in exhibitions/theatre set productions.
Refuse
- We will minimize purchase of new materials by reviewing our inventory of materials before purchasing, and looking for opportunities to source used materials and props beyond our organization’s inventory.
- We commit to using less than 30% new building materials (plywood, MDF, dimensional lumber) (Note: This is a suggested percentage; use the fillable Project Pledge PDF to change the percentage if you want)
- We will refuse to use materials with high embodied energy and global warming potential (GWP) and materials that are non-durable and likely to go to waste.
- We will refuse materials that are non-durable.
Reduce
- In design, we will reduce waste by using some standardized cuts (for plywood, etc.) to avoid excess cutting and waste in construction.
- We will leverage design-for-disassembly and construction-for-disassembly practices for a minimum of 50% of the structures to avoid waste at the end of the exhibition/theatre production. (Note: This is a suggested percentage; use the fillable Project Pledge PDF to change the percentage if you want)
Reuse
- We will use a minimum 30% modular elements (walls, risers, etc.) that are reusable. (Note: This is a suggested percentage; use the fillable Project Pledge PDF to change the percentage if you want)
- Review your inventory of materials before purchasing, and look for opportunities to source used materials and props beyond your organization’s inventory.
Recirculate
- Before the end of our [exhibition/theatre production], we will post key materials on Barder.art for other arts organizations to access for reuse.
- At the end of our exhibition/theatre production, we will drop off props and other materials at local reuse organizations (or post on Facebook marketplace or similar platform for recirculating used materials and props).
Our team is committed to upholding this pledge to the best of our ability.
[Signed by project manager]
[Signed by (all) team members]
Download the Pledge
For Museums and Galleries
Review, customize and sign our Project Pledge for your next exhibition
For Theatre Producers and Set Designers
Review, customize and sign our Project Pledge for your next theatre set