Walk the Plank – Culture Change

Walk the Plank’s team of outdoor arts experts collaborate to dream up, create and produce outstanding moments of outdoor theatre and spectacle, from village squares and local festivals to events such as Manchester Day and Capital of Culture openings.

They have been part of MAST for eight years, a time during which they have put the environment centre stage in their decision making.

“One of our biggest achievements is creating a culture at Walk the Plank where challenging current ways of working and continually striving to use less resources, reuse materials and find innovative solutions to reduce our impact on the environment is very much the ‘norm’.”

Nathan Jackson, Head of Production, Walk the Plank

People and process

There is real sense of pride at Walk the Plank that all their environmental initiatives have been staff driven. One early initiative was incentivising staff to collect and reuse copper wiring, a material used regularly in pyrotechnics and generally discarded post event. The value of the copper was calculated and any money saved went towards a team office party! This type of initiative managed to engage staff and they soon became the driving force for environmental initiatives at Walk the Plank.

Over time the team have worked hard to embed sustainability across the board. Sustainability is now an agenda item in company meetings, project and production meetings and has a line in budgets. Walk the Plank’s commitment which runs right though from its board to the freelancers they employ. A cross-departmental sustainability action team leads on annual action plans and progress reporting to the board. Having this structure in place and a team with the energy and ambition to do better is a powerful combination and driver.

Manchester Day

Manchester Day is one of Manchester City Council’s flagship events, a huge annual parade and a chance for local people to come together and celebrate the city. Walk the Plank have led the event production over the last 10 years. The team set an environmental baseline from the onset, a baseline which is reviewed and improved upon each year.

The parade has provided a high-profile platform to raise awareness of environmental issues through its’ themes and artworks. Floats are pushed, wheeled or cycled and attendees encouraged to travel by public transport. Behind the scenes local suppliers have been sought out; artists asked to design floats so they can be de-constructed and reused; structures and artworks from previous years re-used and/or repurposed.

Innovative ways of using unwanted materials have been found, such as the roll ends from a cardboard factory that got a new life as a flock of birds. Working closely with the Council’s event team, sustainability is at the heart of the event.

Knowledge-sharing

Walk the Plank have been keen to share what they have learned and were instrumental in the development of Manchester City Council’s sustainable event guides.

They also partnered with Without Walls on the Green Production Lab 2021 aiming to bring together production management professionals to explore challenges and opportunities for reducing the environmental impacts of outdoor festivals, events and touring productions and to empower attendees to take positive and proactive steps to address the climate emergency through their work.

Myth-busting

The Mythbuster is an interactive pop-up installation, engaging the public to debunk myths about the climate emergency. Designed and built by Walk the Plank, it is for use at events across the city, with a professional performer working alongside two volunteers, who are provided Carbon Literacy training. The Mythbuster is one of six C-Change pilot actions, funded through the EU’s URBACT programme and MAST.

Walk the Plank - The Mythbuster, Cathedral Gardens, summer 2021

Green Space, Dark Skies

Walk the Plank have been chosen to develop a major national participatory event as part of Festival UK* 2022, partnering with Siemens, National Parks UK, Extraordinary Bodies, University of Salford and the National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Green Space, Dark Skies will use lighting technology and geo-tracking to explore the beauty of the UK outdoors and ask questions about access, taking part, landscape and the future. The project aims to engage people of all ages and cultures in celebrating our landscapes and the lives within them.

It will consider them as places worth enjoying and protecting, for everyone, forever. The Walk the Plank team have the ambitious target of making Green Space, Dark Skies climate positive, another example of the teams continuing commitment, energy and ambition.

Find out more about Green Space, Dark Skies on the Walk the Plank website