Pavilion Theatre is making efforts to reduce our impact on the environment.
In recent years, we have set out on our journey to become more environmentally conscious in how we operate our venue. Below is a growing list of some of the initiatives that we have already implemented.
We are aiming to align our actions where possible with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. For more information about the SDGs, please click this link.
Collaborations
Pavilion Theatre is one of 7 venues involved in a Greening Venues Pilot Project. The aim of this pilot project is to reduce the carbon footprint of arts centres and venues in Ireland by addressing issues such as energy usage, waste management, biodiversity, and water usage (SDG 17).
Box Office
We actively encourage all customers to download their tickets onto their smartphones if possible. We have introduced scanners to aid with the check in and monitoring of all tickets and to help with the transition to reducing the number of paper tickets we use (SDG 12).
We have two book swaps in our foyer, one for adults and one for children. We ask that customers bring their unused books to us so that we can offer them for free to other customers (SDG 10, 11 & 17).
We have switched to LED lighting in our Box Office and foyer (SDG 7, 11 & 12).
We send reminder emails to each customer that has provided us with their email address; this email contains a QR code for each ticket, so customers no longer need to print out their tickets. If there is a free show programme to be shared, we include a link to this programme in the email in order to cut down on the number of programmes that need to be printed (SDG 12).
Inspired by other venues, we have reordered our Getting Here & Parking tab on the website. We now list the options to get here starting by arriving on foot, then by bicycle, public transport and finally how to drive here (SDG 3 & 9).
Toilets
Through the display of reminder notices in our toilets, we ask our customers to be conscious about the amount of hand towels and soap that they use.
The urinals in the gents toilets are on timers and sensors in order to reduce the amount of water that we use (SDG 6).
The public toilets have been fitted with occupancy sensor lighting to reduce our consumption of energy (SDG 7, 11 & 12).
Offices & Backstage
In our offices, we are committed to reducing the amount of print materials that we use. We aim to print double-sided where possible. We are engaging with visiting companies to our venue to reduce the number of promotional posters and flyers we receive (SDG 11 & 12)
We have switched to low-energy LED bulbs in our offices and most of our backstage areas (SDG 7, 11 & 12).
Our offices have been fitted with occupancy sensor lighting to reduce our consumption of energy (SDG 7, 11 & 12).
We have supplied waste and recycling bins to each of our offices and dressing rooms to enable our staff and visitors to recycle with ease (SDG 12).
We’ve updated our computers to allow us to have more digital meetings with our visiting companies.
Bar
Our bar is one area of the theatre where we have identified our greatest source of waste and with this in mind, we are continually updating our policies and procedures at the bar in order to be more environmentally conscious.
Our bar fridges filled with non-perishable goods have now had electricity timers added, with our fridges scheduled to switching themselves off overnight (SDG 7, 11 & 12).
We have added signs on bar and on the bar bins for customers about how to dispose of their rubbish.
Our bar staff clean, dry and sort through our recyclable waste. This includes the rubbish left in the auditorium after a show, which our volunteer ushers collect post-show and give to the bar staff.
Our single-use coffee cups and lids are now compostable and these get added to Pavilion Theatre’s brown bin each week (SDG 11).
We now have cartons of still water for sale at the bar. This decreases our consumption of single use plastics. We have also removed straws from the bar counter. They are only available upon request (SDG 11).
We have proudly joined the Conscious Cup Campaign, which aims to reduce the number of single-use coffee cups we use by encouraging people to bring their own reusable cups and providing them with a discount when they do (SDG 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 & 17).
We have also joined with the Refill Ireland environmental project and offer free filtered water refills to customers who bring their own water bottles (SDG 6, 12 & 17).
Visiting Companies
From the contract stage through to their time at Pavilion, we encourage all companies that visit Pavilion to think sustainably as much as possible (SDG 17).
Bottles of waster are no longer automatically offered to performers, and instead we provide jugs of water and glasses as the default offering (SDG 6 & 12).
We are engaging with visiting companies to our venue to reduce the number of promotional posters and flyers we receive (SDG 11 & 12).