A Biodiversity Garden starring a dramatic sculpture is set to grace the stage outside Waterford’s Theatre Royal later this year.
It’s one of five arts projects nationwide supported by a creative new climate awareness initiative from ESB.
The €250,000 ESB Brighter Future Arts Fund aims to drive positive community engagement in climate change and sustainability.
The Biodiversity Garden project is the result of a partnership between the much-loved Theatre Royal and Waterford City and County Council. At its centre will stand a beautiful, pollinator-friendly, willow sculpture by artist Elaine McDonagh.
The project marks a major step in the transformational ‘green journey’ currently being undertaken by the Theatre Royal. It also aligns with Waterford Council’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, and ambitions to become Ireland’s first decarbonised city by 2040.
Work on the project began in March and is due for completion in the autumn, at which point Theatre Royal will host an outreach programme within the community, engaging school children and others in workshops and educational tours focusing on biodiversity and protection of the environment.
The biodiversity garden and sculpture will be inspired by the performance at the Theatre Royal, on its opening night in 1785, of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. The project’s title, “All the world’s a climate stage” is an homage to the play’s most famous line.
We wanted something we could apply for that would allow us to shout out to everyone that we are becoming a green house
Theatre Royal plays a unique part in Ireland’s artistic heritage. “It is Ireland’s oldest theatre to have been continuously run as a theatre,” says theatre manager Mary Boland.
Built in 1785, it plays a pivotal role in Waterford life today, both for its musical theatre and its famous schools initiative Féile na Scoile.
“Around 90 per cent of adults in Waterford will have performed on this stage,” says Boland. During the pandemic it kept the arts flag flying with live streaming of performances.
Environmental responsibilities
Boland is focusing increasingly on the Theatre Royal’s environmental responsibilities, developing a road map to help the 230-year-old building reduce its carbon footprint and become a truly green arts space.
That includes a series of moves to reduce plastic and printing, as well as introducing water fonts to reduce the use of drinks containers.
“We have talked to our landlord, Waterford City Council, about our ambitions to make our systems more sustainable and reduce our energy consumption. We also looked at how we can engage with our customers, to let them know what we are trying to achieve and to ask them to step into this journey with us,” says Boland.
Winning funding from the ESB Brighter Future Arts Fund ticked every box. “We wanted something we could apply for that would allow us to shout out to everyone that we are becoming a green house,” she explains.
Turning an unloved outdoor space adjacent to the building into a beautiful new biodiversity garden, ticks every box. “Because of our location on the Mall, in the centre of the city, we get lots of traffic and footfall, passing us by,” she explains.
“And when I spoke to Waterford City Council about turning it into a biodiversity garden, they jumped at it because it aligns with its plan to become carbon neutral by 2040.”
Working with Eoin Dullea, a horticulturalist at Waterford City Council, they designed a garden that will improve biodiversity in the area through the use of pollinator-friendly planting, which will have seating for people to come and enjoy it and, at its heart, will feature the magnificent willow sculpture.
“The plan is to formally unveil the garden next autumn and use it to host workshops where people can come and learn about the garden and also create Mandalas art from petals and leaves they find on the ground,” says Boland.
The sculpture inspiring them will be crafted from willow grown by artist Elaine McDonagh herself. The multimedia artist pressure treats the willow to guarantee longevity and uses recycled wires for additional strength.
“I’m very passionate about ecology, recycling and renewables and I’ve always been into native trees, hedges and plants. Willow is one of the first plants to feed the bees each year, when the catkins come out in spring,” explains McDonagh.
It is renewable in that it regrows each year and in the old days was even used as a natural aspirin, given to children to chew if they had toothache.
McDonagh says she jumped at the chance to create a pollinator friendly sculpture for the Theatre Royal. “I thought this is right up my alley,” she says.
Though she doesn’t want to give too much away before the big reveal, her sculpture will be rooted in the ground but oriented to the sun which is, she points out, “the energy source of us all”.
Inside ESB’s Brighter Future Arts Fund
“The idea for the ESB Brighter Future Arts Fund came in 2020 when we were looking at our response to Covid-19 and what we could do to help communities,” says Bevin Cody, corporate reputation manager at ESB.
“We recognised a really big need in the arts community and wanted to help and support them.”
ESB worked with Business to Arts, one of its charity partners, to figure out the best way to work with the arts community in a way that aligns with its own strategy.
We wanted to support collaborative projects within communities
“We saw an opportunity around climate change, empowering communities to live in a more sustainable and efficient way and prompting that conversation,” she says.
“The arts sector has a unique capacity to engage people in really complex conversations in a creative way. We saw an opportunity to use that creative platform to reach out and start these conversations and inspire people to take positive actions of their own.”
The €250,000 ESB Brighter Future Arts Fund was established and artists and arts organisations were invited to submit project proposals for funding.
There were a number of criteria. “We wanted to support collaborative projects within communities and we wanted to see how the project would extend beyond an art installation or a performance into a deeper conversation within the community, with an outreach element that brings members of the community together. The projects selected are great examples of these,” she adds.
ESB’s strategy is a sustainability strategy, she points out.
“We have made a commitment to be net zero by 2040. Part of that is through clean electricity, but another part is through encouraging customers and communities to become more sustainable, more efficient, and to reach net zero themselves,” says Cody.
“The whole subject of climate change and biodiversity crisis can feel overwhelming for people. This is a way to inspire people to talk about it, to see what they can do in a fresh way, and of doing so in a way that recognises the importance of arts in society generally.”
Discover more about the ESB Brighter Future Arts Fund - esb.ie