What Are the Creative Climate Awards?

Human Impacts Institute's Creative Climate Awards use the creative process as a tool to inspire audiences to explore the consequences of their actions, think critically about pressing issues, and to make the environment personal. These events hope to inspire positive action around the challenges posed by climate change.

The Creative Climate Awards include an opening ceremony on Tuesday September 27th from 6:30-8:30pm followed by a month long exhibition on 42nd Street, Manhattan. Included in the Creative Climate Awards are paintings, drawings, instilations, music, dances, and 3 film screnings. The Creative Climate Awards closing ceremony will occur on Thursday October 27th and will have a Halloween theme.

Wake up and Smell the Coffee- Picture Michael Blase

Vangeline Theater was select to compete for this award and will present a site specific adaptation of our Eco-Friendly Butoh piece WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE. Vangeline Theater seeks to increase environmental awareness in New York and nationally, resulting in a positive impact on our ecosystem.

Teaser Performance: at the opening of the exhibition at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office on Thursday, September 27th, between 6:30 and 8:30pm.

Free and open to the public

Taipei Economic and Cultural Office on Thursday, September 27th, between 6:30 and 8:30pm.

Address: 1 East 42nd Street NY NY

Vangeline Theater is pioneering a Green initiative called "WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE"- Butoh for Waste Prevention- Reducing Coffee Trash in New York.

In this Vangeline Theater Butoh ensemble piece, Vangeline Theater will dance in a set made of 1000 used disposable coffee cups to illustrate how much non recyclable waste our society generates. Audiences are invited to buy reusable cups and commit to being part of a positive change for our community.

Currently, Americans are responsible for a staggering 58% of the paper cup consumption in the world. NYC counts 212 Starbucks, 454 Dunkin Donuts, and 974 other coffee shops for a total of 1,700 coffee shops within the five boroughs. This results in a daily mountain of non-recyclable coffee cup trash, which, for the most part, ends-up in a landfill. There are 4100 coffee shops in the Tri-State area, which represents an estimated 14 million cups New York will generate over the next 10 years. The paper cups used at coffee shops across NYC are laminated with a plastic resin, polyethylene, which helps keep beverages warm and prevents leaking but also prevents the cup from being recycled. Once in a landfill, the paper begins to decompose, releasing methane, a greenhouse gas with 23 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide. This issue is directly linked to the threat of global warming.

Let's clean up our act!

photos courtesy of Michael Blase.