Introducing Guest Editor & Green Intern Carrie Sze
Here at the Melbourne Fringe office we’ve been taking the first steps towards making the festival a greener affair. From using reusable cups for our morning coffees to installing recycling bins, hosting green themed Salon Sessions with artists to directly implementing sustainability policies in our keynote project Visible City - this year we’ve tried to debunk Kermit's myth that “it’s not easy being green”.
Whether you’re an artist or an audience member, there’s plenty of ways you can make more sustainable choices. Car share, catch a tram or ride a bike to get around the festival, win a recyclable Hook Turn cup and use it to get your festival beans, or use our paper-free iPhone app MelbFringe10 to buy tickets and keep in the Fringe know.
Keep your eye out for the It's Easy Being Green competition, being held during the Festival. Share your tips and ideas on living sustainably and you could be rewarded with a shiny new electric bike valued at $3000 thanks to our mates at Glow Worm Bikes.
In the meantime enjoy this edition of The Fix and be inspired to get green with Fringe this year.
Making our City Visibly Green
Visible City is a dream project, bringing together 11 amazing artists from all over the Asia Pacific region. Working from The Commons, an ecologically designed space in QV, this group of artists will work every day of the festival to create, develop and show new artworks for the streets of Melbourne.
A key aspect of this project from the very beginning is the sustainability of practice by not only the artists but also by the Melbourne Fringe staff who are putting it together. Together with our Green Intern Carrie Sze, the Visible City team have been committed to making sustainable choices without compromising the quality of arts practice.
Where possible recycling, donating, carbon off-setting or just going without are all being considered, items are being borrowed instead of bought, offcuts rather than new materials are being used.
Find out where the Visible City events are happening on every day and night of the festival as the works are made live by the artists. Head to www.melbournefringe.com.au/visiblecity.
Martyn Coutts
Visible City Director
Flex your Green Muscle with Free Flexicar!
We'd have trouble delivering this festival without our friends at Flexicar - they help us zoom all over town with ease thanks to their fantastic carsharing service. Carsharing is a cheap, easy and green alternative to car ownership and a great option when public transport or cycling won't cut it.
For a limited time only, Flexicar are waiving the joining fee for all Fix readers. Use the code FringeZero10 when signing up, and you won't have to pay the $30 joining fee. Then just pay one low hourly or daily rate and Flexicar covers registration, insurance, cleaning, maintenance, and even petrol. Even better, if you join Flexicar using this code, you'll go in the running to win $100 worth of driving credits AND a Melbourne Fringe VIP Pass valued at over $700.
This is one of the best ways to make your life easier, keep the planet greener, and enjoy Melbourne Fringe VIP styles. Go forth and carshare!
Tram it to the Hub and win a Hookturn cup!
It's the little things that help keep us green. If you catch a tram to the Fringe Hub to see a show, and present your valid tram ticket to the ticketing staff in the North Melbourne Town Hall, you'll win a free Hookturn cup (while our supplies last). These cups offer a cool and guilt-free way to enjoy your coffee without adding to the waste of throwaway take-away cups. They’re light, flexible, durable, dishwasher friendly, climate-friendly and very handsome. As soon as you've got your hands on one you can pop straight over to our Hub dining partners
Auction Rooms, Errol's Cafe and Rrose Bar to get them caffeinated.
Located in North Melbourne, the heartland of the festival, the Fringe Hub features the cream of Melbourne’s independent arts scene. Click through to search for shows and buy tickets here!
Green Trams
Speaking of trams, we recently watched our Fringe tram on the number 57 line being wrapped at the East Preston depot and it looks incredible. It was pretty difficult (there are few things more exciting that HAVING YOUR OWN TRAM!) but we managed to tear our eyes away from the wrapping process for a few moments to take in the features of this award winning greendepot.
We already knew that catching the tram was a more sustainable decision than owning and driving a car (hence the free Hookturn cups). After all, cars produce around 30% more carbon dioxide per passenger kilometre than a tram. But now we’re also impressed with Yarra Trams’ commitment to sustainability.
They’ve installed 18 water tanks across four depots, reduced the water being used in toilets, installed flow restrictors on all taps, converted to waterless urinals, installed solar hot water systems, made gardens that filter water, and they collect and recycle the sand used to assist braking and turn it into high grade compost. Yarra Trams are not just talking the talk!
Around 180 million passenger trips are taken on trams each year – imagine if they all used cars. We were already pretty fond of the trams before our visit. Now we’re positively wrapped.
20% Discount on Your Humble Vintage
Sseeking some classy, low-footprint wheels? Humble Vintage rent bikes you'd like to call your own with a unique selection of classic and vintage bikes. Rental includes your very own retro cool 'Melbourne for Casual Visitors and Cyclists Map' which highlights interesting cycling routes and looks as pretty on your wall as it does in your pannier. Humble Vintage is offering all Fix readers a 20% discount on bookings until the end of the festival. Just mention this item when booking and the lovely Matt will sort you out.
Humble Vintage is also providing the winners of our Ultimate Fringe Weekend competition with free wheels. This incredible comp CLOSES TOMORROW so make sure you've told everyone you know in Brisbane and Adelaide! They'll win flights with STA, beautiful accomodation at The Blackman Hotel
, a VIP pass to the festival, meals, a street art tour, the aforementioned bike rental and so much more that their head will explode (not really). Seriously. Consider this your public service for the week - tell your QLD and SA mates about this opportunity!
Take the Future Shots Challenge
If you're passionate about sustainability, partial to cash prizes, and a Victorian filmmaker aged 5 to 25, then you should take the Future Shots Sustainability Film Challenge. Create a short film of under three minutes creatively exploring the theme of sustainability in your world. Entries are invited from individuals, teams, schools and tertiary institutions throughout Victoria. Applications close Nov 15 www.futureshots.com.au.
In Related Fringe News: The Info Centre, JUMP and Free Tickets!
We're bumping in our Info and Ticketing Centre at Artemis Lane in QV (just off Russell St) right this very minute and it is looking BEAUTIFUL. Pop in from midday tommorow to buy tickets, get more info, or just to swoon at the beautiful model of Melbourne's CBD, built with Fringe forms and featured in this year's program guide and on our website.
This Friday is the final Salon Session for 2010. We'll be going through all things JUMP, the national mentoring program for young and emerging artists, that aims to help you advance your artistic practice with funding support and a mentor. Melbourne Fringe is very proud to be the Victorian delivery partner for this awesome program, so don't miss this session! 4-6pm, Level 10, 225 Bourke St. Email bronwyn@melbournefringe.com.au to reserve your place.
From next week we’ll be giving away HUNDREDS of Fringe Festival double passes (last year it was over 500), exclusively to Fringe Dwellers. A 12-month membership only costs $15, and the average price of a Fringe Festival double pass is $34. You do the math! If you join between now and the end of the festival you'll also get 15% off your monthly ArtsHub membership and 10% off Madman online purchases. So don your safari suit and get ready to sign up for the Fringe Dweller adventure! Sign up here. You’d be foolish not to.
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