Performing Arts Go Green With Social Media

Wolf Trap taps social media to reach new audiences, while going green and saving greenbacks.

At a February 2009 event, Booz Allen Hamilton and the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts were honored for their “Go Green with Wolf Trap” initiative with a PR Newswire Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award in the Environmental Stewardship category.

Held at Washington, D.C.’s National Press Club, the event honored creators of the year’s most outstanding communications programs in the corporate social responsibility arena. Winning entries covered 30 categories, including annual reports, cause branding, and community affairs.

Booz Allen supported the Go Green initiative—an innovative effort to incorporate eco-friendly practices and policies into the performing arts. The initiative also won two MARCOM Gold Awards in 2008.

Located in Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C., Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts features a hilly, natural setting combined with a performing arts venue. In March 2007, Booz Allen launched its pro bono partnership with the Wolf Trap Foundation to help it achieve its greening goals: Becoming carbon neutral, generating zero waste, and inspiring enduring environmental practices within the performing arts community.

To explore the interplay between arts and the environment and meet its eco-friendly objectives, Wolf Trap needed technical expertise and operational guidance. The Booz Allen team developed a cohesive strategy for the nonprofit’s greening activities in collaboration with Wolf Trap’s senior leadership, volunteer greening team, and the National Park Service.

“We helped them channel the enthusiasm for greening into realistic goals that can produce measurable results,” says Booz Allen senior associate David Erne.

“Recognition from PR Newswire is gratifying and most welcome, especially because it can inspire others to take action,” says Wolf Trap Foundation president and CEO Terrence Jones. “This particular award has a broader significance for the arts industry: The arts are society’s storytellers, and recognition in a business environment helps us reach out beyond our stages and exhibit halls to share perhaps the most important story of our age—the story of how individuals can act to create a greener, safer world for our children and grandchildren.”

Booz Allen vice president Maria Darby adds, “Affecting change in any organization—let alone an entire industry like performing arts—requires passion, commitment by leadership, and a unified voice. I am pleased that we were able to partner with Wolf Trap to help them communicate their greening message to the greater performing arts world.”

Leveraging Social Media Strategies to Promote Green Goals

In 2008, Wolf Trap, Americans for the Arts, and The Aspen Institute convened the first National Summit on the Arts and Environment. Attendees included 30 national leaders in the arts, business, environment, and civic life who raised awareness about sustainability issues in the arts community and identified strategies to link the arts with eco-friendly practices.

The summit was held at Booz Allen’s McLean, Virginia campus. “Thanks to Booz Allen’s hospitality and participation, the group developed a position paper that is forming the basis for continued discussion about greening throughout the national arts community,” says Jones.

To build support for the summit, the firm developed a social media strategy and reached out to more than 50 bloggers in the arts, environment, and music. The event received favorable coverage throughout the blogosphere.

“Social media allowed Wolf Trap to engage new audiences and leverage new media in a green and cost-effective way,” says associate Katrina Tavanlar, who led the event’s strategic communications effort.

Today, Booz Allen is continuing to support Wolf Trap by updating and expanding its greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, which evaluates the GHG emissions that occur when audiences come to performances. The team is also conducting cost/benefit analyses for multiple energy efficiency opportunities and providing application support for the education center, which will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified. The LEED Green Building Rating System™ is a national certification for green building design.

Jones notes that the Booz Allen team, led by David Erne, provided the three ingredients that Wolf Trap needed to make its green initiative a success: Inspiration, information, and practical, hands-on assistance.

“Their personal passion for environmental sustainability was contagious—it was obvious that this was more than a job for the Booz Allen team, and our own team responded in kind,” says Jones. “They worked with us to channel our excitement about the initiative into a coherent, workable plan with clear, measurable goals; helped us develop a knowledge base on the broad issues of sustainability; and provided practical advice and help on everything from waste management to stakeholder communications.”

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story posted May 26, 2009