Recently,  British Council USA staff in Washington, DC, were invited to observe the National Summit on the Arts and Environment, hosted by Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, Americans for the Arts and the Aspen Institute in partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton. 

The British Council was the only international body represented at this policy-making gathering, which explored ways arts professionals and creative communities grow and prosper in concert with technology, the economy and the environment.

Co-chaired by the Honorable Norman Mineta (former US secretary of Transportation), the summit convened more than 20 national thought leaders in business, community development, the arts and the environment to help address and resolve environmental issues. Companies from diverse backgrounds included the Alliance to Save Energy, General Motors, National Building Museum, Mayors' Institute on City Design, Discovery Communications and more.

Some of the key recommendations from the day included encouraging the development of institutional vision and goals that integrate environmental practices within arts organizations, creating linkages with other community environmental resources and advocating for the creation of new pools of money for arts and environment projects from public and philanthropic sectors.  Smaller-scale ideas included encouraging event attendees to carpool to events, encouraging mass transportation options, and offering guidelines to artists to ensure they make touring as "green" as possible.

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More details about discussion topics, participants and action points can be found online at the Wolf Trap website.