Portland Press Herald: Our Sustainable City – Sustainability in the arts

BY STEVE GENOVESE
JUNE 6, 2023

This article appears in the Portland Press Herald.

Art is historically and culturally significant to our ever-changing society. Organizations like the Portland Museum of Art and South Portland’s Public Arts Committee stand to preserve and share art for future generations to understand and learn from.

While not a new concept in the arts, sustainability in systems from energy efficiency and climate control to the use of renewable mediums for the creation of art today and long into the future is imperative to the continued preservation of the arts for all.

Sustainability in the arts

In 2016, the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) reorganized its strategic plan to include sustainability planning as a result of the elevated energy costs associated with maintaining and managing their collections. Today, PMA has hired a director of campus sustainability and created an employee resource group focusing on initiatives within sustainability. They have also implemented sustainability actions in many areas, including the goal of making all buildings carbon-neutral, investing in off-site solar, composting for PMA events and with the on-site cafe, and significant efficiency and beneficial electrification upgrades to its HVAC system.

Portland Museum of Art is also in the process of joining a global coalition of museums and collections developing environmental and sustainability standards, which will help move forward its site-specific sustainability goals. Learn more about the Portland Museum of Art at www.portlandmuseum.org.

In 2022, South Portland City Council adopted a standing Public Arts Committee (PAC) consisting of seven South Portland residents selected upon the basis of their interest in art and familiarity with the city. The goal of the PAC is to promote and develop artistic and cultural activities and initiatives that advance the quality of life and vibrancy of the city by encouraging and fostering the artistic, cultural, and creative strengths of the South Portland community.

Some PAC projects have included city murals, city-wide bus stop projects, and coordinating with regional arts organizations like Portland Public Arts and Creative Portland.

Want more information about the South Portland Public Arts Committee? Visit www.southportland.org/our-city/board-and-committees/public-arts-committee/.

Inspiring social change through art

The PMA knows that art also has a way of activating communities around social change and is hosting exhibitions like Clifford Ross: Sightlines, showcasing the destructive forces of our natural world, or The North Atlantic Triennial, shifting our view of the North Atlantic region and examining the growing interconnectivity of major port cities, cultures, histories, and more.

It’s collections like this that ask us to think about resiliency in the face of a changing culture and climate.

Coffee & Climate: Sustainability in the Arts (in-person)

Join us Friday, June 16 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Portland Museum of Art for June’s Coffee & Climate event, Sustainability in the Arts. Mike Brown and Graeme Kennedy from the Portland Museum of Art will shed light on how galleries like the PMA work toward sustainable practices and how artists are able to portray climate change in their work.

Don’t miss the Tidal Shift Award Finalists – a prize for young artists who want to solve our climate crisis – on display on the ground level.

Entrance to the museum and event is free. Please reserve your ticket through the Coffee & Climate Eventbrite link. Grab a cup of coffee and join us.

Our Sustainable City is a recurring column in the Sentry intended to provide residents with news and information about sustainability initiatives in South Portland. Follow the Sustainability Office on Instagram @soposustainability.

Steve Genovese is an AmeriCorps/Greater Portland Council of Governments Resilience Corps fellow serving in the South Portland Sustainability Office through September 2023. He can be reached at sgenovese@southportland.org.