Sustainability Statement

Music Mark and the Climate Crisis 

At Music Mark we believe that everyone has a responsibility to work towards a more sustainable society, and in our own working context to a more environment and climate aware music education sector.  

As the UK’s membership organisation for music education, our role is to support, connect, and influence for and on behalf of our members and how we work in relation to the Climate Crisis can have a reach beyond that of our own organisational context.  

In the provision of education, the intersectionalities associated with Climate Justice can play out all too explicitly, and as an Investment Principles Support Organisation (IPSO) of Arts Council England, where Environmental Responsibility is a key investment principle, Music Mark has a key role to play in helping to address this.  

We acknowledge that we are at the beginning of our own journey to lessen our own organisational impact on the environment, and we realise that we cannot support and influence our members without doing as much as we can ourselves.  

In 2023 and into 2024, we have committed to overhauling our internal Sustainability Policy and procedures, and from April 2024 will comprehensively measure our carbon emissions and wider environmental impact to then be able to implement meaningful steps for reduction through an annually updated Action Plan. We realise that many organisations have formalised similar procedures for some years now, and at a time when Music Mark is growing, we feel now is the right time for us to take these more explicit steps.  

Our overall goal is to reduce wherever possible, as well as to better understand our role in helping to address the Climate Crisis for the wider sector. In 2023/24, we pledge to upskill our staff team in order for carbon literacy to become normalised in our working practice, and join information sharing and profile-raising initiatives such as the Green Arts Initiative from Creative Carbon Scotland and Music Declares Emergency to be part of the conversation in the wider sector.  

In 2024 our campaign This Is Not A Rehearsal will focus on Sustainability and the Climate Crisis, and we hope to engage our members to aid them in their own journeys. We will create a Steering Group from across the sector to help shape the campaign in a way that is both useful and meaningful.  

By placing this statement publicly on our website, we want to demonstrate our record, and be held accountable for what we have pledged to do. 

In due course, you will be able to view our Sustainability Policy and Action Plan on this page.  

Green Links 

• Claim Expenses – A useful resource for recording expenses and obtaining data to help in carbon recording, management, and reduction.  
• Julie’s Bicycle – Mobilising arts and culture organisations to take action on the climate crisis. Contains many resources and tools of carbon management.  
• Creative Carbon Scotland – Provides support to work towards Net Zero for arts and cultural organisations in Scotland, including through the Green Arts Initiative.  
• Climate Cymru – A cross sector movement in Wales pushing for urgent and fair climate action. 
• Climate Northern Ireland – The primary point of contact for resource and action on climate change in Northern Ireland