Community • Joy • Sustainability
About
Community•Joy•Sustainability
Founded by Izabella Louk, Blinking Light is a theatre company on Gadigal land, dedicated to creating bold works of theatre that build community, spread joy, and further the fight against climate change.
Sustainability
Sustainability is at the forefront of everything we do.
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The contradiction between theatre and a desire to be more environmentally sustainable is a hard one to navigate. Between costumes and set pieces that are discarded after a show, lights that use more electricity in a night than you might in a month, and pages upon pages of printed scripts and paperwork, most traditional theatre practices are not green. Blinking Light strives to demonstrate that it is possible to radically limit emissions and still produce a work of great artistic merit, and in doing so lead by example for sustainable Australian theatre.
We apply the following rigorous sustainable theatre guidelines (adapted from The Theatre Green Book) in creating all our work. Designing sustainability into our work from the get-go, we aim to make sure:
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90% of materials used in our work have had a previous life (are borrowed, purchased second-hand, found in council clean-ups, etc.)
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The remaining 10% are sourced sustainably and locally, and do not contain damaging chemicals or materials.
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90% of materials are directly rehomed post-show to avoid overwhelming charity shops and divert potential landfill.
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Remaining materials are recycled, composted or disposed of in the most sustainable way available.
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We track and consciously reduce our production-associated mileage.
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All team members are provided with sustainability training at the beginning of a production.
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Zero use of AI.
Blinking Light recognises that if we want theatre to last into the future, we must incorporate environmental sustainability into our artistic practice right now.
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Left: Sourcing the set of The 39 Steps second-hand.​
Community
At it’s core, we believe theatre is a community act; a place for people to come together, and impossible without the support of a community.
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We also believe that community is the key to the climate fight, and are committed to growing the climate fight through community-building.
We would not be here today without the support of the community, who embraced us and our mission from the get-go; rallying around us, championing our work, and cheering us on every step of the way.
A huge thank you to these generous donors who have helped us to bring sustainable and joyful theatre to Sydney stages:
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Anonymous, Fleur Bayley, Riley Bradford, Amy Brooks, Zoe Brown, Andrew Cameron, Jessica Carmona, Ste Casimiro, Bethany Castle, Giselle Elfman, Emily Eve, Carla Hedley, Peter Howie, Hamish James, Mikayla Jones, Margaret Kirby, Léonore Lacaze, Daniel Learmont, Lorna Lutzke, Rachel Nagy, Zoe Poulos, Leah Rayman, Noah Rayner, Thomas Stevens, Ivana Tinkle, Kaitlin Walsh, Tommy Waterworth, Tim Watts, Kane Wheatley, Suzanne Wilding-Hart, Rachel Woolley, Angela Yarad, Catherine Yelland, Michael Yelland, Philippa Yelland.​​
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Right: Thanks to our community partnership with Sydney Heritage Fleet, we were able to conduct research for our production of Much Ado About Nothing aboard the James Craig Tall Ship.
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Photo by Troy Kent.
Joy
"This show made me believe in love again" is the greatest review we've ever received.
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We are so honoured that people entrust us with an hour or two of their time, and we do not take the responsibility to entertain lightly.
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We create theatre that moves you, and finds the joy in the climate fight. Committed to joy and sustainability on-stage and off, we hope you leave the theatre feeling even just a tiny bit different about the world than to when you entered.
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Left: Cast of These Youths Be Protesting
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Photo by Karla Elbourne.
Blinking Light acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we gather. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging.
The climate fight must include First Nations voices. Sovereignty was never ceded.
It always was, and always will be,
Aboriginal Land.
