Herefordshire College of Arts

Who: Hereford College of Arts

Hereford's specialist college for the arts offers bespoke courses (short, college level and degree courses) led by expert staff to support students’ ambitions to work in the creative industries, or to take their creative skills into other sectors. They cover a myriad of pathways into everything from art & design to fine art, photography to music, performance to fashion, and so much more. They are based in the north of Hereford, their facilities spreading over two campuses.

Why they signed up

We saw it as an opportunity to nail our colours and our intentions to the mast, says their principal Abigail Appleton who told us they are very aware of how big the challenge is for them as an institution.  "But we saw it as a way of drawing inspiration and being bold about what our ambitions are," she says. "We are also aware that others in this network have done some phenomenal work and may be way ahead of us in terms of sustainability on their estates. But what we loved about this initiative is the opportunity it offers to learn from others as we join this common cause. We've already picked up ideas from hearing about how others have implemented their strategy. There is real value in sharing ideas when we have different challenges."

The difference they want to make

There are so many things HCA want to do, but Abigail says the most important involves embedding sustainability in teaching and learning across our courses. "We have a moral responsibility to do that while looking carefully at what we can do on our own estate - we have ambitions to grow, and we need to use space efficiently, not simply expand," she says. "But we believe the greatest impact will be via how we support our students to think about what a sustainable career means in its broadest sense. We want to engage and discuss with students the complexity of this issue and, even when it's not black and white, how they embrace ideas and move into industry in a smart, sustainable way. It's not about us, as teachers, being the experts - it's more of a sophisticated and informed two-way conversation." 

At HCA there is dedicated training around sustainability (all the students are doing carbon literacy training, for example), but it impacts on every course in different ways from fashion and textiles through to design or photography. "One of the things we did this year, for example, was join Fashion Revolution week - a national campaign to raise awareness of consequences of fast fashion," says Abigail. "Pioneers in this area were invited in and we learned so much about fashion's environmental impact and the challenges and promise of upcycling, recycling and more."

In their own words

"What is great about this initiative is the focus on learning from each other. There is no sense of being judged. That feels important and creates a sense of community and an opportunity to share the challenges as well as the achievements we're seeing in our own space. It feels like a really positive opportunity to grow our green agenda and move forward. We are really excited to be onboard."