Cornwall Heritage Awards - Core Values Part One

The core values of sustainability and inclusivity have been embedded into the 2022 Cornwall Heritage Awards; and not just in the award categories themselves. These values have been at the centre of every step of the planning process, and this blog post will explore and explain the decisions we have made.

 

Food

At Cornwall Museums Partnership (CMP) we have an environmental policy that states all CMP events will be “vegan first” and so we have adopted this policy for the Heritage Awards. Working with caterers, the event will be entirely vegan and the food and drink will be locally sourced where possible. Cornwall is known for its incredible produce and we want to highlight this, whilst cutting the carbon footprint associated with a non-vegan diet, as well as the ethical implications of consuming animal products. An all-vegan menu was the obvious choice, and we are really excited to showcase plant-based eating! Having a vegan menu also means that anyone with dietary requirements or allergies can feel included.

 

Trophies

We are also ensuring our trophies and certificates are as sustainable as possible. We know many museums love to put their trophies in pride of place, and we wanted to create something heritage organisations will treasure. We will be working with Cut by Beam, a small woman-led engraving company based in Falmouth that has sustainability and creativity at its core. All trophies and certificates will be made using FSC wood, which means the material has been certified from well-managed forests and/or recycled sources. This encompasses a range of factors from maintaining, conserving and restoring forest ecosystems, to enhancing the social and economic wellbeing of the workers. You can read more about FSC materials here: FSC Principles.

 

Event

For the event, we have decided against flowers as centrepieces as they often have huge carbon footprints and are wasted after the event. We won’t be using balloons and will decorate the venue with reused and reusable materials, using recyclable materials where reusable isn’t possible. Due to the location of the venue and the brilliant range of heritage organisations in Cornwall, we know a lot of people will be driving to the awards from all over Cornwall and to help mitigate the environmental impact of this, we strongly encourage lift sharing and will be working to facilitate this.

Our recent investigation into the needs of museums has resulted in a conservation glove/single-use facemask recycling point which we will be bringing to the awards for any drop-offs. We will also encourage attendees to wear existing glad-rags over buying new ones and will be on the lookout for the best old/borrowed/second-hand outfits!

 

Embedding sustainability into the awards was a conscious, deliberate choice as we feel we all have a role to play in combatting the climate crisis, even during a night of celebration. We are all on a learning curve and Eilish, the Heritage Awards Coordinator, is happy to answer any questions about sustainability at the awards. You can contact Eilish at this email address: eilish@cornwallmuseumspartnership.org.uk

Nominations close at 5pm on Thursday the 25th of November, and all details about nominations can be found here: Cornwall Heritage Awards 2022 – Cornwall Museums Partnership

 

– Eilish Calnan, Heritage Awards Coordinator