The Festival Footprint Initiative: A Step in Right Direction

ANN ARBOR, Mich., June 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ann Arbor Summer Festival (A2SF) is pleased to announce its Festival Footprint Initiative in partnership with Toyota. The initiative will pair the festival with environmental partners to stimulate social impact.

Kicking off when the festival opens on June 8, 2018, this sustainability initiative aims to change community mindsets and actions through arts and education. As a lively, outdoor gathering with more than 80 percent of all programming framed within a natural environment, A2SF in partnership with Toyota has introduced its Festival Footprint Initiative, with a goal of moving towards a zero-waste event for its 80,000 attendees over the next three to five years.

An emphasis on reducing the festival's carbon footprint is already underway by promoting public awareness, understanding the impact, and making changes to lessen the impact to the surrounding environment, A2SF engages patrons with signage throughout the festival grounds educating about waste disposal options and responsibly removing waste. A2SF has introduced corn-based compostable cups and a compostable stream. Additionally, A2SF partners with food vendors that use compostable and recycled products and promotes the use of ridesharing and zero-waste transportation to enhance a culture of environmental awareness.

"Toyota continues to be a key partner of the festival, encouraging and supporting unique programming that stimulates social impact. We're grateful for this opportunity to host community conversations around an issue that has such far-reaching impact," said Festival Executive Director Mike Michelon. "This funding allows us to partner with well-respected organizations, the Huron River Watershed Council and the Ecology Center, to find new ways of approaching the issues facing our community while laying the groundwork for our own zero-waste implementation. We are lucky to have such an innovative funder who sees the benefit of ensuring this community event is here for generations to enjoy."

Over the course of the 10-year partnership with the festival, Toyota has been instrumental in providing support for innovative programming, most notably, the festival's Global Series. Established in 2015, the series presents cross-cultural and multiethnic artists such as La Santa Cecilia and Fanfare Ciocarlia. This year's focus aligns with one of Toyota's core values: respect for the planet.

To demonstrate this long-term commitment, Toyota introduced its Environmental Challenge 2050, which introduced a set of six global challenges that will move the company beyond zero environmental impact to achieving a net positive impact on society.

"At Toyota, we are working hard to address environmental issues facing the global community," said Kevin Butt, regional environmental director, Toyota Motor North America (TMNA). "While it's important to engage in conversations throughout the festival this year and share ideas that help reduce our carbon footprint, it's critical that we commit to actions that will have an immediate impact on communities throughout Michigan."

Highlights from this year's Festival Footprint environmental programming includes the following:

• Tuesday, June 12, 5:30 p.m. – Detroit Artist Juan Martinez will bring his Pedal Powered Kinetic Sculptures "Made in Detroit" to Top of the Park. Martinez recycles bicycle parts to create rideable animals, such as life-sized bison and rhinoceros, that surprise and delight. Martinez will also hold a mask-making workshop in the Annex that invites children and adults to repurpose materials to create new art.
  
  
• Tuesday, June 19, 5:30 p.m. – Ecology Center will host a fun, interactive game show workshop "Guess What's In It?" or "We Ruin Everything" to the Annex. Armed with an XRF Analyzer and consumers' best interests in mind, a zany host guides three contestants through the veritable minefield of possible toxic products, such as children's toys and infant car seats, while they learn about everyday items we take for granted.
  
  
• Tuesday, June 26, 5:30pm – A Long Table discussion on waste reduction will foster meaningful discussions between civic-minded Ann Arborites Join Adam C. Simon, University of Michigan Associate Professor from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Toyota Motor North America Director, Kevin Webber, Ann Arbor Summer Festival Executive Director Mike Michelon, Huron River Watershed Council Executive Director Laura Rubin, Ecology Center Executive Director Michael Garfield, Director, Michigan Sustainability Cases, open access on Gala, Rebecca Hardin, and sculptor Juan Martinez for a convening on recycling, microplastics, zero waste events, and the arts.

The Ann Arbor Summer Festival is one of the largest public arts gatherings in the state of Michigan, attracting an estimated 80,000 people to the campus of University of Michigan and downtown Ann Arbor over three and a half weeks. The estimated economic impact of the festival is $3.5 million annually. Transforming a gathering of this scale into a zero-waste event is a major demonstration of commitment to improving the environment by the festival, Toyota, and these environmental partners.

About The Ann Arbor Summer Festival

Top of the Park: 915 E Washington St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

The outdoor program, Top of the Park, is held along a beautiful campus green and offers admission-free concerts, Movies by Moonlight, open-air street spectacle, local culinary eateries, and unique family attractions.

The Ann Arbor Summer Festival's admission-free series located at Top of the Park runs nightly from June 8–July 1, 2018 (dark on Mondays).

For more information on all festival events, please visit the festival website: a2sf.org

Toyota Motor North America Research & Development (TMNA R&D) aims to redefine next-generation cars as not simply a form of transportation, but as a fully connected vehicle. In fact, since 2003, Toyota has been awarded more patents than any other automaker, including autonomous vehicle patents (more than 1,400). Centered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Toyota puts the brightest thinkers from all across America together to focus on letting people live more safely and comfortably. Globally, Toyota spends approximately $1 million per hour on R&D to ensure that Toyota rapidly and continuously develops cutting-edge, high-quality, and appealing vehicles.

Toyota partners with community, civic, academic, and governmental organizations to address our society's most pressing mobility challenges. We share company resources and extensive know-how to support nonprofits to help expand their ability to assist more people move more places. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.

About Huron Watershed Council

Founded in 1965, the Huron River Watershed Council (HRWC) is southeast Michigan's oldest environmental organization dedicated to river protection. The Huron River Watershed Council protects and restores the river for healthy and vibrant communities. HRWC is a nonprofit coalition of residents, businesses, and local governments. HRWC bridges political boundaries by building partnerships between and among communities, community leaders, residents, and commercial enterprises. HRWC monitors the Huron River, its tributaries, lakes, and groundwater, and leads programs on pollution prevention and abatement, wetland and floodplain protection, citizen education, and natural resource and land-use planning. https://www.hrwc.org/

About The Ecology Center

The Ecology Center believes that the central question of our time is how human beings are going to thrive in the world without destroying the earth's ability to sustain us. In the face of enormous environmental challenges, virtually all sectors of our society are now scrambling to create solutions, and the Ecology Center plays a critical role in advancing the best models. The Ecology Center educates consumers to help keep their families healthy and safe. They push corporations to use clean energy, make safe products, and provide healthy food. They provide people with innovative services that promote healthy people and a healthy plane, and work with policymakers to establish laws that protect communities and the environment. https://www.ecocenter.org/

About Juan Martinez

Detroit-based artist Juan Martinez creates sculptures that live and work among us, drawing from his experience as a science illustrator and a fabricator working with metal, wood, and other materials. His work has been exhibited at Art Basel Miami, MOCAD, the Kresge Artist Fellowship, and in public and community spaces in Detroit, Los Angeles, and beyond. Juan's artistic practice is informed by his commitment to community, with an emphasis on empowering and equipping Detroit youth for extraordinary futures. He is a co-founder of the Beehive Design Collective and the Austin Bike Zoo. http://www.kresgeartsindetroit.org/portfolio-posts/juan-martinez  

SOURCE Toyota