Peter Hooper
Can you tell us something about yourself?
Technical & Facilities Manager/Lecturer at Falmouth University Academy of Music & Theatre Arts (AMATA). I trained in Stage Management & Technical Theatre at Guildhall School of Music and Drama 1993 and have worked in Stage Management/Technical Stage Management at Northcott Theatre Exeter, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, on tour with Northern Stage Newcastle, Cheek By Jowl, English Touring Opera and as a lighting technician at London Palladium (Saturday Night Fever, King and I, Live from London Palladium TV) I moved into technical management in Higher Education in early 2000s at Dartington College of Arts and relocated to Falmouth University after a merger. I was the end user representative for the design and construction phases of the £15.4M Performance Centre, now known as the AMATA building, which completed in 2010 and houses courses in Theatre, Acting, Technical Theatre, Musical Theatre, Dance & Choreography, Popular Music, Creative Music Technology, Music, Sound Design and Music Business. On completing a PGCHE in 2018, I co-wrote and teach on Falmouth University's BA(Hons) Technical Theatre Arts.
What was the turning point when you became ecologically aware and decided to take action?
Whilst always in the back of my mind, I started to become more aware once I made the move into Higher Education in the early 2000s and began to reflect and think more critically about the industry and it's impact on the environment I gained further understanding during the design and construction phase of the AMATA building which is built to BREEAM Excellent criteria.
As part of the writing team for BA(Hons) Technical Theatre Arts at Falmouth, we have included Sustainable Practice as part of the curriculum, adopting The Theatre Green Book guidance into productions/operations and Falmouth University is also now integrating Sustainability as a Learning Outcome across all courses in it's portfolio.
AMATA is also an arts centre, hosting a year round programme of Theatre, Music, Dance and Comedy as well as a venue for Conferences, Expos and a place for practitioners to develop new work.