Party Of The Week: Environmentally friendly festivities at Tate Modern

Charlotte Cripps
Friday 04 September 2009 00:00 BST
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(Getty)

The Tate went environmental as it hosted the official launch party for the 10:10 campaign on Tuesday, which aims to cut 10 per cent of carbon emissions by 2010.

All afternoon people turned up to sign the pledge at the giant Turbine Hall of Tate Modern, before the evening's entertainment began at 6pm. Antony Gormley, who arrived by push bike, chatted happily to Ken Livingstone – the pair obviously had a lot to catch up on. Along with other guests who promised to cut their carbon footprint, including the film director Mike Figgis, poet Andrew Motion and actor and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah, they stayed for the party.

An outdoor stage had been set up and the bubbly DJ Sara Cox rallied the crowd on the riverside entrance of Tate Modern for a free climate-change gig. The Sheffield indie pop band Reverend and the Makers, who were supported by the indie folk band Stornoway, played solar-powered live performances.

During the party, Franny Armstrong, director of the eco-flick The Age of Stupid, which stars Pete Postlethwaite, and the driving force behind the campaign, spoke live by phone to Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, who was in Bangladesh. She put her mobile phone right up to the microphone on the stage, so that everybody could hear him. He reinforced his commitment that Britain would slash its emissions by as close to 10 per cent as possible by the end of next year – pointing Britain in the right direction ahead of climate change talks in Copenhagen in December.

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