Overture Center hosted its first clothing swap April 18 in celebration of Earth Month, highlighting the importance of sustainable fashion and allowing locals to build community and fight clothing waste.
My friends and I arrived at 9:30 armed with old clothes and ready to dig for treasures.
The first thing I noticed was how organized the event was. I’ve attended clothing swaps in the past where there were piles upon piles of clothes haphazardly thrown on top of tables, but this event could not have been further from that.
As you arrived and dropped off your donations, the workers immediately started sorting the clothing by type and bringing it out onto the floor. They handed you an Overture-branded tote bag and sent you on the hunt.
According to Rachael Reis, a member of Overture’s sustainability committee, the venue has done a couple of staff-only clothing swaps in the past, so they had some experience with events like this one and were excited to involve the community.
Also stationed at the entrance was DaneNet, a local organization that connects nonprofits with “accessible and affordable” technology and collects old electronics.
Shawn Steen, the current executive director of DaneNet, had an idea: if people were not using old computers, DaneNet could refurbish and distribute them to people who needed access to these important providers who they could not see in-person during the COVID-19 pandemic. Years later, they are still collecting old electronics to change and save clients' lives.
This clothing swap is just one example of Overture Center’s year-round commitment to sustainability. Michael Conway, the Overture Center’s Co-CEO, COO and member of the sustainability committee, shared how they keep their systems and services sustainable.
“The sustainability committee is actually involved in a lot of different aspects of how Overture runs, because there are so many opportunities here,” Conway said.
The sustainability committee examines things like building mechanics, the HVAC system, water softeners and lights to figure out what could be more sustainable in the future. Since the committee's formation in 2023, Overture Center has won numerous climate and sustainability awards due to its commitment to the cause.
Overture Center also has plans for sustainability projects in the future to keep its status as a “climate champion.” “We're looking into CO2 sensors that will say how many people are in the room,” Conway said. “[We’re] trying to automate a system so it can work as efficiently as possible.”
The committee also aims to establish a composting plan in the future.
“It lessens our charges from the city. If we take advantage of that [I think it will get to the point where] it will pay for the service to do the compost,” Conway said. “Finding wins like that is great too.”
The event’s atmosphere was lively and exciting, with numerous attendees sharing their excitement for the event itself, how it championed sustainability and how it encouraged community.
Iman Omer, new to the Madison area, shared her thoughts about the event being free and inclusive.
“I think it’s really nice that [the clothing swap] encourages people to interact with the city more because there’s such a barrier to entry in terms of price or ticket to entry, and it makes people less likely to come,” Omer said.
According to Conway, 37% of Overture’s programming this year has been free or low-cost.
“Of course, [Overture is] known for theatrical performances or comedians or whatever reason people might go there for,” Emily Vaillancourt, another member of the Overture’s sustainability committee, said. “But I think there's a lot more to Overture than that.”
And the community showed up for this event. When I arrived only 30 minutes into the event, the numerous attendees were already buzzing with excitement.
“I think this is just another way to bring community into the space, bring people in who maybe wouldn't come see a show or something like that, but can come to the space to experience this opportunity,” Vaillancourt said.
All the attendees I spoke with expressed excitement about the possibility of this becoming an annual celebration of Earth Month, a sentiment echoed by the members of the sustainability committee.
“Maybe in the future we can [hold the event] with some educational opportunities and bring in some of our partners or people in the city that work on the same ability as well,” Reis said. “I think as it relates to this specific event, there's a lot of room for growth.”
