HOME GROWN: The Artist Garden at Orion Amphitheater has produced more than 325 pounds of fruit and vegetables. (Courtesy Venue)
Sustainability – Venue Category
Orion Amphitheater Artist Garden
The Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, Alabama, is setting the table as well as the bar with its Artist Garden, a homegrown sustainability initiative that provides fresh produce and herbs for crew catering and customer cocktails.
“What we lean into on the artist hospitality side is that we want you to feel like you are at home,” said Ryan Murphy, managing director of The Orion. “We want to give you some of those creature comforts, and a garden is one of those.”
Located in a small meadow directly behind the venue, the Artist Garden is a green oasis for visiting artists, crews and Orion staff. The garden features 13 raised cedar beds and arched trellises for fresh-cut herbs, flowers and produce including corn, beans, watermelon, tomatoes, peppers, squash and leafy greens. More than 325 pounds of fruit and vegetables have been harvested on the micro-farm since the 8,000-capacity venue opened in May of 2022.
“It was always part of overall design,” explained Murphy, who launched a similar garden program while he was general manager at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre in Florida. “It’s one of the first things the artists see when they get off of the bus, a green space with garden boxes, and it’s a nice thing to be hit with: the smells, the sights, all of it.”
The Artist Garden is a closed loop system. Produce is grown, harvested and served. Waste is collected, composted and returned to the beds to nourish the plants. Staff take turns tending and harvesting produce for use by head chef Josh Quick of Odette in Florence, Alabama.
The team, spearheaded by sustainability coordinator Drew Stewart, focuses on using plants that are native to north Alabama. The Artist Garden, sponsored by Earth Touch, serves as an educational space for local organizations including the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service’s Master Gardeners, the University of Alabama Huntsville and a junior gardener program for local children.
Growing food on-site also benefits The Orion’s guests by cutting transport and carbon emissions and reducing water usage with irrigated boxes native species. The proximity from harvest to service ensures fresh ingredients, enhanced flavor and higher nutritional values. The on-site garden allows for complete control over cultivation methods, avoiding biocides and embracing organic practices, resulting in healthier, safer food. The staff of the venue rotate tending the garden and harvesting produce. It’s also become a place to decompress.
“This is a stressful business,” Murphy said. “To have that green space and that opportunity for the team is super critical. You can see it; people come back sparkly after being in the garden for an hour.”
The venue is operated by tvg hospitality, Ben Lovett’s multinational music venues enterprise, which has a 25-year agreement with the city of Huntsville, which owns The Orion.
The company also handles concessions at the $40 million amphitheater, which adjoins a new park near Huntsville’s emerging MidCity district on the site of a former regional mall. Snack items are in bulk and served in sustainable containers and water is available in aluminum cans or free water stations including backstage where canteens are available for crew members.
“The artists and crews are in big metal boxes traveling down highways, day and night, going to these big, concrete, steel buildings usually in the middle of a parking lot, off a highway in some random city,” offered Murphy. “How often do you see green space? How often are you able to breathe deep? We are leaning more and more heavily into that piece of it.”
Designed by Lovett, part of the band Mumford & Sons, Mike Luba, Murphy and David M. Schwarz Architects, Inc., the venue hosts roughly 40 concerts, 120 community and civic events and 75 private events each year. Other green initiatives at The Orion include a reusable cup program, water reclamation as well as measuring and monitoring their carbon footprint.
