Barnard Theatre Professor Sandra Goldmark combines art and sustainability

Goldmark, Former Professor of Professional Practice in Theatre at Barnard College and Associate Dean of Engagement and Impact at Columbia Climate School, dedicates her time to empowering artists to innovate and inspire change.

Photo provided by Sandra Goldmark

By Missy Owolabi 

February 15, 2026

Before becoming a force in the intersection of theater and climate engagement, Sandra Goldmark’s career began backstage, painting scenery and assisting set design in high school and college, where she discovered her joy in creating theater. In 1997, she received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in history and literature, and in 2004, she earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama in design, which formally trained her in her craft. She most recently served as a Professor of Professional Practice in Theatre at Barnard College and the Associate Dean for Engagement and Impact at the Columbia Climate School. Now, she transitioned to work full-time at the Columbia Climate School, where she focuses on climate engagement, program development, and strategies that combine the arts, education, and policy.

As Goldmark progressed through her career, she began to take notice of the environmental costs of the field she loved. She saw that scenery and costumes were discarded after a single production, and the system seemed to encourage waste rather than sustainability. “I started to feel really frustrated with the amount of waste, garbage that we were making with scenery,” Goldmark said. “The amount of costumes you throw out without thinking where they come from or who made it.”  

Goldmark began to rethink the structure of theater itself. She started questioning the fast-paced, convenience structure of the theater and sought out alternatives. She became drawn to sustainability and the circular economy, a system in which the output of one process becomes an input for another. Goldmark likens it to waste becoming food for something else, like leaves decomposing to nourish the soil or materials being repurposed rather than discarded. “I started getting into sustainability and circularity and really trying to rethink the way I made theater and made things,” Goldmark said. “I began to think about the ways that what I learned and loved in theater might also help address the climate challenge.” This shift in thinking became the foundation for her work in theater, inspiring her to think about materials, production, and design through an environmental lens. 

During her years at Barnard, Goldmark wove this philosophy directly into her curriculum. She taught courses in theatrical design, covering both scenery and costumes, as well as first-year seminars on circularity and material culture. Her goal was to equip these students with skills that go beyond just theater and see their work in broader contexts. “Being able to listen, take a small idea and move it forward iteratively and collaboratively; that’s basically the work of a set designer, but it’s also the work of an entrepreneur,” Goldmark said. “These skills are powerful wherever you apply them.” 

Her work at Columbia Climate School extends this collaborative, design-focused mindset on a broader scale. For example, launched back in 2025, the Global Impact Lab delivers and scales solutions through strategic partnerships and cocreation. Goldmark brings together students, faculty, and external partners to develop climate solutions, starting “with just the seed of an idea” and growing it into real-world impact. 

Goldmark has explored sustainability through hands-on experimentation outside of academia as well. From 2013 to 2019, she founded Fixup, a series of repair shops across New York City. She hired other theater artists and fixed anything from lamps to chairs to jewelry to teddy bears. Goldmark wanted to see whether people would choose to fix their belongings instead of replacing them with something brand new from stores or websites like Amazon. This experience showed her that people were very interested in paying money to repair their items, but it had to be convenient. 

“What I hope comes out of all those repair shops is that we can be an early example to show bigger stores, startups, and bigger businesses that there is a demand for more sustainable practices,” Goldmark said. “A company can make money doing something more sustainable and create local jobs.” 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Goldmark helped co-create another resource: the Sustainable Production Toolkit, a free resource for performing arts organizations. Goldmark and a few of her colleagues created this toolkit to address the gaps in sustainability and circularity in theater production. “We felt that not enough theaters were making sustainability and circularity a really serious part of their operations and their productions,” Goldmark said. “Our goal was to make it easier for people to share resources, to share tips and tricks, and to share budgeting tips because theaters are usually very strapped for cash, time, and labor.” 

Looking ahead, Goldmark believes artists play a powerful role in confronting climate change by engaging in more climate-sensitive practices. “I would love to see even more artists begin to speak out about the climate crisis and use their power as storytellers and culturemakers to help the rest of us wake up,” Goldmark said. “Artists are really powerful in our culture, and I want them to use that power.” 

Despite the scale of climate change and the challenges it poses, Goldmark remains optimistic. “I am constantly amazed and inspired by the Earth’s own capacity to heal and regenerate,” Goldmark said. “If we can give this planet an inch more room, she can do amazing things.” 

Through her work at Barnard and her ongoing work at the Columbia Climate School, Goldmark shows how these creative practices and design thinking can lead to meaningful climate action. She continues to inspire and teach students, artists, and institutions to rethink how they make and use resources. “Even small efforts can have real, positive impact,” Goldmark said. “Those unintended positive consequences keep me hopeful.”