Eco Drama are pleased to announce that we will be embarking on a new project throughout 2023-2025 which will collaborate with children, young people and wider communities across Glasgow, supported by the Glasgow Communities and Place Fund.
Over the next two years, Eco Drama will develop and deliver a programme of accessible, creative and cultural activities designed to engage and empower children and adults in the communities of Pollok and Townhead, plus schools and communities in the most disadvantaged areas of Glasgow.
The nature themed programme includes theatre, participatory workshops and events, fruit tree planting and teacher training plus a legacy of 21 city wide orchards.
The programme will enhance participation in social, cultural and creative activity, improve health and wellbeing, make productive use of underutilised green spaces, and build skills, confidence and resilience through learning, empowering people of all ages to actively participate and contribute to their community.
The programme includes 3 strands:
1. Pollok and Townhead Grow Together
A local food growing and green space enhancement project combining the arts with practical community led action in two different communities of Glasgow. In summary we will;
- Collaborate with community members of all ages in Pollok, plus orchard specialists, to design and plant a community orchard, plus 20 School Orchards across the city.
- Eco Drama’s production The Forgotten Orchard will tour to schools and community audiences to engage, inspire and support the planting of the orchards.
- The project will include the community of Townhead, where Eco Drama worked with volunteers in 2013 to plant a community orchard which is now well established and thriving.
Activities to encourage both communities to celebrate their orchards and continue to strengthen involvement will include;
- Drama Artist led creative workshops in spring and autumn, working with local children to create informal performances inspired by Scotland’s orchard heritage.
- A Planting Day Celebration event (in Pollok) and Apple Day Celebration event (in Townhead) in autumn/winter 2024, including presentations of children’s performances, apple themed activities and performances of The Forgotten Orchard.
- Orchard Pruning & aftercare workshops led by an apple tree specialist will be delivered in spring 2025.
2. Eco Drama on Tour in Glasgow
Two touring theatre productions with accompanying creative learning workshops and resources will tour Glasgow schools, providing opportunities to inspire sustainable living and nurture a greater connection to nature.
- The Whirlybird – a funny, playful and moving piece of visual theatre, for children aged 3-7 and their families will tour to nurseries, schools and community venues across Glasgow in autumn 2023. The show is about learning to fly, encouraging one another and finding joy and inspiration in nature.
- The Forgotten Orchard – a show for 7-11 year olds dedicated to apples which ties in with our orchard project. A heart-warming story of kinship, local food and legacy bringing with it a local food message that is pertinent to current times. The production will tour to 20 primary schools in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Glasgow including 9 schools in Greater Pollok. Each production will be followed by a Q&A session and a chance for children to taste some apple varieties featured in the show. Each school will be gifted 5 heritage apple trees to start their own school mini orchard, and teachers will be invited to take part in an orchard planting skills workshop.
3. Out to Play
Eco Drama’s longest running arts-based outdoor learning project will continue collaborating with primary school and early years settings across Glasgow throughout 2023-25. First piloted in 2015, and winner of Glasgow City Councils Best Environmental Initiative Award 2016, Out to Play continues to attract high demand from educators. Residencies combine practical sessions for children with CPD for teachers, all tailored to the unique surroundings of each school. Now in its 8th year of delivery, through imaginative play and adventurous learning, Out to Play advances learning for sustainability and deepens children’s connection to our natural world.
