The What:

Generation Climate Change is a series of free drama and theatre workshops invites young people from Waterford City and County to enter into a fictional world and inhabit the role of climate crisis curators. The workshops are designed using Dorothy Heathcote’s Mantle of the Expert approach. In each workshop the facilitators support and encourage participants to co-create drama through imagination, improvisation, role-play and discussion about the world in which they live. The workshops will encourage creative, critical, and reflective thinking and action. No previous drama experience is necessary and the workshops are open to children aged 7 to 10 years of age. 

The Why:

In March 2019, world leaders attending the UN General Assembly heard that “just over a decade is all that remains to stop irreversible damage from climate change” (United Nations, 2019). Using drama education processes, this research project empowers young people to consider in what ways climate change, “the defining issue of our time” (United Nations, 2019), might impact on place, identity, and their understanding of the world. In eleven years, these young people will have the right to vote for the first time (in Ireland), and some of them might be completing their undergraduate degrees. As evidenced by the global climate strikes, young people have demonstrated their affective responses, and are demanding effective action. Therefore, this project seeks to not only empower young people, but to amplify their voices.

     The project also constitutes a response to the Creative Ireland Waterford call for projects, which emerges from Waterford City and County Council’s Culture and Creativity Strategy (2018-2022). This strategy is founded on principles of access, participation and engagement and, as will be outlined below, the workshops devised as part of the project align with the Strategy’s key themes which are as follows: collaboration, participation, communication, empowerment, community, inclusivity, and innovation. In addition, both the strategy and the County Arts Plan share identity and place as core themes. Therefore, the rationale for the project is grounded in national and regional arts policies.

The Who:

The collaboration between Curious State and WIT Theatre Studies constitutes a sharing of knowledge, skill-set, and physical resources leading to the development of a new model of working in the region aligning with the Creative Ireland Waterford Cultural and Creativity Strategy 2018-2022. The facilitators have collaborated on numerous projects, including, most recently, workshops for Cruinniú na nÓg (Kilkenny, 2019).

The When:

Week 1: Child/parent/guardian briefing session and Drama Workshop - Saturday, 9th November, 10.30am - 12.30pm.

Week 2: Drama Workshop - Saturday, 16th November, 10.30am - 12.30pm.

Week 3: Child/parent/guardian independent excursion: Saturday 23rd November.

Week 4: Drama Workshop - Saturday, 30th November, 10.30am - 12.30pm.

The Where:

Dance Studio, College Street Campus, Waterford Institute of Technology, X91 Y074. This is a wheelchair accessible space. Please note there are no canteen facilities on a Saturday.

Parent/guardian's name:

Postal Address:

Contact number:

Child's name:

Age of Child:

Please note; all participants must reside in Waterford City or County. The project has a maximum of 20 places in total.