The Growing Up Green festival took place across Birmingham and the Black Country during the week of 18- 26 September 2021 and gave children an opportunity to be in relationship with nature, nurture their curiosity in everyday ecology and help signpost a way to being environmentally responsible now and in the future.

At this meeting we will be sharing our learnings from last year and coming up with a plan for Growing Up Green this year to coincide with The Great Big Green Week which will be from 24th September-2nd October 2022.

Some headlines from last year.....

We programmed:

30 in real life events

2 x online workshops

1 x Film

We achieved audiences of 1457 (in real life) and 1636 online (website hits and video views)

The organisers were a mixture of artists, parents, local authority, forest school leaders, teachers, playworkers, park rangers, charities, local counsellors and community organisers from Birmingham and the Black Country coordinated by Amy Martin, The Parakeet. We programmed over 30 sessions from family bike rides, community garden play sessions, protests, exhibitions, toy swaps and litter picks all taking place in Bearwood, Smethwick, Bournville, Kings Heath and Northfield as part of The Great Big Green Week, a national week of events celebrating action on climate change.

Growing up Green happened in different localities in Birmingham and the Black Country brought together online at www.growingup.green and through a collaborative programme of workshops, events and a specially commissioned film highlighting the voices of children in the fight for Climate Justice for #COP26.

Growing up Green explored all types of activism - gentle and more direct and included high quality workshops, performances and events, using play, arts and creativity as a powerful tool to inspire young audiences to imagine themselves and their families as important protagonists to take action on the climate and ecological crisis.