Amy Martin | Creative Producer | www.TheParakeet.co.uk
amyrozelmartin@gmail.com | 07947 633 686
PRESS RELEASE | *FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
5th September 2022
‘Growing Up Green' is a Children and Family Arts Festival that celebrates action on climate change as part of The Great Big Green Week 24 September -2 October 2022.
The festival will take place across Birmingham and the Black Country during the week of 24 September – 2 October 2022 and will give 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.
Growing up Green will happen in different localities in Birmingham and the Black Country brought together online at www.growingup.green and through a collaborative programme of workshops, events, performances and a youth climate activists programme.
Growing up Green will explore gentle and more direct activism and has been co-produced with communities, parents and local organisers.
Growing Up Green includes over 30 high quality workshops, performances and events, using arts and culture 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. The full programme is available at www.growingup.green
The organisers of Growing Up Green are a mixture of artists, parents, local authority, forest school leaders, teachers, playworkers, park rangers, charities, local councillors and community organisers from Birmingham and the Black Country coordinated by Amy Campbell nee Martin (The Parakeet). There are 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, Northfield, Stourbridge and Sparkhill as part of The Great Big Green Week, a national week of events celebrating action on climate change.
Quotes from organisers
"We’re committed to improving access to and understanding of the natural world for all ages across the city. For over ten years ecobirmingham have provided opportunities for people across Birmingham to explore environmental issues in fun and creative ways. Through Growing Up Green Festival we’re looking forward to helping locals discover organisations across Northfield that are helping the city become greener and healthier."
Annabel Clarke, Eco Birmingham
“We are excited to be part of the Growing Up Green Festival because we are passionate about the power and agency of play in facilitating new ways to see and experience the world. We present opportunities to connect to environment; designing for children of all ages and abilities to become immersed in the creative process, encouraging experimentation and exploration of materials, objects, sensory props both natural and upcycled”
Simbi Folarin, The Glue Collective
“I am excited to be a part of growing up green, because I think children and young people are naturally ecologically aware and exploring and developing this will help us to create a better world for them and with them.”
Jenny McCann, Bear Book Shop
“We are a group of parents in Kings Heath trying to navigate the joys and challenges of raising environmentally responsible kids.”
Joint quote from Kings Heath organisers
“Northfield Arts Forum are putting climate education, action and justice at the heart of our future work, and the Growing Up Green Festival is the perfect start to our big green future.”
Northfield Arts Forum
Notes to editors
The Great Big Green Week will take place 24 September – 2 October 2022 and will be the largest event for climate and nature ever seen in the UK. Thousands of events will celebrate how communities are taking action to tackle climate change and protect green spaces, and encourage others to get involved too. www.greatbiggreenweek.com