Voices across the Reeds: Dramatising the effects of climate and time on RSPB Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk

Young people in Norwich aged 16-18 will conduct arts-based research at the local RSPB nature reserve Strumpshaw Fen, investigating impacts of climate change on the reserve and its wildlife over time. They will present their research in a public engagement event of verbatim theatre, also at the Fen, in December 2021.

The project aims to:
a) engage young people (A-level students) with the impacts of climate change on the environment close to where they live (Strumpshaw Fen near Norwich);
b) help young people understand climate change impacts on a specific place and its wildlife (the Strumpshaw Fen reserve);
c) link young people's developing understanding of local climate change with global impacts, by considering effects on birds and their migration to and from the reserve;
d) afford young people's enjoyment of a nature reserve as means to appreciate its value;
e) develop young people's expression and communication in writing, photography and drama, so they can share their understanding with others and for public engagement;
f) involve the teachers of the young people in collaborative interdisciplinary research to consider links across school subjects;
g) create records of the young people's project activities and performance for sustained public engagement and continuing research.

A-level students and their teachers are the immediate target audience. Their school community is a wider target audience as its members will be invited to the public engagement performance created by young people participating in the project. Further audiences include teachers and teacher educators (through regional and national networks); RSPB reserve staff and visitors to reserves and RSPB websites; academic researchers and writers working at the intersection of environmental research and the arts; and the general public of Norwich, Norfolk and East Anglia.

Young people will conduct research across two visits to the reserve (one for writing, one for rehearsing their performance) and be introduced to explorations of environment in a) nature writing (identifying research interests and questions in a writing workshop); b) film representations of local environments and changes in them over time; and c) audio from Steve Waters' Voices from the Reeds and Song of the Reeds projects.

With the help of experienced writers (Professor Jean McNeil and Professor Steve Waters), teachers and performers specialising in narratives of climate change (Arts Regeneration) young people will prepare their own responses to climate change and its influence on the reserve. During research trips to the reserve, young people will meet with visitors and employees of the reserve, gaining insights to how the community of the reserve responds to climate change. What impacts of climate change does the community identify, and how do its members address them? What do the young people see, hear, touch or smell in the environment of the reserve that tells of the effects of climate change, and of what could yet be lost? The project has potential impact on regional and national education for understanding climate change.

The project shares learning and outputs through a) public performance at Strumpshaw Fen; b) performance for peers and parents in the school community of the young people; c) an online teacher CPD event hosted by UEA with contributions by young people; d) via a podcast of the performance and document of the project, hosted by UEA; e) presentation for teaching/education communities via the British Educational Research Association and an article for the Chartered College of Teacher's magazine Impact; and f) report to the leadership group of ClimateUEA for promotion via national and international networks. Young people will be invited to ClimateUEA's COP26 collaboration with UEA's Drama department, which will present a parallel suite of professional performances addressing climate change for public engagement.