BRISTOL

For the Bristol activation, The Great Imagining teamed up with the Avon Eco Schools Network, a community of young people from the wider Avon area who are focused on building a sustainable and liveable future city. 

The Great Imagining week in Bristol was explored with activations focused on ecology and sustainability in 10 schools around the city. Earth Day itself was held at the Future Leap Cafe co-working space in the heart of the city in collaboration with the Ministry of Eco Education, Natural Sparks (The Environmental Education Project) and Avon Schools Nature Reserve. 

A group of teenagers developed a futures-thinking shadow play and a film programme including national and regional initiatives that the group have connections with for example exploring the possibilities for a public swimming area in Bristol harbour, investigated and directed by one of the students. Tom Walmsley, who facilitates and supports the Network, brought his collection of found fossils, stones and skeletons along with magnifying glasses, creating an ecology study area. 

The special guest of the day was Sandy the Kestrel, a bird of prey living in the local Bristol forests whose presence brought conversations about deforestation and urban development into the space.