Creative Learning
Severn Project provided exciting creative learning opportunities led by professional composers and musicians, dancers and singers, poets and performers among communities across Gloucestershire. Together they created and performed new songs and dances, stories and poems inspired by the River Severn, Gloucestershire’s landscape and cultural heritage – featuring new music with schools, street theatre with youth groups and creative writing with families.
Community Choirs – ‘Severn Songs’
Pete Rosser was commissioned by Gloucestershire Music to create a cycle of ‘Severn Songs’ inspired by ‘A Sleepwalk on the Severn’, the poem for many voices by Alice Oswald. Gloucestershire Music engaged community choirs across the county to work with Pete to develop and perform the song cycle at the Roses Theatre and at Lydney Festival.
Gloucestershire Music provides instrumental and vocal tuition to schools and organises ‘out of school’ activities for children and young people. They offer opportunities for adults to make music in bands and orchestras at different levels. www.gloucestershiremusic.co.uk.
Creating Music in Schools
Eddie Parker, internationally renowned Jazz composer and performer, was commissioned by Gloss Arts Education Agency to work with 5 schools across the county to create new music inspired by the sound landscapes of the River Severn. www.glossartseducationagency.co.uk
Art Shape – Fiery Lanterns & Willow Sculptures
Art Shape facilitated workshops offering local people opportunities to create beautiful willow sculptures and lanterns to light up the river during the Tewkesbury and Lydney Festivals. Artists Imogen Harvey-Lewis, Juins Steven and Ulf Mark Pedersen worked with local people to produce creations that magically called up the creatures of the river and were displayed in Victoria Gardens and Lydney Docks as part of the festival events. Art Shape works with communities to combat exclusion from the arts, with a particular focus on adults facing barriers to participation. www.artshape.co.uk
Dance in the Landscape – ‘Tide Lands’
Gloucestershire Dance commissioned choreographer Marie-Louise Flexen and composers Steve Skinley and Rick Morton to work with 20 talented community dancers aged 14+ from across the county. Using the river as inspiration, they created a powerful site-specific dance ‘Tide Lands’, with costumes designed by Corinne Hockley. www.gloucestershiredance.org.uk
Library Summer Reading Challenge
Alice Oswald the acclaimed poet led free poetry workshops for children aged 8-11 on a ‘River Quests’ theme. www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/libraries
Heritage Road Shows for Families – ‘Fish, Fykes & Ferries’
Storyteller John Bassett (Spaniel in the Works Theatre Co) and artist Melanie Russell animated and interpreted the local heritage of the River Severn with fun and games for all the family. Participants learned about shipwrecks and pirates, duck decoying and salmon netting, all brought to life by John’s ‘local characters’. Melanie led creative making in clay and paper. Gloucestershire Archives offered a seminar for adults ‘Sabrina Fair - Working life on the River Severn' with presentations by local historians. www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives
Roses Theatre Film Show - ‘Tales of the River Severn’
The Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury showcased a specially commissioned collection of film archive footage showing the history and life along the River Severn with a special focus on Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. www.rosestheatre.org
