An installation unleashing teenage truth
Stockton International Riverside Festival
3rd - 6th August 2023
Frustrated by being unseen and unheard, the words of young people are released to speak truth to power and inspire the community!
In September 2022, Zest Theatre ran workshops for 200 young people aged 11-18 across the whole borough of Stockton-on-Tees. Our aim? To create space for young people to reflect on their experience of the last few years and release the voice of a generation. Co-led with local young people, these workshops enabled the next generation to share their thoughts and feelings about anything and everything – from the importance of community to their worries for the future.
Their words were then turned into vibrant artworks, ready to be flown from fourteen festival flags at the heart of Stockton International Riverside Festival 2023.
Refresh SIRF placed the voices of young people at the heart of their community, bringing colour and conversation to the place they call home!
#RefreshSIRF
Take a Look
Credits
Creative & Production
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR / LEAD FACILITATOR
Toby Ealden
DESIGN
Fabric.
PHOTO CREDIT
Dawn McNamara
Research & Development
SUPPORTING FACILITATOR & ARCHIVIST
Dan Morgan
WORKSHOP FACILITATORS
Elly Adam
Joshua Durrell
R&D PRODUCER
Laura Killeen
Participating Schools
Abbey Hill Sixth Form College
Bede Sixth Form College
Bishopton Pupil Referral Unit
Egglescliffe School and Sixth Form
Thornaby Academy
Stockton Riverside College
Environmental Responsibility
Young people are incredibly concerned about the environment and urgently want the world to prioritise this issue. However, touring, theatre, and public art can be extremely wasteful and have a negative impact on the planet. Zest is therefore working to reduce our work's environmental impact. We want to keep learning and adapting our practice and processes - we’ll therefore be updating the sections below to be transparent about our choices, share our learning, and be accountable for the elements that negatively impact the environment.
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With the support of Julie’s Bicycle, we are tracking the full scope of our Carbon Footprint, not just for this project but for our whole organisation. This includes our travel, hotel stays, materials (including those listed here), office energy use, digital activity, and anything else we discover has an impact. We’ll use this data to help us reduce our emissions next year whilst planting trees to offset our impact.
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Flag bases are made from Polyethylene. Flag poles from aluminium. The flag fabric is Polyester. All of these materials can be recycled when they come to the end of their life.
These component parts are all made with virgin materials. We will log this when tracking our carbon emissions to track this higher impact - evaluating and offsetting accordingly to improve future delivery and reduce the impact of this project.
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Refresh SIRF won’t just be limited to the 2023 festival. We aim for the flags to appear at other local events in the future. Please get in touch with SIRFadmin@stockton.gov.uk for details.
The flag bases and poles can also be reduced in future festivals with new flags.
We will work with SIRF to recycle and reuse the materials once the installation has reached the end of its life. -
Zest tracks the emissions created from our mileage and hotel stays and then offsets this through the wild flowering of protected meadows.
