The Walking Neighbourhood has a simple premise: children companion audience members on a curated tour around a specific part of a city, community, venue or site. This is a new way to see and experience places, spaces and buildings in public and private. Children are in control of developing the artistic experience, guiding an audience, navigating the physical space and sharing their experiences of autonomy all the while creating new friendships with people they do not know. The experience is based in a central area within the city, community, venue or site to allow audience members and children to gather, introduce, share and debrief before and after the experience.

These children will use their instincts to locate danger, excitement, adventure and safety and the audience will be invited to relax and trust their young guides. These walks will be varied in time and pace and all tour to different destinations. Leaving from an interactive Departure Lounge, the chaos will be soothed by the very act of walking with people you do not know to a place you have never experienced like this before.

The show tours with professional artists that will be based in the neighbourhood for 2 weeks prior.

Venue Format
Outdoor
Technical Rating
The production can be modified to suit most venues
Touring Party
3
Considerations

The Walking Neighbourhoods involves from 10 – 30 children/young people aged 8-13, this can be negotiated to suit the project.

The number of performances can be negotiated but usually results in 4 shows over a weekend at the end of the residency. Other activities and key notes, masterclasses, community meetings and media can be incorporated across this time.

The Walking Neighbourhood can be performed in a wide range of spaces, from theatres, studios, community halls, centres, indoor and outdoor spaces. The artists design this space to appear as a Departure Lounge. This lounge acts as the front of house and base for the project, the walks depart from this location into public spaces and return upon completion.

Britt Guy is a producer, curator, community arts and youth worker who has worked across a range of agencies both nationally and internationally. Britt’s experience includes roles within not for profit organisations (Flying Arts, Youth Arts Qld, Metro Arts), festivals and events (Brisbane, Sydney, Darwin, Melbourne, Newcastle, Slovenia, Cambodia, Croatia) and local government (Brisbane, Logan and Darwin).

Britt is a facilitator of high quality creative community programming. She has specific in depth knowledge and experience in:

Emerging artist development and mentoring Regional and remote touring Experimental and emerging arts programming Site specific and pop up performance work and venues Events and programs for young people by young people Transcultural exchange and partnerships Festival programming and management Cultural research and strategy writing

Britt works with a number of leading Australian contemporary artists to support the development, presentation and touring of their work national and internationally. She has also initiated and manages Dance Satellite a curated program of high quality contemporary dance projects that engage regional audiences and local dance communities in the process and development of the work.

Company Website
brittguy.com

Unique Selling Point

The show tours with professional artists that will be based in the neighbourhood for 2 weeks, as a residency. During this time they will work with local artists, technicians, volunteers, the children and local businesses or community members to develop this custom made event. The work is developed over 12-14 days in your community. The local presenting company will source local artists, volunteers, technicians and children. In each of these processes children walked, took photos, mapped, observed, danced and skipped their way around the neighbourhood whilst interviewing local people, shop keepers, community members, icons and identifying places of neighbourhood significance and notoriety.

Marketing Materials

Each presentation is unique and therefore created specifically for the community. In previous presentations other activities and key notes, masterclasses, community meetings and media can be incorporated across this time.

Community Engagement

The Walking Neighbourhood is about many things, it is about proving that there are ways for children to feel safe, while being out in public, walking, meeting shop owners, pedestrians and developing a sense of themselves. It is also about providing a way for families and communities to support children to become citizens, use their full agency to access a basic human right of feeling safe to take a walk. Intersecting with many other ideas and concerns for contemporary children, we hope you will continue these conversations out in your front yard, over the fence, down at the shops, in your local school, workplace, nightclub, lane way and café.It’s time for all our neighbourhoods to get walking and to stop being worried about the things our TVs tell us to worry about. Be sensible, ask for help when you need it, start communicating with the people around you, make friends and they stop being strangers, keep each other safe. Hang out with an 8 year old, knock on the door of the your neighbours and introduce yourself. Have a street party, celebrate the fact we can take care of each other and don’t worry: bad things don’t actually happy that often.