Time to Thrive

When the wonderful team at Empire Theatre said, 'hey, would you like to be a part of Thrive this year?' I said yes before even hearing the terms of aggreement. A children's festival celebrating the arts and connection I was already sold before the pitch. A total stop digging you've struck oil situation, and I think they knew they were speaking my love language. 

So it was a to part connection one for Tinker to be able to offer low cost art and craft activities with a STEAM theme for parents and kids to do togther. AND the perfect launch pad for a community arts project. 

With STEAM in mind my brain went instantly to petri dishes, I love the idea of looking at things under a microscope and planning with ideas of micro v macro. There is something unintimidating about working within the confines of the little clear dishes with materials that are designed more for play than drawing. At the beginning the lonely few examples I had made looked pretty sad on our makeshift wall but one by one the piece grew. Sprawling out from an empty space into a larger piece made up of many. 

It was fun to watch families sit and cut and colour, some intricately making one piece and others smashing together bundles. Everyone connects differently with creativity and it is important for me to offer an opportunity for that connection to happen naturally. 

By the end children were proudly dragging their parents back to the wall to point out their miniature masterpiece which would become a fun game of 'have you seen this one'

If I am being honest this activity was a fun one, I'd definitely do it again. The unassuming petri dish was a great dip your toes in for everyone no matter how comfortable they felt in their own creative shoes. 

Thanks for having me Thrive, same time next year!