Green Creative Connections: A Creative Response to Environmental Challenges in Lambeth
This summer, Wise Ram Theatre is launching an exciting new project in Lambeth: Green Creative Connections. This ambitious community initiative combines creativity, sustainability, and wellbeing through a series of six free workshops, happening between July and October, each held in a different environmental site across the borough. By tapping into the local network of community gardens and nature-focused charities, the project aims to deepen Londoners’ connection to nature and promote environmental stewardship.
About Wise Ram Theatre
Wise Ram Theatre is a neurodiverse theatre company exploring the climate crisis with humour, nerve, and heart. Their first production ‘Decommissioned’, a play exploring climate anxiety and flooding, premiered in 2023 in London. In June 2024, they collaborated with community poet Lelia Ferro, the Jaywick Martello Tower and Essex Book Festival on a performance of ‘How we live in Essex through the seasons’. They have delivered workshops for children, young people, university students, adults and professional creatives in making climate theatre. They create ‘active hope’, where people feel enabled and inspired to take action, connect with others and look to the future with a desire to ‘be the difference’.
What to Expect from the Workshops
The workshops, led by experienced facilitators, will use a variety of creative approaches, including movement, creative writing, poetry, folklore, puppetry, textiles, and performance. Each session will address a relevant environmental theme, such as extreme heat, food security, pollution, or flooding, tailored to the specific context of the host neighbourhood.
The sessions will take full advantage of the unique green spaces hosting them, incorporating local knowledge and offering hands-on activities such as nature walks, gardening, and citizen science projects. Participants will also gain an opportunity to engage with and learn from the natural world around them. Host sites include Loughborough Farm (July 26), Archbishop Park (August 8), Larkhall Park (August 22), Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses (date TBC), South London Botanical Institute (date TBC), and Roots and Shoots (date TBC). Further details will be available shortly on the Wise Ram Theatre website.
A pilot version of Green Creative Connections was successfully delivered in Colchester last year. You can read more about it here.
Who is it for?
These workshops are open to everyone (aged 18 and over), but particularly welcome adults who may not typically engage with environmental or creative projects. They are designed to be inclusive and accessible, making them ideal for those who are dealing with physical health challenges, low mood, or anxiety. By spending time in nature, interacting socially, and engaging in creative activities, participants can enhance their health and wellbeing.
To address potential barriers to participation, the workshops are completely free, and travel expenses will be covered for attendees. Participants can sign up for individual sessions or take part in the full series.
Why It Matters
The psychological toll of climate change is becoming increasingly evident. Research highlights the stress and anxiety caused by extreme weather events, the threat of food insecurity, and rising domestic costs related to climate risks. In fact, a 2021 Office for National Statistics survey found that 75% of adults were worried about the impacts of climate change. The same year, a Wellcome-funded study showed that spending time in green spaces—even for just 15 minutes—could significantly reduce anxiety and improve mood among young people. There has been a surge in social prescribing, an approach that connects people to activities, groups, and services in their community to meet the practical, social and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing (NHS England). Green Creative Connections is an example of green social prescribing, the practice of supporting people to engage in nature-based interventions and activities to improve their mental and physical health.
Lambeth’s Environmental Challenges
Lambeth is no stranger to the impacts of climate change. From flooding due to outdated infrastructure and rising rainfall, to the Urban Heat Island effect that amplifies temperatures during heatwaves, the borough is already feeling the strain. Air pollution also remains a significant concern, with harmful gases and particles in some areas exceeding safe levels. These environmental issues are particularly acute for Lambeth’s most vulnerable residents—those already affected by poverty, poor housing, and limited access to green spaces. Climate change is not just an environmental issue; it’s a social one too.
Green Creative Connections offers a creative response to these challenges, inviting local residents to explore green spaces, learn new skills, and improve their mental well-being. By connecting with the environment in a creative and supportive setting, participants can feel empowered to take action and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Sign Up Today
Join Wise Ram Theatre this summer and be part of Green Creative Connections. Sign up to their newsletter to be the first to receive the workshop booking link, which will be coming soon. Sign up here. The full details of the workshops will be published later this month on the Wise Ram Theatre website.
