Creative Climate Connections: Enabling Cultural Exchange between Young People in South Wales and Young indigenous People in the Brazilian Amazon

This project will be an inspiring addition to ongoing research collaborations led by Professor Paul HERITAGE (PI) between People's Palace Projects (PPP), the Kuikuro Indigenous Association (IFAX), the Tulukai Indigenous Association of the Wauja (AIT) and Dirty Protest Theatre (Wales).

Since 2015, PPP has worked closely with communities in the Xingu to develop a thriving cultural exchange with the Kuikuro and Wauja that has enabled a range of research projects, artistic residencies, exchanges, exhibitions, films and digital installations on indigenous culture and the climate emergency. This work has engaged public audiences from South London to North America to Venice Biennale, with the latest installation due to open in Glasgow for COP-26.

Drawing a third long-standing PPP project partner, Dirty Protest (Wales) into this exchange for the first time, this project will engage young people from the UK and the Xingu in three key aspects of this research: * Activism and awareness-raising through cultural production * The role of digital technologies as tool for preserving cultural heritage and combating the climate emergency

* Reimagining cultural institutions as spaces for climate action.

This project aims to mobilise 20 young people aged 14-18 to climate action by engaging them in PPP's ongoing research collaboration with the Xingu, equipping them with a variety of creative skills to express their own political views on climate change. The project is also an opportunity to address the intergenerational gap between older and younger citizens in both the Xingu and South Wales, whose differing sense of identity, relationships to the traditions of their respective communities, and engagement with technology contribute to markedly different attitudes to the natural world and climate change.

As PI, HERITAGE will work in collaboration with the Project Partners (IFAX, AIT and Dirty Protest), and four workshop facilitators: TAKUMA Kuikuro and PIRATA Waura, indigenous filmmakers based in the Xingu, PASKELL, and Dr Catriona FALLOW, a UK-based lecturer, workshop facilitator and part of PPP's Research Development team. The proposed workshops will be delivered over 6 sessions between September and November 2021 (2 per month) with 20 participants:

- 5 from Newport - 5 from the Rhondda Cynon Taf Valleys (RCT) - 5 from the Kuikuro Ipatse Village, Xingu Indigenous Area, Mato Grosso, Brazil - 5 from the Wauja Piyulaga Village, Xingu

These workshops will be arts-based and explore three interlinked creative approaches: storytelling, filmmaking and performance. A selection of guest speakers from ongoing PPP research projects in South America and the UK will attend to share their work and insights.

During the course of the programme, participants will respond to the ideas and techniques explored, resulting in a multi-media performance and series of videos, which will then premiere publicly during an online showcase in November 2021 that will include an introduction, discussions and Q&A with member of the creative team and participants. Alongside this online event will be further screenings in the Ipatse and Piyulaga villages in the Xingu Indigenous Territory, as well as the possibility of a live, in-person performance in the UK (hosted by Dirty Protest at Le Public Space, Newport) if COVID restrictions allow.

The project's creative outcomes will also be disseminated in November 2021 as part of PPP's engagement campaign around its installation at Glasgow Science Museum within Reimagining Museums for Climate Action at COP-26. Beyond November 2021, these creative outcomes will then be hosted online via PPP's website (with accompanying project information, documentation and written reflection) and disseminated via PPP's active social media channels including https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQOuXQaUsnLv1tio5KpINag to continue to reach a wide global audience.