At the start of the year we took a decision to ‘be sensible’ about our capacity and energy levels. With our kids back at home full time and energy levels flagging as we entered Lockdown 3 we decided to put our mental health and sanity front and centre of our company policy.
In practical terms, this meant pushing back the start of a few new projects to later in the year, and being as kind to ourselves as possible, having as many conversations about ‘self care’ as admin, finance and funding applications.
As a tiny unfunded company we’re exploring the benefits of Micro-activism - both for the participants and for us as a company.
However, through conversations with our friends, an idea for a small project emerged, just a little something to keep our brains ticking over and our hearts connected to Fly High Stories.
That small idea became Little World, Big World - weekly meetings with interesting people for 10 primary school aged children.
We realise how small the world has become for our little ones - they’re not having the kind of interactions with people other than their immediate family that they would normally be having. Our worlds are all shrinking but whilst us grown ups have a network of fascinating folk on our Facebook pages, and the memories of interesting conversations that have, at times, entirely changed our world views or our future paths, our children don’t have that yet.
And so we’ve asked some fascinating folk to spend forty minutes with a small group of children, telling them about their jobs, giving space for questions and playing a few games to really engage their imaginations, with an (optional) challenge to finish the conversation.
So far, the experience has been joyous - not just for the interactions between children and ‘Fascinating Grown Up’ but also for the interactions of the children enjoying seeing each other’s faces.
This project can only reach 10 children at a time - it has a tiny reach. But actually, we’re OK with that - as a tiny unfunded company we’re exploring the benefits of Micro-activism - both for the participants and for us as a company. Not everything has to be global, or be judged as successful because of 100s of 1000s of views or likes - there is a huge amount of joy as a creative practitioner of just focussing on 10 happy faces imagining they’re making the best chocolate bar in the world, or asking how a chameleon sheds its skin.
If you have a little one aged 4-10 who would like to meet an interesting person then check out the Little World, Big World page on our website here … https://www.flyhighstories.co.uk/projects/lwbw/home
Rachel & Jem (Co-Artistic Directors Fly High Stories)
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