Generation Change (previously The Thompson Park project) was a collaboration between Super Slow Way and Blaze, an arts organisation led by young people to develop the next generation of Cultural Producers.
Working with 16-25-year-olds who use the park and live in communities around the park, the project aimed to involve them in shaping the future of Thompson Park and the activities that happen there. In 2018/19 the group chose to focus on the impact of plastic pollution on the local environment including the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, Thompson Park, and the River Brun. They raised awareness of this issue as well as wider environmental issues through a social action campaign, culminating in a production of light and sound spectacular created in collaboration with internationally acclaimed light artists Illuminous which was performed in the park on Saturday 23 February 2019 (see video below).
Artist Tina Dempsey worked alongside Super Slow Way & Blaze with a group of young people in Burnley, to explore the impact of COVID-19 on their happiness and mental wellbeing and how they can have a positive impact on their town during the current pandemic through art.
The resulting artworks were presented in public spaces across Burnley over the winter of 2020/21.
Tina Dempsey’s practice is a process of examining sorrow and joy, exploring what triggers them, how they affect us, and questioning how we might navigate these emotions in our modern, media-saturated, lives. Incorporating humor, honesty, reality & the ridiculous.
You can also see what they’ve been up to on their instagram feed at @generationchangeburnley
