Barking Gecko Theatre launches a creative program to help kids during social isolation

Noting the importance of supporting children during these unprecedented and uncertain times, one of WA’s longest-running professional theatre companies, Barking Gecko has collaborated with ThinkArts in India to produce a new digital initiative. Titled Isolate > Create > Connect, it aims to bring together children across the globe by providing them with a creative outlet to share their isolation experiences during COVID-19. Throughout this 10-week program, a video will be delivered each week by artists from both Barking Gecko Theatre and ThinkArts online, inviting children aged 5 - 17 to participate in a creative task. These tasks, taking various forms such as writing, drawing, interviews, video, poetry and other methods of storytelling, seek to give children the opportunity to express their perspective on the world as it is right now. Barking Gecko Theatre Artistic Director Luke Kerridge commented that:

“BGT’s vision is for children to be courageous, creative and culturally engaged. Isolate > Create > Connect has been designed to capture this once-in-a-generation event through the eyes of children, providing them with a way of interpreting the current circumstances and responding with their innate creativity.”

Once the task has been completed by the child, they simply upload their creation digitally to the BGT website and by the end of the 10-weeks, a wonderful digital scrapbook will have been collated.

“[It] will become a lasting record of how life was experienced in isolation during COVID-19 by children.”

The first task launches on April 29, but children are welcomed to join at any time until its conclusion in the last week of June. The initiative is free to all participants and can be accessed here on the Barking Gecko website. Encourage your kids to take a break from their screens and get their creative juices flowing by joining in on this worldwide phenomenon!