Have you ever had a bad dream? One you feel you cannot wake from? 

Our destructive relationship with nature could be described as a bad dream we cannot escape. Habitat and biodiversity loss, the exploitation of individual animals for entertainment and personal gain as well as the climate crisis all make regular appearances on the news and social media. 

But how do we move forward? 

In June and July Born Free is partnering with creative artists Haus of Conservation to deliver an inspirational series of school workshops. Through a combination of performance and bespoke workshops – which bring together modern commercial music, performing arts, dance, meditation, quizzes, bingo and creative writing – students are gaining a greater understanding of some of the challenges individual wild animals face, especially in captivity.

Across the first three days of these free school events, we have already reached 245 Year 5 and 143 Year 6 students from Crawley, Worthing and Lancing. With one school noting that the feedback from teachers and students attending was “overwhelmingly positive” (Head of Year 5).

Mark Lee Davies from Haus of Conservation said that “it was a pleasure to see the pupils dancing and singing away during the show and I was amazed with the amount of information they retained. When I asked them questions at the start of our workshops, the pupils could clearly tell you what zoochosis was and list the behaviours. The students from the schools approached the movement, scripted and meditation workshops with such maturity and openness, they embodied the subject thinking of their own wellbeing and how that relates to the wellbeing of all the sentient wild animals that are kept in captivity. I truly believe, what we have achieved with Born Free’s Education Team is an exciting partnership which brings a new and innovative angle to conservation education”.

“The students took part in the activities with enthusiasm, embracing the opportunity to learn across all the activities included in the day, producing some truly thought provoking and moving creative writing pieces in the Born Free workshops.”