Changing Seasons
Our cross-genre, climate themed event
Changing Seasons was our immersive orchestral experience combining music, dance, poetry, video, lighting, and cross-genre collaborations in a thought-provoking reflection on the climate emergency.
Taking inspiration from the environmental themes in Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, we expanded Vivaldi’s original, creating an event that was shaped through rich collaboration with local arts groups including Subrang Arts, Queer Croydon, Club Soda, the local Music Education Hub – Croydon Music & Arts – and Croydon poet Jeremiah Brown.
Each collaborator was assigned a season, and worked with us to create newly devised music to perform on stage with our musicians.
By pairing a classical cornerstone with cross-genre commissions and a daytime Foyer Takeover showcasing community talent, Changing Seasons challenged the traditional concert format and demonstrated the impact of bringing outreach together with artistic excellence to create meaningful work.
Each community partner used their season and accompanying poem as a starting point for their creative process, building on their own practices to create four distinct works.
The resulting four performances were wildly different, rooted in Karnatic Indian classical music (Praveen Prathapan, Subrang Arts – Spring), performance theatre and movement art (Kars Dodds, Queer Croydon – Summer), and electronic music (Luminous Starchild, Club Soda – Autumn), while Croydon Music & Arts used the project as an opportunity to build confidence and creativity with collaborative and accessible composition coaching to create their work ‘W’.
Community Showcase
Over 200 local performers took part in an Amateur Arts Showcase of Croydon Talent which transformed the public open spaces of Fairfield Halls, inside and out, for one magnificent afternoon, with music and dance performances, environmental-themed “junk sculpture” craft activities and Four Seasons face painting, showcasing the incredible diversity of creativity across our borough.
Our community partners
Subrang Arts are dedicated to the promotion and development of Asian Art and Culture
Queer Croydon (Supported by Stanley Arts) amplify queerness in Croydon and wider South London
Club Soda create social and creative opportunities for people with learning disabilities
Croydon Music & Arts, the local Music Education Hub, work to ensure children and young people in the borough have access to creative opportunities
With thanks to our sponsors
