What happens when we all get to lead?

We weave. We hold the chords and give over the process. Breaking silos in the open, no secret conversations are needed because we are a moving choir. Moving from hierarchy to democracy. Hope in unison.

I’ve centred co-creation as a way of understanding my world for a long time, exploring deep forms of engagement across disciplines, bringing my own facilitation and understanding to that. Most people are suprised the magic trick of my work is me, but I think it’s them.

In my most recent work with a class of nine-year-olds, we explored streets, playgrounds, rivers, and trees. Ecologists shared knowledge with me about the land, a community craftivist connected the global through blankets for Ukraine and explained social isolation in ways the kids could feel. Together we imagined change, sketched solutions, and connected learning to action.

As some of you know I’ve used art in Co production contexts including residencies that led to co produced flood plans and walked across Farm land to facilitate deep conversation about climate. It is my tender belief that true collaboration without ego will save those around us.

This is co-creation looks like: grounded, relational, iterative, and full of humanity. It’s about giving everyone a chance to lead, and trusting that what emerges will be richer than anything one person could design alone. Leadership isn’t a title- it’s a network of listening, adapting, and sharing the crayons as we draw share our visions. It’s about sharing the vision.

When everyone leads, we don’t just participate. We create.

When everyone leads, we make room for dreams to be touched.

When everyone leads, everyone leads.

Letter Below From The School

Dear …..

We are writing on behalf of our friends at … School in Newtown.

Over the past few weeks, we have been exploring Newtown, our home, and thinking about what it means to us and what makes an everyday hero.

What we learned

• Made ink from oak galls and sunprints
• Explored local history through model making
• Learned about famous people from our area
• Talked a lot about kindness
• Discovered everyone has different talents and everything works better when we work together
• Learned about food, including reducing waste and appreciating where it comes from

Connecting to nature and our cynefin
This project started by re-imagining our home and exploring our cynefin. We connected with the natural world around us, noticing how it shapes our daily lives and well-being. Many of our activities, such as making oak-gall ink, creating sunprints, and making nature masks to identify trees, helped us engage with nature in different ways. We recycled what we could and thought carefully about how our actions impact the environment.

Our playground and redwood tree
We explored our playground and discovered a redwood tree, which made us feel connected to nature. Maybe Pryce Pryce Jones himself planted that.

Our redesign ideas
We imagined a whole redesign of the streets and spaces we walk every day. Many of us travel from … . We love the park and the trees and do not want any chopped down. Near the park by the entrance to Oriel Davies, there is a bit of road that is hard to cross and confusing.

Here is what we hope could change

• More lighting
• Safer places to cross
• More plants and colour
• Confusion dots for safety
• Dropped curbs for scooters
• Places to play, even simple things like painted hopscotch
• Smoother roads with an Italian speed bump
• More rubbish bins
• A bridge with LED lights that mimic nature

We want our park to feel safe without bullying. We would love to see more people on the street because sometimes we feel a bit followed. We would also like more knit and natters and more company.

Rights of Nature
We care about our river and believe it has a right to flow freely, to be clean, and to be protected. Lots of people in Wales are talking about Rights of Nature, which means nature has its own voice and value.

Our hopes
Joyfully, we hope all this colour and creativity might attract more events, maybe even Comic Con. There is a lot of research about Active Travel in the area, and we think our voice is important.

We have also added a map, some posters, and a few other items so you can get a feel for what we are thinking.

Please tell us you care too because the world needs more heroes.

What a hero is
To us, a hero is kind, caring, and strong. We want to be heroes for our community and we see these qualities in our families and friends.

This project started with thinking about where we walk but really we have been imagining a place where children can play and dream, a place for everyone.

Thank you for reading our letter.