How exciting to be outside and with people for the week, especially after the last year of working from home in my front room!

It’s been ‘all systems go’ for the Stand + Stare team as we are installing a brand new interactive visitor experience at WWT Slimbridge. The project, Generation Wild, is a bold step for us, taking our immersive storytelling skills into an outdoor environment, in the form of an audio trail, puppet performance, participatory nature-based activities and a website that will keep primary school children and their families engaged by following the adventures of our heroine, Ava as she travels south to fulfil her destiny.

Listening to Water Vole via a Translatorphone

After spending the winter concocting Ava’s adventures and collaborating with our team of affiliates, this week we are testing out the tech, checking the sound levels on the Slimbridge nature reserve and seeing how much the kids like Ava and the trail we’ve designed for them.

Working with real-life groups of school children again, after a sizable pandemic is like springing back to life. We’ve met some of them on zoom already, but nothing can beat their excited chatter as they spot the pink flamingos and coo sweetly at the playful otters. Their insuppressible giggles as they chase a gaggle of geese along the path is good medicine for the soul (theirs and mine!)... And that’s what this project is all about:

The brief that WWT set out for us is to build on the Five Pathways to Nature research which shows that in order to build a lasting connection with nature, it’s not facts and figures that capture people's imagination and engage their hearts, the magic happens through their senses, through beauty, emotion, compassion and in finding a sense of meaning. It’s through these 5 pathways that their behaviour towards, and engagement with the natural world can change.

And that’s why it feels such a good fit - as every good story involves beauty, emotion, meaning, compassion and sensory stimulation… and storytelling lies at the heart of Stand + Stare! Co-Director Lucy Telling and her husband, Tim Telling, have been busy scribbling away to conjure up the adventures of Ava and her creature friends, whilst illustrator Mirian Serafin and puppet-maker Jess Jones have visually brought her to life!

Another trademark of Stand + Stare is the user-friendly blend of digital technology with physical things and so Co-Director Barney Heywood and Barney Livingston, along with basket maker Judit Ivanyosi (aka Wonder Weaver), have been in their element designing Ava’s remarkable translatorphones, which will deliver segments of the story to children and their families as they follow our trail.

Barney and I both have a background in sculpture so we’ve had lots of fun (and a few brain-teasers) working with our fabricator Aron Duckworth to design and build a giant Osprey nest as part of the experience. Seeing the nest arrive at Slimbridge this week is definitely a milestone that’s got more than just the wildlife buzzing.

Working with WWT’s National Formal Learning Manager, Mark Stead, and Slimbridge’s local Learning Manager Sue Belej, we’ve orchestrated an interactive trail and puppet show for 90 school kids this week, and had a blast running round the site with them as they capitalised on the orienteering part of the experience. WWT’s Generation Wild project manager, Charlotte Levene has helped us deliver the logistical information for the schools and gather feedback from pupils and teachers alike. There’s things to tweak - as all good user testing will show - but nothing more magical and affirming than class after class, jumping up and down and cheering with Ava in her giant nest as she works out who she is and what she has to do….

Stay tuned to find out more about her, and see where Ava will be off to next!

User testing at WWT Slimbridge

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