Exploring the Future of Lincoln

Exploring the Future of Lincoln

Zest is spending the first 3 months of 2022 facilitating an ambitious new research project with over 1,000 young people across our home city!

Commissioned by city-wide partners in Lincoln, Zest will meet 1,250 young people between January and March 2022. Over 50 workshops will be delivered in schools, colleges, and community groups, making space for Lincoln’s children and young people to share their vision for the future of the city.

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New work for Spring / Summer 2021

New work for Spring / Summer 2021

The last 12 months have taken their toll on Young People. They are facing a mental health crisis. Young people need culture and creativity more than ever before. Zest, therefore, has to respond with impactful work that can happen despite the pandemic, whilst serving the needs of Gen-Z. We’ve always worked outside the box, fearlessly pushing preconceptions of form and what a small-scale company can achieve. This new work for Spring / Summer 2021 is no different. This is the beginning of our response.

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We Deserve Better - Letting Young People speak for themselves

We Deserve Better - Letting Young People speak for themselves

Our second week of Youthquake research and development brought us to Hartlepool. The young people in Hartlepool had a strong sense that the system is stacked against them and apathetic to their needs. Within these stories, however, there was a determination that the narrative of deprivation in Hartlepool would not be an endless cycle. Not all young people want to leave their home city for something better – they wanted to solve the problems and change their home for the better.

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How To Start A Youthquake?

How To Start A Youthquake?

Catch up on our first week of Youthquake Research and Development, as the Zest Creative Team headed to Norwich and Lincoln to delve into the lives and minds of teen Britain. We were excited. We were nervous. There’s nothing quite like starting to write a new show. The possibilities of what you could create are almost endless. At the end of R&D phase, the blank white page you started with is full of stories, all crafted together to make a proper script.

But where do we start?

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Understanding Difference - a look back on the R&D for Zest's 2017 production

Understanding Difference - a look back on the R&D for Zest's 2017 production

Living in Britain, it could be hard to imagine growing up in a country like Australia. Over time you realise people make judgements about you based on where you’re from before getting to know you. For some, the questions (and the judgements) are far worse than “do you have a pet kangaroo?”

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Learning to Listen - my experience of making Zest's new show

Learning to Listen - my experience of making Zest's new show

How do you react to someone who thinks completely unlike you? It turns out that joining an R&D process for a show about difference, otherness and broken communities was the perfect opportunity for me to learn how to listen.

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In Safe Hands - some thoughts on the next generation and the future of Britain

In Safe Hands - some thoughts on the next generation and the future of Britain

Last week saw us begin the process of making a brand new show. A show about difference and how the fear of those ‘other’ to us can spill into hate. And what a week we chose to begin that process.

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