The project was independently evaluated by Crave Arts.
The Severn Rising 2222 was an ambitious year-long project, aiming to bring to life, through illustration and an interactive animated game, Worcester in 2222, flooded and consumed by nature. The project explored themes of climate change, human consumption and pollution through workshops, a touring exhibition and online product.
Sarah Millin (Sarah) and Andrew Round (Andy) were the Project Organisers and Artistic Leads. Their declared ambitions for the project were 4-fold: to create a fun interactive game, to add value to a range of cultural venues in Worcester, to paint a picture of a future where humans have been forced to abandon Worcester due to climate change, and to convey a strong environmental message that would raise awareness and make a positive change in Worcester and beyond.
This Arts Council England (ACE) funded project included a number of specific planned outputs and outcomes. This report is the culmination of independent evaluation which happened in real time during the project’s delivery, assessing how far those outputs and outcomes were delivered.
The report demonstrates significant successes:
Strong partnership working
High quality artistic product – both the creative illustration workshops and the development of an engaging, digital interactive game – as evidenced in participant feedback
The responsiveness of the Project team to listen and to adapt their work as the project rolled out, resulting in a final creative product being successful as an online game
Strong environmental messaging conveyed creatively, impactfully, and resulting in people’s desire to take action on climate change
The report highlights three areas for improvement to take into future projects:
Marketing and promotion – clarity of roles and understanding partners’ capacity/challenges - to gain increased engagement
Reaching a broader demographic of participants
Consideration at the start of bringing in marketing support earlier to meet compressed timescales
Finally, the report shows the legacy of the project and the next steps being considered by the Project Organisers.
Executive Summary
