FLOW is a festival of bold and imaginative arts and culture made with, by and for Children in Birmingham and Sandwell, produced and curated by The Parakeet for the Birmingham 2022 Festival.
FLOW aims to empower Children by placing them in the centre of the action and in doing so make for a captivating and exciting program of events throughout the summer of 2022.
We'll see a large scale child-built functional installation in the magnificent Warley Woods with Woodland Tribe and Cloud Cuckoo Land, a pop-up Children's creative studio designed by children from The Virtual Schools (LACE) in collaboration with architectural practice Matt + Fiona and local designer/maker Lisa Lucy Gakunga. The Glue Collective will be popping up across the programme creating much needed opportunities for children with complex needs and disabilities through inclusive loose parts play sessions and Flow Artist Development is a free programme of talks, workshops, book clubs and screenings exploring creative and playful pedagogy.
Our Mission: To Create the best beginnings of a distributed multi-artform Children's biennial starting in neighbourhoods and communities in Birmingham and Sandwell in 2022.
Good creative and cultural experiences are seen when Children experience FLOW.
The Organisers
The Parakeet is a collaborative children’s art studio for child(hood) centred community work. Working to explore the possibilities for positive change when we are in community and organising around childhood and with children, and the scaffolding that enables children’s creativity, joy and personal agency to flourish in their community.
The Parakeet founded Growing Up Green, a children’s arts festival that supports environmental activism and biophilia in childhood throughout Birmingham and the Black Country during The Great Big Green Week supported by the Climate Coalition.