What next? After this weirdest of years, what does the future hold for Fireraisers?

What a year. Highs, lows, beatings of heads against walls when having to make 3 different versions of a future plan to accommodate ever-changing restrictions. Which is of course as nothing, compared to the very real horror of the world situation. It’s been – and continues to be - a lot. But there is light on the horizon…

We’re proud we’re still here. That we made Light Up Lewes!, supported by Farnham Maltings and Amazing Madame Midnight, supported by Arts Council. We worked with some wonderful collaborators: creative producer Judith Hibberd, Chris Rolls of 64 Million Artists, filmmakers Will Andrews and Jake Harvey, illustrator and graphic designer Galia Pike, the residents of Lewes, Sir John Tomlinson, musician Danny Vice-Holt and an online community of co-creators from Lewes, London, Liverpool & Glasgow & several points in between - with word-spreading from Lewes Depot, Sussex Express, Latest TV, Radio Sussex, Lewes Castle, Harvey’s Brewery. I’m sure I’ve forgotten some people, for which I apologise – but it turns out that this year, we actually managed to pack in a lot and ‘meet’ some great people. My God am I longing to get to meet them all in person! The virus may thrive on human contact, but unfortunately, so do humans. There isn’t any substitute for gathering together in the hopes of being part of a bit of magic – or at the very least, a laugh and a drink afterwards with your mates. Here’s hoping we all get to hang out together again very soon.

And now it’s time to look to the future. What do we want it to look like? For what do we need to take responsibility and re-examine and change? Most of us realise that Covid is not the real problem. If you seek the cause, it’s rooted in the destruction of our planet. Say we vaccinate this virus away – there’ll be another. Or floods or eathquakes or power cuts or any number of disasters. Covid is but the tip of the melting iceberg and we have to act now to address the climate emergency. We may already be too late.

We’re by no means experts – but we’ve been talking to people who are. Our AD, Polly Wiseman, interviewed various experts who predict the future in some way for their job, from which we’ll start developing a theatrical treasure hunt, on and offline (in Sussex woodlands) to help uncover our ideal futures. The piece will address the climate emergency in a fun and engaging – yet urgent - way. Midnight is always a deadline…

We’ll be making the piece with our community here in Lewes and a wider one online. If you’d like to be involved, follow us on our socials (click the icons at the bottom of the page) or join our mailing list HERE