Future Calling Film – A Message from 2050

We are excited to share a short film Future Calling – A Message from 2050, created by 12 & 13 year olds in Glasgow during May-June 2020 in lockdown, as part of Future Calling, a climate change and arts project by Eco Drama.

Led by artist Ben Mali for S1 and S2 pupils at Boclair Academy, Future Calling addressed young people’s responses to the climate emergency through online discussion, visioning exercises, games, nature activities, arts and media, to creatively reconfigure climate change as a symptom of much bigger issues around the way we relate to each other and the natural world.

The original film created by Ben, acted as a provocation, telling the story of a future world where humans have not made the necessary changes to avert climate destruction. Although initially presenting a dystopian future, the film and creative process engaged and empowered young people to realise that they have the autonomy and power to create an alternative future, and that change can be made now in 2020.

In response, they recorded their own visionary future messagesDespite the strangeness of leading such a big project in isolation, they tuned in, engaged, and did amazingly. It has been a boost of hope to hear the courage, eloquence and clarity in the messages they sent.

We are extremely proud of the films and creative responses created by each young person as part of the project. They have shown the power that imagination and creativity have in our lives. To ask ‘What If…’ is to enrich, empower and re-imagine not only our daily lives, but a future that benefits both the natural world and humankind.

At Eco Drama, we are humbled and grateful to work with children and young people in the work that we do. It keeps us grounded, inspired and motivated, it makes us laugh often, and we are always, always learning. Mostly, it keeps us hopeful.

We hope you enjoy watching this film.

To watch the full films created by each young person, please visit Eco Drama’s You Tube playlist channel Future Calling.

These films will be showcased at a Glasgow-wide celebration event ahead of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Glasgow in 2021.

Eco Drama would like to thank Ben Mali Macfadyen for his tireless energy, creativity and commitment to this project and the work of Eco Drama, and for nurturing connected and inspired relationships with young people in Glasgow during lockdown.

Ben’s Future Calling blog contains some reflections that emerged through the process, along with some tools for speaking to young people about the uncertain future we face.

To follow this project further, sign up to our social media feeds on Facebook and Twitter, or join our mailing list.

If your school would like to participate in the Future Calling project from September 2020, please get in touch.

The Future Calling project is gratefully supported by Education Scotland’s Creative Curriculum Fund and the Glasgow Centre for Population Health.