Living Pictures | Localgiving

Living Pictures

Theatre Arts - Social Inclusion - Sustainable Living

Our story began in 1999 with the formation of a new theatre company dedicated to providing theatre director training at a time where opportunities were thin on the ground. Over time, we developed into a leading training company in London, Cardiff and other parts of the UK. We also developed and toured award-winning pieces of theatre in Wales and internationally.

In recent times, we began to question the meaning of our work and ideology. We felt compelled to dedicate more of our time to living and working sustainably and we felt inspired, as a direct result of our family experience, to help champion and support young people who learn differently.

So... we began a new chapter and bought a piece of land in the Carmarthenshire countryside. Equipped with some old tin shacks, a stream, a meadow and a parcel of woodland, we have weaved together our training work, our passion for the environment, our stage productions and our mission to improve access and inclusion for those who need it most.

The stories that attract us now have an urgency and a relevance for our times. Our minds are inspired by young people who discover their talents and a future off the beaten track. Our hearts welcome all those who wish to keep learning and who seek a sense of community with us in the beauty of the great outdoors.

Living Pictures is a charity which delivers all this at our base Coed Dylan next to Green Castle Woods, Carmarthen.

Our mission is to champion inclusion in our work and to nurture skills and lifelong learning in the natural world.

Elen and Robert Bowman founded Living Pictures in 1999 and are Co-Artistic Directors of the charity.

Why the community needs us
There are a lot of people on the edges of society, more and more people experiencing depression (doctors advocating getting outdoors) and growing numbers of young people who are being missed out by our educational institutions. We provide unique workshops in theatre, arts, gardening projects, wood working projects and environmentally friendly practices for the local community,, supplying training and development for a diverse group of both young and elderly people. We are able to really engage with the people who work in the garden in a non-pressurized, learning way. The benefits are visible with the support workers noting how different they are when they come back from Coed Dylan. Their levels of focus are up, they have a sense of achievement and they are smiling more. As one young man put it:
'Without Coed Dylan, I couldn't cope with school'

More and more young people are using our site, more and more people need a site like ours.

Our impact on the community
Not only our community benefits from Coed Dylan but also the environmental community and other animal species that are struggling to survive. We are able to nuture and develop those that need care and attention both in nature and in the human species.

So far we have created an organic garden, poly-tunnel and compost loo having won a Tesco Bags of Help award. We have formed an association with Queen Elizabeth School in Johnstown who are now visiting us five days a week. Local people were also invited to a site specific evening of theatre in the woods and we were assisted by a local disability crafts group to create paper lanterns for the showing. A lovely elderly gentleman will be buying some wood from us for this log fires.
We need regular funding to help maintain our current activities and develop the sheds into workshop spaces. With Covid -19 we are having more and more young people take part on activities on the land. We need your help and support with this to keep creating spaces they can work in and social distance in to enable access to fresh air and nature.

Volunteers needed

All that we do is mainly on a volunteer basis. We need help in a number of areas and in particular people who are interested in working with young people with educational needs. Ideally to share skills both practical and soft skills.

What your gift could provide

£10

Provides lunch for our High School Volunteers

£30

Buys Materials to upgrade the sheds and projects on the land

£150

A day with a local builder to share skills and help renovate sheds

Fundraise for us!