The Walking Neighbourhood returned to Bagot for a second year to build upon our time spent with the Bagot Community OSHC’s children – once again as part of Darwin Festival. Hundreds of festival goers, most whom had never been to Bagot before, had the chance to take a walking tour, guided by the local children.
This year we toured the Bagot community neighbourhood from the community hall to the OSHC (Outside School Hours Care) centre. With “Follow the leader, leader, leader, follow the leader!” pumping from a boom box, audiences were given a taste of Bagot. At OSHC the audience split into three groups and rotated around the centre. The children told stories about the dogs of Bagot at an outdoor photo gallery, versed the visitors in basketball, showed off their new graffiti artworks and introduced the resident snake and turtle. Before the children led everyone back to the Bagot Festival main stage, they hit their very own neon stage in the OSHC backyard and treated the audiences to a dance-off Bagot style!
The artists spent two weeks in the community prior to the show, running a range of workshops with the children and chatting about what the children were keen to share with the audience about their community.