Our Village

A collaborative arts project for kids presented by The Village Festival in collaboration with the Castlemaine State Festival and Murnong Mamas.

From a city grows a garden.

Calling all kids aged 5–12 and your families! Join us at The Village Square, 44 Frederick Street Castlemaine to build an extraordinary cardboard city full of imaginative creations in all shapes and sizes with native seeds imbedded in the material. Once the sculpture is finished at the end of the festival, it will be flooded with water, and from there a native garden will grow.

Responding creatively to the current climate crisis and imagining solutions only children could ever dream of, you’ll see floating farms, solar panel hats and giant chickens included.

Led by a diverse mix of facilitators, including a renowned cardboard sculptor, an Indigenous gardener, a children’s performer, an Environments academic and a community art facilitator, you’re sure to leave thinking about our future in new and imaginative ways.

Lead Artist: Tim Sneddon
Research and Development: Benjamin Hooper
Cardboard Artist: Eliza Jane Gilchrist
Gardener: Ira Barker
Facilitators: Suzanne Kalk and Tim Sneddon
Production Designer: Stuart Vaskess