Climate change doesn’t impact everyone equally.
For people with learning disabilities, it often deepens existing barriers to independence, health, and safety. Yet their voices remain some of the least heard in climate conversations.
Immersive Event
A new event hosted by OpenStoryTellers, in partnership with Green & Healthy Frome, is changing that.
Taking place on Thursday 10th July at Frome Town Hall, OpenStoryTellers Take 2 on Climate Change revisits the acclaimed exhibition An All Round Hullabaloo, first shown at Black Swan Arts in 2024. This intimate afternoon of film, art, and discussion shines a light on how the climate crisis intersects with disability, and how creativity can serve as a catalyst for justice.
Asking Questions
The exhibition grew from a months-long collaboration between artists with learning disabilities and professional facilitators, exploring climate themes through storytelling, art installations, textiles, animation and film. The result is a moving and accessible creative response to the question: Does climate change affect us all equally?
At the heart of the event is a new film about the ‘making of’ An All Round Hullabaloo. The film tracks the creative process, from early ideas to public exhibition, and showcases OpenStoryTellers’ unique way of working – empowering learning disabled artists to take a lead role in creating art, music and drama which often explores and challenges discrimination and inequity.
We’ll also present one of the original exhibits ‘Journeys Through Time and Climate’, a collaborative video installation inspired by real-life bus journeys through the Somerset countryside. Blending animation, live action, and vivid illustration, the film traces the changing landscape, and the changing climate, through the eyes of four of the OpenStoryTeller artists.
Hearing from the Artists Themselves
The afternoon includes an exhibition of the original artwork and a panel discussion with the artists and their creative team. Audiences will hear first-hand how climate change is showing up in their daily lives – and why inclusion must be central to climate action. It’s both poetic and urgent, revealing the unique vulnerabilities faced by those who rely on public transport, community spaces, and social care.
Howard Vause, the animator and film-maker who worked with the OpenStoryTellers artists to realise this film, says of this collaboration:
“As we travel through changing seasons, we reflect on how climate change will shape future journeys, where the landscape of today might look very different tomorrow. But this is no ordinary bus ride: the rolling hills of Somerset carry echoes of ancient myths and medieval stories, turning a simple commute into a passage through time. Each trip becomes an adventure, connecting past, present, and future, with nature as both guide and companion.”
“Climate change is already affecting people with learning disabilities, yet they’re too often excluded from planning, policy, and public conversation,” says Annabel Crooke from Green & Healthy Frome. “This event brings their perspectives to the centre, where they belong.”
Join us for an inspiring afternoon that challenges how we think – and how we listen – about climate change. Together, we can build a future where everyone’s voice counts.
EVENT DETAILS:
OpenStoryTellers Take 2 on Climate Change
Thursday 10th July 2025 – 1:00 – 3:00 PM
Frome Town Hall – Free Entry (Booking Required)
Register here
About OpenStoryTellers
OpenStoryTellers is a charity based in Frome, Somerset. OpenStoryTellers works to elevate the voices of people with learning disabilities by giving them a platform to share stories about what matters to them, and to bring about change. OpenStoryTellers’ ethos is around collaboration – working with people to find the form of expression that works for them and co-creating content that celebrates neurodiversity and inclusion.
OpenStoryTellers