Emerald Ant’s artworks are large scale, outdoor, celebratory and spectacular. We create street theatre, carnival processions, installations and giant costume for outdoor events, often engaging schools and community groups in research and design before creating.
Whilst our most well known artworks are Horace the Pliosaur and Iggy the Iguanodon, the bulk of our work is project based with communities and schools. We initiate projects, raise funds and take commissions; we work in partnership with heritage organisations such as museums, the RSPB, the National Trust and Wildlife Trusts, working with experts to interpret material for workshops, or for art for family audiences.
We have a commitment to helping broaden opportunities for young people. Wherever possible, we link them with others abroad to share their stories and collaborate on joint arts projects. Most of our work takes place in our home area, Dorset, but we work regionally and tour our street theatre nationally.
Our projects are funded by Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, special interest organisations such as The Palaeontological Association and the Curry Fund, and a range of trusts.
For more information about Emerald Ant CIC, our most recent set of accounts, policies and procedures, please email crdirector@emeraldant.com
Who’s involved?
Sarah Butterworth – Creative Director
Sarah has over 15 years’ experience as an artist and arts manager, and worked with Emergency Exit Arts in London before moving to Dorset in 2006. Her formative years were spent in the former Yugoslavia and Iran running arts projects with children in post-conflict and post-earthquake settings. “The cultures in the Balkans and the Middle East stimulated my love of outdoor theatre and street art. Nowadays I’m very involved in the rich heritage Dorset and south west England has to offer, particularly the Jurassic Coast. I am passionate about creating large scale, interactive art for people to explore, play with, and believe this should be freely available to all.” Sarah has a strong commitment to working with young people and linking them across the world through art projects. View her Gallery of work.
Jonny Hoskins – Chair / Performer
Jonny studied drama at Manchester University and trained at the Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris before teaching the Applied Movement syllabus at Oxford School of Drama from 2004 to 2009. Nowadays, he is Senior Lecturer of Drama at Arts University Bournemouth, also a freelance director and actor. Jonny lives with this wife and 3 children in West Dorset. He plays the part of Dr Davidson in Horace the Travelling Pliosaur Cinema. http://www.jonnyanyway.com/
Caroline Barnes – Steering group member
Caroline is a ceramicist and has worked as project manager for a range of community based participatory arts projects for the last 20 years. Working across sectors including health, museums, heritage and education Caroline currently works part time coordinating arts programmes at Yeovil District Hospital NHS Trust, as well as delivering a variety of freelance evaluation and project briefs. Caroline studied Wood, Metal, Ceramics and Textiles at Manchester Metropolitan University followed by an MA in Heritage Studies at Nottingham Trent University and also runs her own Ceramic business from Dorset.
Eileen Haste – Steering group member
“It was in the final year of my drama degree when I decided to work with a drama therapist that I first became enthralled with the potential of working with people in a creative setting. I qualified as a drama therapist in 1993 and then 6 years later focused my work as a freelance community artist and worked in arts in health settings until 2012. I’ve had wonderful opportunities: completing a puppetry apprenticeship in the Czech Republic, running long-term community theatre projects with older people and people with mental health issues in Bristol, working on the millennium procession for a Maori community in Napier, New Zealand, delivering arts projects in Romania. Sarah and I worked together, with several young carers, on the Twin Sails Bridge Opening in Poole. My most recent work has been as Arts Practitioner with the Weldmar Hospicecare Trust. I am struck by the richness that, time allowed, each creative encounter with individuals and groups can have, and how this impacts on wider communities. I hope to bring skills and joy in creating to the wonderful world of Emerald Ant!”
