Methods and Timeline: Tree Tour, Development 2
 

Project Duration

This development will take place over three weeks, full-time, across April – May 2025.

 

Project Location

Research, development, and documentation will be carried out in public green spaces across the City of Melbourne as well as at my studio in Boyd Community Hub, Southbank.

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Week One – Refining Artistic Materials & Audience Engagement + Consultations

• Further develop choreographic and participatory methods

  • Test and refine movement-based approaches for audience interaction with trees.

  • Develop accessible and flexible prompts that allow for varied levels of participation.

  • Ensure methods work within a ‘group tour’ setting while allowing for personal engagement.

  • Refine ways for audiences to experience the trees through movement, perception, and embodied listening.

  • Develop ways to guide participants into exploratory, self-directed interactions while ensuring a coherent experience.

• Brainstorm and test ideas for a tour script and dramaturgy

  • Workshop ideas for how to structure the work for audiences, the order of exercises and how choreographic/embodied elements might be integrated with walking between tour stops and the tour script/facilitation.

• Plan for consultations

  • Prepare artistic materials and conceptual information about Tree Tour to share

  • Research people I’m meeting with and write questions to ask them.

• Consult with Indigenous cultural knowledge holders

  • Meet with Boon Wurrung Elder Aunty Caroline Briggs (confirmed).

  • Meet with Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Elder (tbc).

  • Discuss cultural sensitivities, site-specific storytelling, and Indigenous knowledge systems related to trees.

• Expand research into accessibility and inclusive participation

  • Consult with Arts Access Victoria on neurodivergent, d/Deaf and disabled audience experiences.

  • Refine strategies for ensuring the work is welcoming, safe, and adaptable to different needs.

Week Two – Further Consultation & Artistic Finalisation

• Deepen research into CoM urban ecology & cultural landscape

  • Revisit City of Melbourne’s resources: Exceptional Tree Register, Nature in the City Strategy, Urban Forest Strategy, and Urban Forest Visual.

  • Expand understanding of urban trees’ conservation, history, and role in climate adaptation.

• Consult with conservationists & ecologists

  • Conduct expert interviews, including with City of Melbourne staff and Royal Botanic Gardens specialists.

  • Gather insights into the ecological and environmental aspects of the selected trees.

  • Incorporate scientific perspectives into the tour’s dramaturgy and audience experience.

• Integrate learnings through from consultations/research to finalise artistic materials

  • Weave knowledge and perspectives into the script draft and finalise it

  • Re-appraise and redevelop materials from week 1, given new perspectives gained

  • Weave choreographic/embodied materials together with script to form a draft for the work

• Refine tree selection and tour mapping

  • Reassess trees previously identified in the first development, ensuring selections support a strong dramaturgical arc.

  • Consider audience experience, pacing, accessibility, and ecological/cultural significance.

Week Three – Documentation & Preparation for Future Presentation

• Finalise the show

  • Plot out script/embodied exercises with the tour route to finalise the show.

• Capture high-quality documentation for future applications

  • Take photographs and video recordings of key research processes and movement explorations.

  • Record excerpts of choreographic exercises, audience participation strategies, and interactions with trees.

  • Develop written documentation summarizing methodologies and key insights.

• Begin to prepare materials for final presentation (Melbourne 2026) & regional touring

  • Assess the adaptability of the work for different tree sites within City of Melbourne.

  • Begin considering modifications required for regional touring settings.

  • Compile a support package for presenters, including artistic rationale, access considerations, and audience engagement strategies.