Shield 

SPAN Arts is delighted to announce the Shield – Love Stories to Nature Community Gathering – a free, immersive event taking place in Pembrokeshire on 31 January 2027 as part of the SPAN Arts Love Stories to Nature commissions.

Exploring themes of colonisation, migration, race and climate justice, Shield asks urgent questions about protection, belonging and responsibility. The event explores ways of decolonising how we understand and interact with landscape and environment, drawing inspiration from First Nations perspectives that position people and nature as part of an interconnected whole. Set within ancient woodland at The Urdd Centre, Pentre Ifan, the gathering will offer a powerful and creative exploration of our relationship with nature through sculpture, poetry, community storytelling, theatre and music.

The event forms part of the wider artistic development of Shield, a major new multidisciplinary project by artist Dea Neile-Hopton, commissioned through Unlimited Wales. While connected to the ongoing development of Shield, the gathering is a standalone community event designed to create space for reflection, conversation and collective imagination about our shared future.

The Shield – Love Stories to Nature Community Gathering will mark the first public presentation of the developing Shield sculptures. Throughout the afternoon, audiences will be invited to experience readings from a collection of woodland poems written over six months of seasonal engagement with Welsh woodlands. In collaboration with Playback Theatre, community members will then be encouraged to share stories, memories and reflections inspired by their relationship with nature. These contributions will then be transformed into live improvised performance, creating a unique and deeply participatory theatrical experience. As daylight fades, the gathering will conclude with a special performance from One Voice Choir, celebrating connection, community and reciprocity through song.

Filming will take place throughout the event and will contribute to both the documentary being created as part of the Unlimited commission and a standalone Love Stories to Nature film, allowing the stories and experiences shared on the day to reach wider audiences.

This event is FREE, but we anticipate it selling out, so please book your space in advance on the SPAN website at span-arts.org.uk or call 01834 869323. For accessibility information, please contact info@span-arts.org.uk.