Blooming Ludus is an international participatory theatre company dedicated to advocating for climate justice and a sustainable future through creative expressions and a cross-cultural focus. Established in 2015, Blooming Ludus connects people, art, and the environment through community workshops, story gathering, and devising to create performances where the audience is invited to co-author and ask questions. The company is co-led by Francine Dulong, a performance artist from Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia, Canada), and Haeweon Yi, a Korean theatremaker based in the UK. This unique multiculturalism allows the company to approach climate issues from a multifaceted perspective, incorporating diverse cultural perspectives and welcoming communities from different backgrounds into the discussion and audience. Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, we have consistently hosted a series of online events called ‘Climate Justice Tea Time’, aimed at fostering international connections among artists advocating for climate justice. Our upcoming projects include The Tusket River Project, a socially engaged art project combining archival research, river ecology and participatory art practice in Kespukwitk, Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia, Canada, Arts Nova Scotia funded); and Moving a Forest, a game-theatre project about saving forests in the climate crisis, developed in collaboration with Korean artist, Borahm Kim.

Our journey commenced in 2015, propelled by our shared curiosity ignited by news of the impending UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. Our aim was clear: to utilise applied and participatory theatre as vehicles for dissecting the vast concept of climate change into digestible fragments. Through this approach, we sought to collectively explore, understand, and confront this pressing issue within our communities.