WavemakersGC
Youth Climate Project
Are you a teacher at a Gold Coast secondary school?
Do you teach Drama, Media Studies, STEAM, Science or Visual Arts?
Are you looking for a creative project to engage your students around Climate, Sustainability and Resilience?
Wavemakers GC is an exciting and innovative new project that is FREE for schools to be part of.
Hear what it’s all about!
GET INVOLVED
Expressions of interest are now open for schools interested in participating in the initial brainstorming workshops, the full project or both. The project is 100% free for schools to participate.
Fill out the form below or contact us at admin@shocktherapyarts.com if you have any questions
EOI’S close on 18th September, 2026
WHAT
The project will involve participating schools each receiving a set of creative provocations or starting points for students to work from. Schools will also receive an info pack containing key information data relating to climate and sustainability and how it relates to the Gold Coast.
Each school will then take these “prompts” and come up with their own creative response. Groups will be encouraged to use the stimulus however it best serves them; some may want to bring a piece to life exactly as it is written, others may want to latch onto one idea and use it as a springboard for something entirely new, or make a counter-piece or companion-piece to it.
The form of the response is entirely up to each group and could be a live performance, a short film, a mural, an interactive installation, or a piece of digital content.
The Shock Therapy Arts team would visit each school once during this creating phase, to assist them with their ideas. This may be helping shape their concept, or the execution of their Creative Response.
Once completed, the participating schools will gather at the Broadbeach Cultural Centre on the Gold Coast to share their work with each other. It will also be an opportunity for family, friends and others in their school community to attend, along with key decision makers, such as local councillors or ambassadors, in order to increase the works chances of having an impact in the ‘real-world’, beyond the life of this project.
WHO
The project will target secondary school students from grades 8 - 10 (older groups are welcome to apply) across a range of curriculum areas including Science, English, Drama, Media Studies, and STEM/STEAM.
Selected schools will represent a cross section of local students from various regions of the City, with balanced representation of gender and State and Private schools.
WHY
The project aims to amplify the voices of Gold Coast youth on climate action, through their engagement in creative expression and interdisciplinary arts. The project will deepen young people’s understanding of climate systems, provide a safe and supported way for them to process Eco-anxiety, and allow them to explore complex problems using critical and creative thinking.
The theme of RESILIENCE is intended to be a unifying element to both identify challenges and also ways to move through them using the attributes of preparation and adaptability. The goal is is for them to feel heard, empowered, and to feel a sense of hope for the future by drawing a link between creative expression and real-world impacts.
WHEN
Expression of Interest are now open and participating schools will be selected by the end of Term 3, 2026.
The info packs will then be sent out to participating schools in Term 4, 2026. This allows schools to plan in advance and integrate the project into their chosen subject curriculum or school syllabus.
Schools will have Term 1 and 2, 2027 to work on their creative responses. This is entirely up to each school as to how this is time is structured. It could be part of a regular class or as an extracurricular activity. During this time, each school will have the opportunity to engage Shock Therapy Arts to come to their school and give feedback on their project.
The outcome event will be held at the Broadbeach Cultural Centre at the end of Term 2, 2027 (date TBC).
KEY DATES
EOI’s open to schools - NOW
EOI’s close - End of Term 3, 2026
Participating schools notified - Start of Term 4, 2026
Packs sent out to schools - Mid Term 4, 2026
Schools work on their creative outcome - Term 1, 2027
Workshop with Shock Therapy Arts - Term 1, 2027
Outcome Day - Term 2, 2027
Wavemakers GC is a City of Gold Coast initiative and is delivered through a collaboration between the City’s Arts and Culture and Climate, Resilience and Sustainability Units, and Shock Therapy Arts.