Flagship Projects
MULTI-DIMENSIONAL COMMUNICATION & STORYTELLING
As Mycelium we collaborate with others on projects, offer our services and create our own initiatives, currently our flagship projects include Water Stories, an online platform and community connection campaign; 5050 inserts for the environmental TV show; and Green Action Week, a joint action campaign to promote sustainable consumption at the community, country, regional and international levels.
Water Stories
A CELEBRATION OF WATER
WaterStories.co.za is a storytelling website and a community connection campaign that explores freshwater and ocean contamination around Cape Town, created in collaboration with researchers at the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape. The objective is to create a paradigm shift in the way we engage with water in the greater Cape Town region, from Commodity to Shared Commons, in a context with people who are struggling with polluted and toxic waters downstream of waste-water treatment works and outfalls, and industrial agriculture runoff. The website aims to support citizen choices for a clean environment; equip communities to recognise that any injury to water is an injury to all; that working for clean water is working for health for all.
The website design and identity is inspired by water – using water colour images, wash backgrounds and underwater photography. An interactive map on the website helps navigate the stories, and our Blog and Calendar provides updates, events and developments to see the full picture of the water story of Cape Town. We also host workshops and discussion spaces that cultivate connection, support and knowledge-sharing, such as the online Community Connection, A Ripple Effect with activists, scientists and creatives within the water sector, and the Water Commons Workshop. We have also produced two 50|50 TV programme episodes: Cape Town Stink, Mother Nature’s Tunes and Cape Town’s Wetlands.
50/50 TV Stories
OUR PLANET, OUR FUTURE
Our work with Water Stories was a catalyst for creating water-related content for the SABC2 television show, 50/50.
We have produced two inserts for different seasons of the environmental show, Cape Town Stink, Mother Nature’s Tunes and Cape Town’s Wetlands in addition to other content for this long-standing TV programme, which includes a profile on Makoma Lekalakala, the environmental justice activist and a story on sustainable fashion. Mycelium member, Kia Johnson, is the host for this national environmental tv show.
About 50/50: This is a South African environmental television program that has aired on SABC since 1984. The show seeks to deliver content on wildlife, conservation and environmental subjects with a focus on South Africa. The show’s name 50/50 refers to the fifty fifty balance between humans and nature. It is one of the longest running environmental programs on air in the world. It has been broadcast on SABC 1, SABC 2, and SABC 3 at various times during its history; currently it is broadcast on SABC 2. It is broadcast during prime-time from 19:00 to 20:00 on Monday.
Green Action Week
A SHARING COMMUNITY FOR SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION
Green Action Week is a global sustainable consumption campaign (www.greenactionweek) in which about 40 environmental and social justice organisations around the world hold a series of activities in October each year that illustrate the concept of Sharing Community. This year, for the first time, Green Action Week is extending its reach and is being opened up to public participation.
Mycelium holds the framework agreement for Green Action Week comprising conceptualisation of campaign planning tools, communications coaching (organisational storytelling, photography, social media and campaign communications) and support and communications for the actual campaign. We used a conceptual brainstorming approach to better understand the topic of Sharing Community and what it means to different stakeholders. We developed a planning pack for participants to plan their campaign – which can be found here. Mycelium has also completed a website redesign for this year’s campaign, adding a press section (in progress) with newly developed basic guidelines for media and participants to use when sharing and widening the reach of the campaign.
We are continuing to work on illustrating the systemic challenges and lock-ins to unsustainable consumption with our Mycelium network – working on collaborative platforms like Miro. We also piloted SSNC’s first sustainable consumption envisioning workshop in Africa – which works with participants to support them in visioning futures in which we consume sustainably. We will now design and facilitate online workshops to train Green Action Week participants in undertaking these envisioning future workshops with their own communities. The results will be graphically harvested and displayed in a digital gallery in 2024. This project falls into a larger research project by Mistra in collecting and documenting different understandings and visions of sustainable consumption around the world.
In association with Green Action Week in 2022, we produced the Anthology for Sustainable Consumption which presents a collection of viewpoints, experiences and case studies that illustrate the need for a transition to sustainable consumption and production. This compilation emphasises the urgency with which we need to act to bring a better world for all into being. For this layout, we designed bespoke graphics that speak to the themes identified, with the cover illustrated in a similar style.
Client: Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC)
