We were over the moon when we were awarded ten Unboxed2022 Youth and Community Access Grants to run community trips from across the UK to SeeMonster in Weston Super Mare.

STEAM POWER

SeeMonster started life as an exploration platform in the North Sea which was decommissioned after a life helping power the UK economy.

It was recently repurposed as a work of art on the beach in Weston Super Mare to inspire and engage audiences to think about reuse, renewables and the great British weather.

One of ten project within the government’s £120m Unboxed2022 Festival of Creativity and Innovation, it set out to showcase the UK’s STEAM strengths in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths.

Initially set to cost around £10m (final figure was expected to be revealed in but omited from a report in 2023) and due to be open to the public for the summer, SeeMonster is reported to have run over budget (alledgedly £15m) and was three months late opening.

It was to be scrapped after just 8 weeks opening to the public (having been extended from 6 weeks after public outcry)

We launched a petition calling on parliament to release funding to enable it to remain open for another year.

WHAT A WASTE!

“It breaks may heart to think they’re going to cut SeeMonster up after spending so much money and only being open to the public for a few weeks” said Billy Dare, a Great Grandad who visited on one of our trips from Newport, South Wales. “I’ll never forget the sight of all those steam locos that were sent to be cut up at the scrap yard at Barry Island.

Billy was a fireman on the steam locos of the Great Western Railway and used to work on the line to Barry Island.

“SeeMonster is incredible and so inspiring for all our kids. I can’t wait to see what my great grand children think of it! And if they’ll help me save it. Who knows maybe it could be set up at Barry Island one day, where all those fabulous steam locos were cut up!”

A BEACON FOR A REVOLUTION

Billy was taken to see SeeMonster on Tuesday 25th October on one of our community trips. This saw a diverse group of people from Coventry, Notting Hill, Coventry, Cardiff, etc visit SeeMonster.

“The response from everyone we’ve taken to SeeMonster has been the same” said Nick Corston, Dad and Co-founder of STEAM Co. “While many fell in love with it, everyone was appalled that after such an investment of tax payers’ money, SeeMonster is to be scrapped after just 8 weeks

“We passionately feel SeeMonster should be saved, it can be a beacon for the Creativity Revolution our Children, Our Communities and Our Country so desperately need”.

WE SAVED SEE MONSTER

Yes and we have already taken it to schools and community events across the UK.

See the film above on World Creativity Day where we launched the #CreativityRevolution23 at a Primary School in the shadow of the Ironbridge Gorge, birthplace of the Industiral Revolution and built a 100m tall #OurSeeMonster in their playground from cardboard, code and creativity.

PARLIAMENT EVENT

We held two events on Friday 25th November in and around Parliament Square to:

• Presentation of the petition to Culture Minister, Michelle Donelan at DCMS

• Projection of our Charity Film Awards entry onto the Houses of Parliament - sadly we were busted by the police and will have to reschedule this. It seems driving round parliament square with a picture of an oil rig (gas?) on the side of your van is not a good look!

It’s not to late to sign the petition if you haven’t

We’ll be restreaming a film of the evnieng at 9pm on Monday 28th November.

PLEASE NOTE: This is in no way intended as a party political act but a response to a call from the community following our trips to SeeMonster.

SEEMONSTER’S LAST DAY LIVE STREAM

We were live from the sea front at Weston Super Mare - 7 - 9pm Sunday 20th Nov, SeeMonsters last day.

ABOUT STEAM Co.

We’re a non-profit communiter enterprise that lives and breathes to Champion, Inspire and Ignite Creativity in our Schools, Work and Lives founded by the community of a primary school eleven years ago.

We’re on a Mission to Ignite a Creativity Revolution to Inspire a Million Kids to Aim Higher than High powered by their Creativity and Community by holding sessions in School Communities, Fetes and Festivals across the UK.

IGNITING A CREATIVITY REVOLUTION

This, our #IGNITE22 year

We’ve been interested in and excited about #Unboxed2022 since we were briefed on it by the then culture minister Jeremy Wright in 2018, but in the end they were after ten big £10m or so projects, which we did pitch for but our interest lies more in grassroots creativity within schools into and with the communities they serve.

The film below shows our journey over the last four years and our ambition for our #Ignite22 year and into 2023

The launch of the #OurMIllion22 campaign to

‘Raise a Million Quids to Inspire a Million Kids to AIm Higher than High in life’

By putting up to 22 of our Pop-Up Creativity Day Art Trucks and STEAMsters on the road.

ABOUT UNBOXED2022

This £120m government funded project set out to champion and showcase UK creativity and innovation, primarity through the country’s STEAM strengths (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) both to promote the UK globally and connect us locally. It had a global audience target of 66million.

To quote its director Martin Green (London 2012 ceremonies, Hull 2017, Commonwealth games 2023) it set out to deliver ten “Big, Bold and Ambitious” projects. SeeMonster certainly ticked all those boxes.

We’ve been grateful to them for their support with Sam Hunt, their Creative Director appearing on several of our Community Live Streams and funding from the Unboxed Youth and Community Access Fund for our Unboxed22 Tour

We’ve been saddened at his reluctance to discuss the project since when we’ve asked him questions about the Unboxed2022 Festival and been surprised he doesn’t include it in his description when speaking at events.