In August 2026, Wild Wings of Hope joined the Edinburgh International Book Festival for three days of family creativity inspired by one of the city’s most remarkable summer visitors—the swift.
The project unfolded in two parts.
It began with a joyful takeover of the Children’s Tent, where environmental artist Ed Harrison and Ghanaian storyteller and musician Chief Gift Amu combined papercraft, stories, songs and participatory drumming, to celebrate the swifts’ extraordinary journey between the UK and Africa.
Over the next two days, families created paper swifts and clouds in the Discovery Zone, adding them to a collective installation—a flock that continued to grow throughout the festival.
What We Delivered (over 3 days)
Families created & decorated paper swifts, transforming individual artworks into a growing community flock.
Chief Gift Amu led African rhythms & songs, bringing families together through movement, music & shared energy.
Interactive stories followed the swifts’ remarkable migration between Scotland & Africa, blending imagination with nature-connection.
Ecological facts & hopeful messages about swifts, sharing Scotland’s new law requiring swift bricks to provide nesting spaces in new housing developments.
The Papercraft
Across all three days, families were invited to create and decorate their own paper swifts while discovering more about these remarkable summer visitors.
In the Children’s Tent, each session opened around the craft tables. With support from Ed and the festival team, families assembled their birds before bringing them into the storytelling circle.
The making continued over two days in the Discovery Zone, where SCHOOLS added paper swifts and clouds to a growing collective installation.
With every new participant, another bird joined the flock—transforming the space and celebrating what can be created when many hands contribute to something together.
Stories & Songs
With their finished birds in hand, families gathered on rugs and beanbags for interactive storytelling, songs and participatory drumming led by Ghanaian storyteller, master folklorist and musician Chief Gift Amu.
Holding up a single paper bird, Ed introduced families to one of the smallest and most extraordinary visitors to Scotland’s summer skies: a tiny bird that spends almost its entire life in the air and migrates thousands of miles between Scotland and Africa.
Music-Making with Migrating Swifts
Through ecological facts, imaginative play and messages of hope, families explored their connection with swifts. They also discovered Scotland’s plans to require swift bricks in specified new buildings, creating vital spaces for birds to nest.
Gift Amu brought migration to life through African rhythms, participatory songs and movement. With paper birds in hand, children warmed up their wings and imagined music travelling between continents with the swifts.
What began with one small paper bird soon became a flock—making, moving and singing together.
Project outcomes:
- Creative learning: Introducing children and families to the remarkable lives and migrations of swifts through playful, hands-on papercraft.
- Community making: Bringing individual birds together into a shared flock, celebrating creativity and collective participation.
- Music & connection: Bringing families together through African drumming, rhythm, movement and shared song.
- Nature connection: Inspiring curiosity, wonder and care for migratory birds and the places they depend upon.
- Cross-cultural storytelling: Connecting Scotland and Africa through migration, traditional storytelling, craft and live music.
- Hope & coexistence: Exploring how communities can make space for wildlife and inspiring hope for a shared future.
Wild Wings of Hope in AR
An Augmented Reality experience that extends Wild Wings of Hope into healthcare settings, bringing craft and digital storytelling together to support reflection, wellbeing and nature-connection.
National Museums Scotland launch
A three-day celebration of papercraft, oral storytelling and conservation, marking the public launch of Wild Wings of Hope during the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2025 and Black History Month Scotland.
