Parent-Friendly
Art, Culture and Community
The Daylight Collective create art and culture experiences to support parents to connect to their identity and each other. All our events take place in the day, are adult centred but children are always welcome and free to be themselves.
Becoming a parent is a big transition. Parenting is a role of a lifetime, one we firmly believe should be added to a CV! It’s a full time job, teaches us patience, creativity and leadership skills (to name a few!). Care is all too often undervalued in society, rather like the arts. Care and creativity are the two things we hold most precious! We see the power they have, the care and attention needed, the vision and the grit. Our events support parents to have meaningful connections, powerful discussion, explore their creativity and identity and feel empowered in their voice.
The Daylight Collective is founded and produced by Lizzy Humber (Mother / Producer), supported by a small team of creative parents based in the South West: Jenny Cahill (Mother / Dance Artist / Jewellery Designer), Amy Chadney (Mother / Business Coach), Catriona Smith (Parent / Neurodivergent Mentor for Neurodivergent Kids), Amy Thornley-Heard (Mother / Visual Artist) and Ruth Weyman (Mother / Writer / Producer). We have been supported by Exeter Phoenix since 2018. We are supported across the South West by partners and venues, national funders and a local community who see the power in supporting parents.
WHAT’S ON
OUR PROGRAMME:
CREATIVE M/OTHERS CIRCLES
Peer support for m/others with creativity in their bones. Join us at Exeter Phoenix on the last Thursday of the month, for a peer support circle for mothers, non binary, trans and intersex parents. This is a safe space to connect, talk and listen to other creative m/others, to make time for yourself to connect to your creative identity. Together we explore the emergent themes in our m/otherhood and creativity, points of connection between the two roles, points of dissonance, particular challenges and helpful resources. We’ve held 80 circles over the last 7 years, supporting over 1000 m/others.
CREATIVE WORKSHOPS, EXHIBITIONS, GO-SEES AND DISCUSSION SPACES
We have held two Mother Artist visual art exhibitions at Exeter Picturehouse (2023, 2024) and an online photography exhibition Portraits in Lockdown in collaboration with Viola Depcik and Mothers Who Make (2020). We are currently planning for 2026 as part of our next Matrescence and Motherhood project.
We invite brilliant artists to hold workshops, previous artists include Natasha MacVoy (Clay and Writing), Scotty Guillespe (Make a Zine), Perdita Stott (Season of the Witch), Hester Berry (Life Drawing), Nicci Wonnocott (Experimental Drawing), Alice Simpson (Anger and Art), Sophie Doodles (Green Christmas).
In 2020 we held two Open Space events with Improbable, Mothers Who Make, MakeTank and Exeter Phoenix to explore The Future of Motherhood and How to Include Parents in the Arts.
We also organise gallery go-sees, we have visited The Arnolfini Bristol (Acts of Creation), Exeter Phoenix Gallery (Exeter Contemporary Open, Eye Witness), RAMM Museum (Are We Nearly There Yet?).
DAYLIGHT SESSIONS
Bring your kids to daytime gigs! This is a programme of theatre, dance, comedy, music gigs, cinema and talks that take place in the day, are for adults but children are welcome too. We also support parents who are artists to work parent-friendly hours and offer themes that engage parents in conversation or offer access to high quality entertainment - no baby sitter required. We also advocate for parent-accessible programming and support organisations interested in including parents. In 2024-5 we welcomed 2,103 to our live events, 83% of parents surveyed said they would not have been able to attend the event if it was in the evening. Find out more here.
Past events:
May 2024 Daylight Theatre ‘Hags’ with Scratchworks Theatre
July 2024 Daylight Talks with Hettie Judah on Art and Motherhood
October 2024 Daylight Talks with Hannah Silva on Queer Parenting and AI
November 2024 Daylight Poetry with Lily Redwood and Liv Torc
November 2024 Daylight Comedy with Jo Enright. Jenny Collier and Harriet Dyer
January 2025 Daylight Music with Witching Waves and Sound of the Sirens
May 2025 Daylight Music Edgelarks and Samantics
June 2025 Daylight Comedy with Josie Long and Harriet Dyer
July 2024 Daylight Talks with Charlotte Warne Thomas on M O T H E R C A R E: The impossible expectations and invisible labour of modern motherhood
November 2025 Daylight Dance ‘Niplash’ by Karla Shacklock
December 2025 Daylight Cinema ‘Brief Encounter’ part of BFI Season ‘Too Much Melodrama’
December 2025 Daylight Theatre ‘Unstoppable’ by MakeShift Theatre
Daylight Session was supported by Arts Council England May 2024-June 2025
MATRESCENCE AND COMMUNITY
A space for education, village thinking and support in matrescence: the metamorphosis of motherhood. Similar to adolescence, matrescence encompasses significant physical, cognitive, emotional, hormonal, and social changes that reshape a person’s identity and worldview.
We bring together expert speakers, vibrant discussion, nature walks, community singing, yoga, art making, workshops, dancing, with lots of breaks & good food. This work is open to anyone interested in learning more about matrescence. Our spaces are designed for the rhythms of caring responsibilities and access for disabled and neurodivergent parents.
We are currently dreaming about plans for 2026 find out more here.
Past events:
Matrescence Festival UK 20/21 June 2024, Alibi Exeter- Lucy Jones (Journalist, Author of Matrescence), Sonah Paton (Black Mothers Matter), Amy Taylor-Kabbaz (Journalist, Mama Rising), Helen Sheppard (Midwife, Poet)
Matrescence Brunch UK 21 March 2025, Exeter Phoenix- Hollie McNish (Poet), Lucy Jones (Journalist, Author of Matrescence), Amy Williams (Poet)
Matrescence Festival AUSTRALIA 29/30 March 2025 2 day Festival, Eltham - Dr Melanie Jackson PhD (Midwife, The Great Birth Rebellion Podcast), Dr Sophie Brock PhD (Motherhood Studies Sociologist), Jane Hardwick Collings (Author, Women’s Cycles Educator, Circle Leader), Dr Winnie Orchard (Neuroscientist), Amy Taylor-Kabbaz (Journalist, Mama Rising).
Recordings from all the talks at Matrescence Festival Australia are now available for free via TONTS. Listen here.