Easter Artist Hunt 2026Author’s Note: For the 2026 Easter Conference Economics As If Life Matters I organised a special edition of the Artist Hunt entitled The Stories that Took Root. It is a perfect example of what we at the Theatre of the 7 Directions call eco-theatre.

Other posts in this series:

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(Phoenix has a box with some products in it, he looks at the audience)

What can I get you? A cup of tea? Some eggs, fresh veggies? What about a lovely postcard for someone you love? Let me light the fire? I know it is only a little candle but it is a symbol. I’ve always been the one who likes to keep the fire lit and to put the kettle on for all guests. My name is Phoenix. Phoenix shop & cafe, at your service. (he bows)

I’ve had a few lives, you know. Once I was a small SPAR who served the guests of the original Caravan Park during the ’70s and ’80s: bright aisles, a ringing till, caravan guests in flip-flops buying ice lollies for the beach. Then I turned a page.

The Findhorn Foundation breathed me into something new: a place for spiritual books, healing herbs, music; food products were added and a small Apothecary.

I changed shape again in 2001 when the Community gathered its courage and said, “let’s buy this together”. Hundreds of hands, hundreds of hearts, each one believing that a shop could be more than a shop. They bought a stake in the business by investing money in the shop via Ekopia Social Investments Ltd. There are currently around 270 individuals who invest in me, via Ekopia. I am chuffed, and proud.

Phoenix Shop and Cafe photo Lucca RichardsonMore tea, anyone? (he offers tea to the audience). Nothing can be more comforting than a nice cup of tea … And talking about tea, do you know that the space where the Phoenix Café Bar resides at the Universal Hall was originally built to function as a Box Office?

The first café there was a department of the Findhorn Foundation, Green Room was the name then. When it became part of me, it was renamed Blue Angel then Phoenix Café and now Phoenix Café Bar since you can enjoy a lovely glass of wine as well as a cuppa.

Many changes, and here I am still: reborn, renamed, reimagined. The Phoenix Shop and Café. A living room for the Ecovillage. Busy shelves. A humming coffee machine. The sound of friends having good conversations.

Despite a lot of work, I don’t feel tired, I feel abundant. To me, abundance isn’t about having more than we need. It is about having enough, and sharing it well. Real abundance is when everyone feels welcome and the wellbeing of people and planet grows together. I aim to be a small daily expression of the kind world we want to live in, fairer, kinder and more connected. (he looks at the audience)

So, let’s make a circle. Can you hold out your hands? Imagine them full. (pauses) Bread, coffee, conversation, sunlight on the Bay, that’s abundance. Feel it? Good. (Smiles, steps closer.) Thank you for passing by.

I am Phoenix, born from sparks of community and sustained by your kindness. Keep tending this fire with me, and we’ll stay warm together.

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Actor: David Edgar

Photographer: Lucca Richardson