GLOW: A Digital Tour that Deepens Carer-Infant Connection

In a bold reimagining of what an arts tour can be, a new digital experience is meeting families where they are - not in theatres or galleries, but in living rooms and playgroups across regional Australia.

Glow, an audio-led suite of poetic, sensory-rich moments for parents, carers and babies, is currently being shared across five regional communities as part of the Glow Digital Tour. Created by award-winning Victorian company Threshold, and supported by Creative Australia’s Playing Australia fund, the tour is a demonstration of how digital art can be locally embedded, widely accessible, and emotionally meaningful.

Rather than transporting families into formal performance spaces, Glow gently transforms everyday parenting moments - a bath, tummy time, a tea break - into moments of connection, curiosity and calm. Guided by the voices of beloved performers Zindzi Okenyo, Miranda Tapsell and Stephen Sheehan, families are invited to pause, play, breathe, and bond.

“We created Glow to be like a quiet companion,” says Threshold Co-Director Sarah Lockwood. “It honours the exhaustion, beauty and unpredictability of life with a new baby. We’re so excited to bring it to regional communities in a way that supports their rhythms, not ours.”

Each touring partner has embraced the project in its own way. On Yorke Peninsula, Glow was introduced through seven local playgroups - where parents, babies and facilitators danced together to Zindzi Okenyo’s voice in a joyful baby dance party. In Geelong, Glow is being presented in companion to the performance installation Rain: for babies and their carers as part of Geelong Art Centre’s Wonder Festival. Across the other side of the country, parents and carers in Bunbury are invited to jump online for an interactive Glow launch, facilitated by one of the artists who made the work. 

These community-focussed activations all lead to the digital at-home experience that parents and carers can access 24/7. The care the artists put into creating these baby-sized moments of connection is also present in the website design, which links to local support services in each region, an example of how a digital experience can deepen, not dilute, local connection when it is thoughtfully embedded into the community.

Originally developed with the support of ArtPlay (City of Melbourne) and Bunjil Place (City of Casey), Glow is the latest creation from the team behind the internationally acclaimed Rain, a theatre installation for babies that has toured festivals and galleries across the world. Glow was designed to bring the same care, quality and joy into the places families spend their real, daily lives.

One ArtPlay parent said: “The feeling of pure joy having a family dance party with my four-month-old and husband, and hearing our daughter laugh for the first time — that’s something I’ll never forget.”

In an evaluation of the premiere season at ArtPlay:

• 100% of surveyed parents said Glow made them feel more connected to their baby
  
  

• 100% said their baby smiled during the experience

The experiences are short and simple - designed to fit into a newborn’s rhythm - and supported by evidence-based insights from maternal health professionals.

Maternal Child Health Nurse Bronwyn Kome reflected: “Glow brings it all back to the essentials — a beautiful attachment relationship. It doesn’t tell parents what to feel, it creates the moment.”

As more arts organisations grapple with how to reach families in sustainable, inclusive ways, the Glow tour offers a blueprint for hybrid touring: one that lowers carbon impact, strengthens local partnerships, and prioritises flexibility, care and belonging.

Chair of Regional Arts Australia Dr Simon Spain shares:
“Threshold’s dedication to creating immersive, high-quality digital experiences speaks to their expertise and passion for their craft. I believe their work offers a new blueprint for how we can tour to regional communities in ways that are sustainable and deeply connected.” 

Glow is now being shared across:

• Bunbury Regional Art Gallery (WA)
  
  

• Eastern Riverina Arts (NSW)
  
  

• Country Arts SA & Yorke Peninsula Council (SA)
  
  

• Geelong Arts Centre & Mount Alexander Shire Council (VIC)
  
  

For families navigating the intensity of new parenthood, Glow offers something rare and precious: a chance to slow down, tune in, and feel less alone - whether on the lounge room floor or in front of the bathroom mirror.

https://www.thethreshold.com.au/glow-tour