Urban Wilderness CIC - Flagship Annual Event
Pig Walk Parade is Urban Wilderness CIC’s flagship annual event and the project we are best known for.
Held in Stoke-on-Trent, the parade brings together artists, residents, schools, community groups and local partners to create a large-scale, playful public procession rooted in shared making and collective imagination.
Inspired by local histories, folklore and the evolving stories of the town, Pig Walk Parade transforms familiar streets and public spaces into a celebratory, temporary commons. Participants collaborate to create costumes, banners, sculptures, performances and mobile artworks, culminating in a joyful public procession that invites everyone to take part — whether as maker, performer or audience.
At its heart, Pig Walk Parade is about connection:
Connecting people to place
Connecting creativity to everyday life
Connecting communities across generations and backgrounds
The project creates accessible entry points for participation, ensuring that people of different ages, abilities and experiences can contribute meaningfully. Workshops and making sessions take place in community settings in the lead-up to the event, building relationships and strengthening local networks long before parade day.
Beyond the spectacle of the procession itself, Pig Walk Parade supports civic pride, creative confidence and long-term collaboration across the town’s cultural, voluntary and education sectors. Each year builds on the last, allowing the event to evolve while remaining grounded in its core values of openness, playfulness and shared authorship.
As an ongoing annual programme, Pig Walk Parade continues to grow as a defining expression of Urban Wilderness CIC’s commitment to place-based, participatory arts practice.
