Urban Wilderness CIC is a community arts organisation based in Stoke‑on‑Trent. This archive highlights key projects and events that illustrate our practice, partnerships and impact. During this period, the organisation was led by founding co-directors Laurel Gallagher, Isla Telford, and Jenny Harper. Our flagship annual events — Pig Walk Parade and Winter Gathering — are included here as recurring anchor entries, alongside other major commissions and collaborations.
Urban Wilderness CIC set a live brief for University of Staffordshire architecture students, whose bold design proposals reimagined Longton town centre. The projects were later shared with the community at The Moony Club, inspiring conversation about culture-led regeneration and future possibilities for the town.
Read MoreUrban Wilderness CIC delivered a Creative Careers consultation with Year 9 students in Tunstall, using youth-led surveys to bring young people’s voices into local community planning.
Read MoreCreative placard-making workshops across the Moorlands invited young people to answer one question — “What do you want?” Their responses helped shape OUTSIDE’s organisational planning and Youth Advisory Group.
Read MoreA creative drop-in event in Longton exploring how people understand sunlight, skin, wellbeing and memory — combining community conversations, art, and research led by Keele University historian Dr Ben Anderson.
Read MoreA community biodiversity project in Longton combining nature walks, creative workshops and citizen science, supported by Keele University and featuring Dawn Chorus by Leanne Cunningham.
Read MoreA creative consultation in Longton that grew into public interventions, heritage-led activities and cultural programming — now continuing as a community-led CIC.
Read MoreUrban Wilderness CIC developed a new Artist Design Guide and heritage colour palette for Longton, supporting business owners to make sympathetic improvements that celebrate the town’s unique architectural character.
Read MoreUrban Wilderness CIC provides participatory research methods training for researchers and practitioners, exploring creative, inclusive and ethical ways to work with communities.
Read MoreA socially engaged art project by Dana Olărescu responding to the decommissioning of 20th-century power infrastructure — part of Decommissioning the Twentieth Century. Using posters and community engagement, it gives voice to workers, residents and future imaginaries around West Burton Power Station.
Read MoreA co-creative public art commission by Urban Wilderness CIC inviting communities to imagine what should be preserved, shared or re-imagined at the former Chatterley Whitfield Colliery — not just historic artefacts, but everyday stories, hope, and future possibilities.
Read MoreA major AHRC-funded research project led by Keele University in partnership with Urban Wilderness CIC, exploring how 20th-century industrial and energy infrastructure becomes heritage — and how communities can shape that process.
Read MoreThe Happenings festival in Stoke-on-Trent explored small-scale, site-specific public art, activating overlooked urban spaces through creativity, care, and connection.
Read MoreTowards an Urban Commons brought together academics, artists, activists and community organisations to explore how brownfield land could be reimagined as community-managed urban commons. The Urban Commons Network was established on 20 April 2020 to develop principles, frameworks and shared visions for future governance.
Read MoreUrban Wilderness CIC delivered photo walks with CAFAG youth club as part of English Heritage’s national Reverberate programme, supporting young people to explore how heritage shapes their lives in the shadow of an abandoned coal mine.
Read MoreUrban Wilderness CIC worked with Canal & River Trust to consult young people on their perceptions of Manchester’s canal system and their hopes for its future. Through photo walks, discussion and model-making, the project explored safety, identity and new possibilities for neglected
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