portfolio

Urban Wilderness is run by Laurel Gallagher, Jenny Harper and Isla Telford who bring complementary skills and experience in the arts. Always doing something new and challenging, Urban Wilderness are on a mission to instigate meaningful social change through arts and culture. In just three years, they have delivered an impressive range of programmes which showcase their expertise in working creatively in complicated spaces and developing an approach that is site-specific, collaborative and responsive to the needs and interests of local communities. More information about us here…

Gardening, growing food and recycling

‘Seeds of Hope’ Oct 2020-2021; community growing projects in Knutton, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Abbey Hulton, Stoke-on-Trent. Urban Wilderness managed growing activities and programmed outdoors workshops to develop a range of skills including craft, construction, sustainability and wellbeing.

Construction, installation and youth engagement

‘Tomorrowland; the build’ March 2020; sustainable building project using recycled pallets. Urban Wilderness designed the building using architectural software Sketchup then trained 20 x Y7 students to construct the building on their school grounds over 4 days.

‘Tomorrowland; exhibition’ June 2021; reconstruction of pallet house with documentation and artefacts. Six week installation in the Potteries Shopping Centre, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent to engage young people with the Tomorrowland micro bursary program.

rewilding childhood

Forest Worlds Festival 2019; the magic of a greenfield festival in a local urban park. Urban Wilderness included young people in festival decision-making and design processes, testing their ideas with artists to develop the festival program. Families spread the word and created a community of shared values around childhood freedom and play.

Heritage

‘Reverberate’ Dec 2020; English Heritage funded 14 projects that re-discover, re-imagine and re-create local heritage through creativity, and share their vision with their communities.

Urban Wilderness led photo walks with CAFAG youth club to discover what heritage means to young people living in the shadow of an abandoned coal mine.