Sculpture trail to return to Birmingham to raise money for hospice
Wild in Art will return to Birmingham in summer 2025
Global arts producer, Wild in Art will return to Birmingham in summer 2025, to deliver a brand-new art trail, based on the city’s iconic bronze bull, in partnership with Birmingham Hospice.
The new sculpture trail is the first to be based on Laurence Broderick’s The Guardian, the city’s famous bronze bull which has been standing, turning in motion, outside The Bull Ring, since it opened in 2003 and has become synonymous with the city.
The trail will create a journey of discovery around the city that is free, family friendly, and open to all.
At the end of the trail, the large sculptures will be auctioned to raise money for Birmingham Hospice.
Birmingham Hospice is the primary provider of adult palliative and end of life care in the city and its surrounding areas. It costs around ÂŁ16 million to run Birmingham Hospice each year, 40% of which must be covered through fundraising activity.
Income raised through the Wild in Art Trail will ensure that even more local people get the vital care and support they need at the end of life.
This will be Wild In Art’s seventh visit to Birmingham; their previous trails have brought a menagerie of 514 animal sculptures including owls and owlets, bears big and small, a waddle of penguins, and even a family of Snowdogs to the city.
Further Birmingham trails have included 175 BookBenches and also 51 human form sculptures, as part of Gratitude, Wild in Art’s first touring installation, which celebrated the contributions of NHS staff and all key workers during the pandemic.
Charlie Langhorne, Managing Director and Co-founder of Wild in Art said: “Wild in Art has a long history in Birmingham and we are delighted to be back. This time we are teaming up with Birmingham Hospice to create a brand-new art trail which will be brought to life across the city in 2025.
“The trail will be very much partnership led with the ambition of bringing businesses, the creative sector, young people and communities together to celebrate all that is Birmingham, as well as highlighting the important work of Birmingham Hospice in a fun and engaging manner. We are looking forward to getting started.”
Rebecca Richards, Senior Events Manager at Birmingham Hospice, said: “We are so excited to be working alongside Wild in Art to bring the trail back to Birmingham, inspired by one of its best-loved landmarks, the Bull. This is the largest city centre event our charity has held and we hope it brings smiles to our community and helps us raise awareness of what hospice care is all about.
“Each day our expert teams care for 1,000 local people on average across the region. As well as promoting wellbeing and exploration of our city, we hope that this trail will also raise vital funds so we can help even more people make every moment matter at the end of life.”