The Stoke-on-Trent arts organisation behind popular community events including the Pig Walk is preparing for a new chapter with a fresh name and brand.

From August, Longton-based Urban Wilderness CIC will become Wild Edge Arts, following a rebrand developed in collaboration with community groups, partners, members of its Art Club and Teen Squad, and creative volunteers.

The new identity reflects how the organisation has grown since it was founded in 2018. What began as a series of creative interventions across the city has evolved into a long-term community organisation delivering major public events, year-round activities and an ambitious heritage building project in Longton.

Well-loved events such as the Pig Walk and Winter Gathering will continue under the Wild Edge Arts banner.

The rebrand has been supported through funding from Arts Council England as part of a wider programme of organisational development.

Co-director Jenny Harper said the team wanted to retain the spirit of the Urban Wilderness name while creating an identity that better reflected its values and future direction.

She said: “We really wanted to keep the feel of the Urban Wilderness CIC name while developing a new identity alongside our community members which reflects our core values and our evolving work.

“Our creative volunteers usually make things with us for a specific purpose, such as costumes for the Pig Walk or the Winter Gathering, and this was a very different type of project which they fully embraced.

“They know us very well and they had some great insights into what we do which we have been able to incorporate into our new brand.”

As part of the project, the organisation will also produce a practical guide sharing its experience of community-led rebranding and organisational development to help other small arts organisations.

The announcement comes as the team moves forward with plans to transform the former Barclays Bank building on The Strand into a permanent creative and community hub.

Wild Edge Arts has secured a five-year lease on the landmark building and plans to relocate activities including film clubs, creative workshops, talks, photography classes and wellbeing groups from its current base at Longton Exchange.

The three-storey building will be improved and opened in phases, with longer-term plans for artists’ studios, meeting rooms, a performance space and a café bar.

Co-director Isla Telford said the organisation's role within the community had changed significantly over the years.

She said: “Our practice has changed since we began in 2018. We originally dropped into locations across the city, made short-term interventions and left, but now we are deeply embedded in the Longton community, creating large-scale events with 150 volunteers and renovating a heritage building.

“As Urban Wilderness CIC we saw ourselves as instigators. We still see ourselves as pushing and making change happen but now our role in the community and our civic responsibility is more about collaboration.

“We feel very strongly that the work that we make benefits the people who participate in it and the place where it happens. We want to spread optimism through the whole town.”

Photo credit: Andrew Billington