We are happy to announce that we have given a £150,000 grant to the National Art Collections Fund “(Art Fund”) to contribute to “The Wild Escape” project!
The Wild Escape, aimed at children aged 7-11, is a major project inspired by wildlife found in museum and gallery collections that aims to engage up to 500,000 young people and 500 museums across the UK. Participants will be encouraged to find a creature in a museum and discover more about it, UK wildlife, and biodiversity through high-quality learning resources produced by some of the best museum and science educators in the UK. They will also be encouraged to bring their family to a local museum to participate in Earth Day 2023 activities.
The project launch was held at the Natural History Museum and attended by artists involved in the project including FKA Twigs and Es Devlin. As well as a breakfast reception and a short film featuring children and artists speaking about their excitement for the project, a panel discussion took place led by Art Fund Director Jenny Waldman, with a panel of experts from the World Wildlife Fund, English Heritage and the Horniman Museum, on the role of art in supporting nature.
Our funding will be used to support London based activities including the participating organisations, ‘Earth Day’ activities, and launch events. The project will also align with “Wild Isles” a major BBC series on UK biodiversity, due to air in Spring 2023 presented by Sir David Attenborough. We are excited to see The Wild Escape come to fruition and wish Art Fund the best of luck in inspiring and working with young people throughout London.