WOW! Fest - Walsall Outdoor Wonders

The environment

WOW!Fest helped draw attention to the beauty of the Walsall Arboretum and raise awareness of the importance of this location as a local asset. We made eco-friendly choices throughout the project with the materials we used, the focus we put on recycling and on using as little paper as possible e.g. preferring to use QR codes for festival programmes and evaluations. We made sure there was adequate waste disposal across the site and left the Arboretum as we had found it.

The local economy

We used local food and drink trucks who provided catering across the festival and by bringing professional artists and festival attendees to Walsall, we hopefully raised the profile of the area among the dance and arts communities.

Volunteering, jobs & education

The mission behind WOW! Fest was to engage and celebrate the local communities in and around Walsall. We put young people and community groups at the heart of the festival through the education programme we led and having them perform side-by-side experienced professional artists. Our amazing volunteers developed skills useful for the creative industries by working alongside these professional artists, and they also got a taste for the skills needed in careers such as event production, stage management and festival coordination. WOW!Fest fostered new collaborations, sparked new conversations between diverse groups and the people we engaged and collaborated with all took part in something that was collectively owned and rooted in a beautiful local area.

Arts, culture & heritage

WOW!Fest helped to protect arts, culture and heritage in Walsall as we: - increased the arts audience, with a significant proportion of people attending not having been to outdoor dance performances before -brought dance and movement to disadvantaged children and young people in Walsall and highlighted diverse creative voices - celebrated the cultural heritage of the area and put arts and culture on centre-stage in Walsall -made the festival free and accessible for all, removing barriers to access - started a long-term investment in Walsall's public spaces which to enable continued artistic engagement with local groups, schools and arts networks

Activity, health and leisure

Our focus was to engage as many people as possible in health and well-being activities. As part of the festival programme we: - ran mawimbi workshops which attendees took part in - these are dynamic and colourful dance movement sessions - recruited and promoted local fitness groups inclusing a local Muy Thai group. Sessions including Muy Thai and Parkour ran throughout both days and were available for participants to participate in - ensured free movement activities are available and accessible we encouraged local residents to join in, get inspired and boost their own physical activity