Strengthening communities, supporting arts and championing culture.

Creating Change

Who we are » Communities

Regeneration isn’t just about buildings – it’s about making environments where people thrive.

We are serious about socially aware investment that builds cultural and social capital. Creativity is the heart and soul of every city and neighbourhood. That’s why we are longstanding sponsors of the arts – and why we go further.

At Wykeland, we believe it is never too early to be inspired about your future. That’s why we collaborate with young people in primary and secondary schools on a range of different projects.

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“Our GCSE pupils who took part in this project are much further ahead now as a result”

Donna Ward, Teacher and STEM Coordinator, Hessle High School

Bridgehead Woodland Art Trail

Since 2013, we have worked closely with artists and pupils from All Saints CE Federation Primary School and Hessle High School to install boutique habitats and nature-inspired artworks on the woodland path at our Bridgehead Business Park.

Artworks are created every year and include birdboxes with wings and legs, sculpted feeders where birds come and go and our recent addition of a selfie station!

Download your guide to create a birdbox here!

Visit Selfie Gallery Here

“We believe in children and young people and want them to believe in themselves. Working with them, and the artists, creative experts, educators and industry professionals, we develop and deliver social projects that really work – for everyone involved.”

Dominic Gibbons, Managing Director Wykeland Group

Imaginosity
The power of imagination, curiosity and creativity.

Established in 2018, Imaginosity develops children’s creative thinking and confidence to support learning, wellbeing and resilience; and to connect to the wider community and world of work. Imaginosity is about the power of imagination, curiosity and creativity. This kind of creative thinking is the foundation for confidence, risk taking, problem solving and making connections – the core skills children need to flourish in life and in learning. Developing creative thinking in schools isn’t just about art – every curriculum subject benefits from children bringing their imagination, critical judgement, invention, lateral thinking and curious inquiry. Creativity builds these skills and supports children’s confidence in themselves – rippling outwards and boosting their learning across all subjects and supporting each individual child’s wellbeing.

Through the Imaginosity lead artist, the project co-produces and delivers creative projects with all 160+ children at the school in mixed-age groups.

Since 2018, achievements include:

• The Daily / Weekly Creative Challenge – a creative thinking challenge, both at school and home with parents / families, to push imagination and develop confidence
• Imaginosity Blooms Community Workshops – children teach how adults to make flowers from recycled materials at Northallerton Library and two local elderly care homes
• Lockdown Flowers, Bugs and Nature – children and their families continue to make flowers, insects and other natural items during lockdown – a key support to maintaining the school’s connection with pupils and families at this time.
• Flower-Bomb! Northallerton Town Hall – hundreds of flowers created by children, their families and Northallerton people cover the Town Hall. Chancellor of the Exchequer and local MP, Rishi Sunak, writes to the school in praise of the project.
• Imaginosity: Learn, Thrive, Connect – an enhanced development of the initial programme – weekly sessions led by children, using creative thinking to explore curriculum subjects. Imaginosity: Learn, Thrive, Connect launched in September 2021, and is now integrated as a key curriculum delivery method at Mill Hill School.

“Imaginosity, for us, is the chance to think ‘big’, have a go, accept failure, find solutions and celebrate achievements and discoveries. It allows our children to take on the roles of teachers and mentors and to learn from each other.”

Rebecca Bainbridge – Headteacher Mill Hill Primary School

Go See! Go 3D!
From the idea of work, to a working idea

Alongside our Fruit Market regeneration partners, Beal Homes, we took a group of Year 5 pupils from Chiltern Primary school around C4DI and the Fruit Market to see how people have turned their passion into a profit.

Having been inspired by real life scenarios, the pupils developed their own product ideas and created prototypes and business plans with support from industry experts, our lead artist and staff mentors from Wykeland Beal.

These 16 pupils then taught their peers in Year 5 how to do the same, cascading knowledge to the rest of the school.

Finally, four finalist teams presented their ideas to four senior industry professionals in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ scenario and our ‘Dragons’ almost couldn’t decide which to pick, they were all so brilliant!

Our Sponsored Projects

We champion the arts by sponsoring artists, arts organisations and events that animate our city and help communities flourish and grow.

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Hull City of Culture 2017

We were the first of 22 ‘Bid Angels’ who committed funding to the initial City of Culture bid and then became a Major Partner of Hull UK City of Culture. As part of Hull City of Culture, we delivered our 350-person capacity amphitheatre, Stage@TheDock.

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Freedom Festival

We have been one of the key sponsors since Freedom Festival launched in 2007 and continue to support the festival team year-round – sharing expertise and vision of how culture transforms the city and it’s public spaces. Freedom has now become one of the world’s most exciting urban arts festivals.

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Run With It

Run With It is an education charity that offers tailor-made numeracy and literacy programmes to provide children with ‘Learning for Life’. The charity now has three centres, the MKM Stadium in Hull, our Flemingate Centre in Beverley and Bridlington Football Stadium. Such activities include measuring the perimeter and diameter of a football pitch, using literacy to be ‘film critics’ and creating their own imaginative toy ideas to design, price and promote. Wykeland supports Run With It with funding and professional business mentoring which has helped them grow in to a strong, sustainable charity.

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Tremendous Toads and Marvellous Moths

We were one of the first sponsors of the Larkin with Toads Trail, sponsoring artists to create two of the toad sculptures and buying both at the end of the project. Following on from the success of the Toads, came ‘A Moth for Amy’ as part of the 2016 Amy Johnson Festival. We sponsored 2 sculptures – with children from St Nicholas Primary working with artist Liz Dorton to create a moth for our Flemingate Shopping Centre.

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Humber Street Sesh

We are proud to have been a sponsor of Humber Street Sesh since the first festival in 2012. Humber Street Sesh provides a powerful platform for the emerging artists of the region and has grown over the years to include UK national emerging artists.

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Stage@TheDock

Our 350-person capacity outdoor amphitheatre, Stage@TheDock, has had a host of performances since its opening in 2017. At Wykeland, we have also commissioned theatre companies John Godber and Middlechild to put on performances at Stage@TheDock.