July - September 2025
A Look Back at the Last Three Months
As we move into autumn, we’ve been reflecting on what’s been a busy and rewarding few months at Wonder Arts. From workshops and events to new partnerships and funding successes, July to September brought plenty of activity across St Helens and beyond.
Incredible Performances
We were delighted to once again partner with our friends at St Helens Arts in Libraries Service to launch the Summer Reading Challenge. Audiences were treated to performance of ‘Seed to Soil’ by the brilliant Move Manchester!
A new partnership with The Royal Exchange saw us bring the inspirational ‘Pirate Princess’ to Leigh; extending our reach into Wigan and welcoming more families to our world of creativity, inspiration & wonder.
Wonderful Work Experience
In a first for Wonder Arts, this Summer we hosted the brilliant Felicity for a week of work experience. Over 5 days Felicity supported the planning, delivery and evaluation of our project; giving her a real insight into working in the arts and community sector.
You can read all about Felicity’s time with Wonder Arts here
Young Wonders
During the Summer our Young Wonders came together for a special one-off day of filming. With tanned faces and plenty of energy, the group captured content for a video celebrating 5 years of Wonder Arts and the launch of our Wonder Towns programme. Armed with scripts & microphones, we explored St Helens Town Centre to record our pre-planned clips; giving the group a brilliant behind-the-scenes experience that gave our them a closer look at the creative process.
As the school term began again and the weather turned a little gloomier, our sessions resumed, continuing work on our brand new show ‘A World Once Wonderful’. This term we are bringing together both age groups for a combined workshop to work with artist Michelle Wren. Michelle will be working with the group to develop a section of the show using shadow theatre created entirely out of recycled materials.
With a projector & art supplies at the ready, Michelle has been guiding our Young Wonders through the process of designing and bringing their own shadow characters to life. They explored how shapes, light, and movement can tell part of our play.
We’re still in the midst of developing this part of the production and we can’t wait to see how our Young Wonders bring it to life!
Communities of Wonder
This Summer saw us complete our 3 year Communities of Wonder project.
In those 3 years we delivered 10 projects, made up of 112 creative session and reaching 328 participants.
You can read all about Communities of Wonder here
Volunteer Spotlight
In September we said goodbye to one of our brilliant volunteers, Seb.
Seb’s journey with us has been a remarkable one.
Seb was originally a participant in our Communities of Wonder project, ‘Be Your Own Cup of Tea’. When the project ended, he signed up to support our Young Wonders sessions and became a valued volunteer. We’re delighted to share that Seb has just gained full-time employment as a Youth Worker supporting young people in St Helens.
We wish Seb the best of luck and can’t wait to see what he does next.
You can read all about Seb’s journey with Wonder Arts here
Wonderful News
We are thrilled to share that we have wonderful funding news!
We have been awarded an incredible £266,784 from The National Lottery Community Fund to deliver our Communities of Wonder project for the next 4 years 🎉
This funding will allow us to expand our outreach work with children and young people across St Helens, giving them the chance to connect, create and explore some of the big issues that matter most to them. - Read More Here
We have also been awarded £60,000 from Arts Council England!
This incredible support means we can continue to bring wonderful artistic experiences to children and families in St Helens AND extend the wonder into Wigan! - Read more here
Looking Ahead
As we head in to the last few months of the year we have some super exciting things coming up:
Grandad Anansi: Presented in St Helens & Wigan Schools this October
Jack Frost: Step into the enchanting world of Jack Frost where children and grown ups become part of the story! Coming to St Mary’s Market | 29th & 30th November | Book Here
The Snowy Day: Discover a world blanketed in wonder in this brand-new dance adaptation of ‘The Snowy Day’, inspired by the award winning picture book by Ezra Jack Keats. Coming to St Mary’s Market | 29th & 30th November | Book Here
Thank you for being Wonderful
We’d like to thank everyone who has taken part, partnered with us, or supported our work over the summer. Your involvement makes everything we do possible. - The Wonder Arts Team