LONDON.- From giant puppet making workshops to a murmuration of human starlings, UK-wide activities and events inspired by THE HERDS, convened and supported by Art Fund, will respond to the climate crisis and connect local communities with museum collections and the natural world.

From April to August 2025, ever-growing herds of life-size puppet animals will stampede into cities across Africa and Europe to flee climate disaster in a public artwork on a scale never before attempted. Millions of people will follow THE HERDS online and via social media as well as joining special events and performances in person along the 20,000km route from the Congo Basin to the Arctic Circle.

With support from Art Fund, the national charity for museums and galleries, thousands more people of all ages across the UK will be able to get involved in their local area through artistic events, workshops and educational activities inspired by the journey, designed to spark collective action, learning and discussion.

From April 2025, 44 museums, galleries and historic houses across the UK will invite their communities to respond to this international climate action movement with a range of activities and performances that inspire the next generation and deepen connections with their collections and the natural world.

Art Fund supported projects include:

• Watt Institution, Inverclyde – May - June
A community-driven recycling initiative will collect ocean plastic from local beaches, turning it into 3D-printed puppets of marine animals like dolphins and crabs, bringing attention to ocean pollution.

• Tenby Museum & Art Gallery, Pembrokeshire - May
The decline of Pembrokeshire’s puffins will be highlighted in a puppet show co-created with Small World Theatre, visiting families and the local community.

• Stevenage Museum, Hertfordshire - June
Inspired by starling flocks, this project combines dance, puppetry, and drone photography to create a mesmerising "human murmuration", reflecting the beauty and fragility of wildlife.

• Silk Heritage Trust, Macclesfield – April - May
Working with Babbling Vagabonds, participants will create puppets of migratory birds impacted by the textile industry, for display at the museum.

• Science and Industry Museum, Manchester – May
Visitors will explore the surprising species that exist in post-industrial urban spaces using simple surveying techniques, drawing from current ecological surveys of the museum’s 200-year-old site as part of an ongoing major decarbonisation project.

• Mold Museum, Flintshire - May
Families will explore how North Wales’ wildlife has changed over millennia, engaging in museum workshops, a trail, and an evening talk linking the prehistoric collections to today’s climate crisis.

• Hay Castle Trust, Powys – June
Children and adults will create puppets representing local endangered species like the curlew, dormouse, and fritillary butterfly working in collaboration with Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.

• Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle - June
A two-week creative program in partnership with the Town Moor Fair School, will invite children aged 4-11 from showmen’s families to make their own animal puppets exploring themes of migration and movement.

• Beach Creative, Kent - July
Following the introduction of European bison to the area in 2022, young people will craft a life-sized bison puppet from recycled materials to parade through Herne Bay Carnival. The Wilder Blean bison project is delivered in partnership with Kent Wildlife Trust and Wildwood Trust.

• Barnsley Museums in partnership with the National Trust – May
As the 20-hectare conservation project in Wentworth Castle Garden’s parkland begins, visitors will create animals and insects from recycled materials for an outdoor art installation this summer.

Jenny Waldman, Director of Art Fund said: “Art Fund is bringing together 44 museums and galleries across the UK to take part in THE HERDS with their local communities. Through exhibitions, performances, workshops, and educational activities that spark hope, learning, and discussion and connect to local museum collections, we’re excited to enable even more people of all ages to get involved and be inspired by this extraordinary international collaboration.”

Presented by The Walk Productions, THE HERDS follows the international success of The Walk in 2021, which saw a 12-foot-tall puppet of a Syrian refugee girl called Little Amal travel from Turkey to the UK. THE HERDS will engage with audiences along the 20,000km route with special UK performances in London 27 – 29 June, and Greater Manchester 3 – 5 July. All events are free and have been designed in collaboration with local partners to create a hugely powerful participatory event.

An accompanying learning resource ‘Let The Wildness In’, supported by Art Fund, is available on THE HERDS website to engage schools, families and communities across the world with free downloadable resources, education and activity packs, reading lists, lesson plans and open-source puppetry design kits.

THE HERDS is presented in partnership with global climate organisations – including WWF International, Save the Elephants, Wild Africa, Global Rewilding Alliance and TED Countdown - as well as numerous arts organisations, scientists, artists, zoologists, politicians, climate activists, universities and civil society groups across Central, West and North Africa and Europe to present one united call for action.

Amir Nizar Zuabi, Artistic Director of THE HERDS, said: “THE HERDS is a massive public art piece reacting to the climate crisis - by creating a 20,000km project connecting people form the Congo Basin all the way to the Arctic in an attempt to tell the most urgent story of our times. Partnering with museums and galleries across the UK allows us to spark vital conversations, and deepen our connection to the natural world."