Introduction
Wild Rumpus is a value-driven community interest company that through arts and culture provides opportunities for audiences to reimagine the world. Their work is rooted in nature connection and play, and they create immersive and imaginative outdoor events and experiences. The belief in the power of collective moments is what drives the mechanics of their events. Most of their portfolio speaks to family audiences, with a focus on intergenerational participation.
Founded in 2009, the organisation is based in a woodland in Cheshire and became an ACE NPO in 2023.
The key themes of the organisation are:
- Nature connection: exploring how arts can change how we see our place in the world and inspire behaviour change
- Permission to play: exploring the conditions that open the door to creativity and enable people to play
- Immersive environments: exploring how an altered physical landscape can immerse people in a place and how that influences them to think and respond differently to the world.
Wild Rumpus achieves these aims through a programme of projects including festivals, large-scale events, touring installations, creative interventions, partnerships and sector development work. Projects include; Just So Festival, a family arts festival; Yuletide, a winter festival at Tatton Park and a series of commissions for partners such as Kew Gardens, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Battersea Arts Centre as well as its touring Shadow Play puppet theatre and gigantic upcycled Marble Run.
The Opportunity
Since the pandemic, Wild Rumpus has intentionally diversified its income, developing a broader portfolio of projects and finding growing success in securing commissions, touring installation work, and producing ticketed events in new formats. Alongside this, the greenfield festival sector became more challenging to navigate due to increased costs and market oversaturation.
Wild Rumpus therefore approached the Figurative team for £150,000 investment from the Arts & Culture Impact Fund (ACIF). This support would help the organisation consolidate its new direction by continuing to diversify income through commissions, touring work and new events, building reserves to navigate seasonally quiet periods while also redeveloping its facilities at Rode Hall.
The ACIF investment would also allow Wild Rumpus to prioritise mission-driven growth, focusing on projects aligned with its goals rather than purely financial returns.
“Wild Rumpus’s mission-driven approach alongside its strong track record, clear brand identity and experience constituted a compelling case for investment. Our support has enabled the organisation to continue delivering impactful and engaging work but in a financially sustainable way, and most crucially, without compromising its key themes of nature connection and sustainability. We’re delighted to be able to support them and it’s been brilliant to see the organisation evolve and thrive with our investment.” James Cross, Investment Manager at Figurative.
The Process
As the investment focused on supporting a transition into a growing area of business, the team needed to understand Wild Rumpus’s track record in securing and delivering the types of contracts it aimed to pursue. Contract-based work itself can carry risk, as the loss of a major contract or key customer can result in a significant drop in income. The team therefore reviewed both the organisation’s completed projects and its pipeline of opportunities, ensuring there was sufficient diversity of income and visibility to build confidence in its expectations. In addition, they spoke with key customers to explore why they choose to work with Wild Rumpus, what differentiates its offer, and how likely similar opportunities are to continue arising.
The Impact
Wild Rumpus has developed an event-creation approach that builds on 15 years of festival programming rooted in artistic, ethical, and environmental integrity, while embedding social impact more explicitly into project and programme design. Its events consistently enhance audience wellbeing and foster greater social cohesion – building on the ever-growing academic research surrounding the importance of ‘imagination’ and world building.
Sustainability, accessibility and inclusion are core principles of Wild Rumpus’ work. The team have developed a base line set of measures for both principles which guide their projects from conception right through to delivery. The team considers environmental impact at every stage of a project – from the materials used and the partners selected to how equipment and staff travel across the country. Wild Rumpus also runs the Culture Shift Cheshire Network, a collaboration with the Cultural Economy Team at Cheshire East Council that provides tools and training to help local event organisers adopt more sustainable practices.
In terms of access and inclusion, the team work with Attitude is Everything’s best practice charter and have been awarded gold for Just So Festival. Percentages of our budgets are ring fenced to reduce barriers to allow as many people behind the scenes and in the audience to participate in our work.
“The investment from Figurative has enabled Wild Rumpus to move into its next stage of growth. Providing stability to the organisation whilst pivoting away from its original weekend camping festival roots and into a much more diverse portfolio carrying less inherent risk. This investment has allowed us to hone our purpose, plan our social impact more intentionally and articulate deeply in every project our mission and values. Not only have Figurative provided the investment but what has been unexpected is the level of genuine interest in what we do, our social impact and how they can help us grow as an organisation”. Liz Pickering, Deputy CEO, Wild Rumpus
