Re-Discover: An innovative collaboration to re-discover nature in the Valley Gardens and Brighton & Lewes Downs UNESCO Biosphere

Rewilding Sussex is a Brighton based community group of people who believe more nature is a big part of the solution to some of society’s big challenges, from physical and mental well-being to air quality and flooding. But how do we bring more nature into our communities and lives?

Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the University of Brighton, Rewilding Sussex has brought together ecology and design students from the local universities to co-create new solutions to bring more nature into our parks, inspire people to get outside more regularly and to teach people about nature.

This autumn ONCA is excited to be hosting a 3-week exhibition of the designs the students have created. You are invited to come along and be inspired by this fusion of art and science, celebrate the work of local students and let us know what you think about the designs.

Workshops:

Rewilding Sussex will also be running three workshops on each Saturday during the exhibition on the 3rd, 10th and 17th of October. The first will give you the chance to get creative and design your own ideas to help people re-discover nature, the second will teach you wild fire making skills and the third will encourage you to take inspiration from both art and nature to create poems and stories about Brighton gone wild.

Saturday 3rd October : Open to anyone visiting the gallery, no need to book. All ages welcome. Just bring along your ideas – we will provide materials and the chance to make your own seed bomb!

Saturday 10th October: Wild fire making skills, run by wildnature.

Saturday 17th October: Wild Wordplay, run by Joanna Gilar (Coleman), a local eco-poet and storyteller.

Events:

Wednesday 14 October, 7.30pm – 10pm: Wolves and Feral Parakeets: Rewilding Double Bill

To celebrate the Rewilding Sussex show, Re-Discover, we are hosting an evening with storytellers and rewilding sleuths.

PART 1: Gonzo Ornithology with Tim Mitchell and Nick Hunt

In the past few years the grey skies of London have been brightened by thousands of green parakeets, colonising the capital one park at a time. Beautiful addition to the city or a threat to local birds? Invasive species or resourceful migrants? And where did they actually come from? Tim and Nick go on the parakeets’ trail, documenting public opinion about these exotic incomers. Join them for a screening of FLYWAYS episode 1, followed by a Q&A.

PART 2: Lost Wolves with Adam Weymouth

Adam Weymouth spent a month in 2014 crossing Scotland on foot, speaking to those that live on the land about how they would feel about the proposed reintroduction of the wolf. It was also a journey to search for Scotland’s last wolf, shot in 1680, which was stuffed and then mysteriously disappeared. He will be speaking about the walk, and telling the tale of Wolf Boy of Devil’s River, a story from Texas at the turn of the 20th century about the eradication of America’s last wolves.