THE FRINGE ARTS SOUND TRAIL - PINS TO COLLECT

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Pete Hopper, Candle Sculpture

Responding to the Candle Sculpture by artist Robot Cossey outside of St Peters Collegiate, Pete Hopper is an all-round creative communicator and artist who will be producing an original audio work for the upcoming festival. The piece will blend spoken word with soundscapes, exploring the constancy of light and challenging our perception of darkness’ power.

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Billy Haynes, Lady Wulfruna Statue

Billy Haynes is a writer of folktales, blending sharp observation with the supernatural to create a unique vision of post-industrial England. His first published short story, ‘Earth’s Answer’, recently appeared in issue 2 of The Printing Room journal. ‘Seeing’, his work for Fringe Arts, will be a snapshot of the psychic landscape of the city, where desolate nighttime streets are haunted shades of the past and of possible futures.

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Jefny Ashcroft, The Grand Palace

Jefny Ashcroft, 73 arrived in Wolverhampton in 1975. She's a writer and local historian and loves to hear the ravens calling out over Darlington Street. Her response to the newly renovated Darlington Street methodist church, now the Grand Palace is "Black Bird on a Green Dome": High on the church's great cupola a raven talks of the lore and legends it has created and the city it sees from its lofty perch.

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Kupid Val-Essoné, Man on the Horse

Kupid is a Wolverhampton-based music artist, curator, and community leader. Founder of The Industry Spot and Sunday Best UK, he works to strengthen the city’s creative ecosystem. A published author and TEDx speaker, he explores community, history, wellbeing, and identity through song. His new piece responds to the Man on the Horse statue as a silent witness to the city’s history, contrasting Victorian pride in Prince Albert’s monument with the hidden reality of industrial wealth tied to the slave trade. It also highlights the abolitionist movement (Mander Family) that protested injustice in the same square. As the ‘Modern Town Crier,’ Kupid broadcasts these layered histories.

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Jeff Phelps, Asylum Artist Studios

Jeff Phelps’s stories and poetry have been widely published, notably in London Magazine and in Critical Quarterly. In 1991 he was overall winner of the Mail on Sunday Novel Competition. In 2000 he won second prize in the Stand Open Poetry Competition with his poem, River Passage and is published in Offas Press. His response to the Asylum Artist Studios explores how much like the Asylums collection of artists, plants and ideas bloom even in the cracks in the wall. His piece resonates with the aims of the Fringe Arts, ‘that there is something more going on in this city, more creative inspiration to be had, than first meets the eye.’

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Billy Haynes, Roundabout – Common Land

In response to our ROUNDABOUT project and its four sculptures, Haynes create Common Land, a planting project within the Chapel Ash underpass with accompanying music. See the four sculptures and collect the 6 post-industrial folk music soundscapes.

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Wolverhampton City Of Youth Culture, Visual Arts Trail

The Digital Arts Trail celebrates the creativity of young people across Wolverhampton. Developed in response to a need for more high-quality cultural activities for young people, this project gave them the chance to co-create original artworks and transform them into augmented reality experiences.

Working with local artists, youth groups from The Way Youth Zone, Beats a Bar, and Urban Room 01902 designed unique 2D pieces, later brought to life through AR. The result is an interactive trail that showcases their talent and offers a fresh way to experience art in the city.