Charity
Many years ago, The Grand Appeal team were fundraising to build a new children’s hospital in Bristol came to Aardman and asked if we might create them a new character to front the fundraising campaign. Nick offered them Wallace and Gromit, and that’s where it all began.
Nick, Pete and Dave have all been involved with ‘The Grand Appeal’ throughout its 20 year evolving life, each offering their different skills to the group of trustees. Staff at Aardman are encouraged to support the annual ‘Wrong Trousers Day’ and many fundraise independently for the charity.
What started as a building project, has evolved into a charity that funds life-saving pioneering, specialist medical equipment to help save the lives of babies and children in the children’s hospital in Bristol alongside creative programmes to enhance a child’s stay in hospital. Alongside this, Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Charity awards national grants to children’s hospitals and hospices around the UK.
Find out more about The Grand Appeal
Gromit Unleashed
Gromit Unleashed began as a public arts trail in Bristol in 2013, as a collaboration between The Grand Appeal and Aardman Animations, to raise funds to support sick children and babies at Bristol Children’s Hospital.
Together, we set out to capture the imagination of the public by adorning Bristol’s streets with 80 giant Gromit sculptures for 10 weeks, before taking the sculptures to auction to help raise funds.
In 2015, Shaun the Sheep starred in Shaun in the City, two unique arts trails in both Bristol and London, to raise funds for critically ill children across the country.
During the summer of 2018 fans from across the world descended on Bristol for the second Gromit Unleashed trail. Over 60 giant sculptures were displayed across the city, including Wallace and Feathers McGraw sculptures too.
For this trail there were some truly trail-blazing sculptures to seek out, including the interactive ‘Gromitronic’ with its wagging tail and moving eyes, and ‘Gromjet’, a turbo-charged sculpture engineered by Rolls-Royce and able to lift off the ground! The trail also featured designs by LEGO, Pixar Animation Studios and Illumination (creators of Minions). The trail concluded with an auction raising a fantastic £1.62 million for Bristol Children’s Hospital, bringing the total raised from Gromit Unleashed 2 to an astounding £2 million.
2023 marks 10 years since the first Gromit Unleashed trail and to celebrate The Grand Appeal and Aardman Animations have revealed that the next sculpture trail will be hitting the streets of Bristol in 2025.
While the team are keeping our exciting event plans under lock and key, one thing’s for certain: this much-anticipated sculpture trail will build on the runaway success of Gromit Unleashed, Shaun in the City, and Gromit Unleashed 2.
To keep up to date, visit The Grand Appeal website at www.gromitunleashed.org.uk