Partners of The Guild
Wyre Community Land Trust
WCLT is a social enterprise, originally set up by Guild Companion and Director John Iles, which manages more than 300 acres in the Wyre Forest. It specialises in increasing the biodiversity of farmland and meadows, replanting and restoring traditional orchards, producing rare breed beef, the management of sensitive habitats, providing training and support and offering opportunities for land based volunteer work. The Trust is based at St George’s Farm on Ruskin Land.
Since 2007, they’ve been nurturing neglected farmland and woodland in and around the Wyre Forest. They are equally committed to making it more viable for more people to earn a living from the land. As well as managing the land, they run a busy sawmill and workshop, sell a growing range of products, run courses, and help local landowners get more benefits from their property and products.
The Trust currently has ten employees, they’re helped by a team of around 50 volunteers, and guided by six directors. In addition to the Guild, they work with more than 30 local landowners, and partner closely with bodies like Natural England, The Forestry Commission, Butterfly Conservation, and The Woodland Trust.
Sheffield Museums Trust
Sheffield Museums Trust is the charity responsible for Sheffield’s museums and galleries, including the Millennium Gallery, Weston Park Museum and the Graves Gallery. Their vision is to provide inspirational museums and galleries where people can reflect upon the past, question the present and imagine the future. Their mission is to connect with their visitors, share stories about Sheffield and the wider world, and care for the city’s collections. Among these collections is the Guild of St George’s Ruskin Collection, which they house, care for, curate and display.
The Guild and the Sheffield Museums Trust team work closely together to ensure that Ruskin’s vision for his collection, as a gift and an educational resource for the working people of Sheffield, freely available, remains the guiding principle behind the management of the Ruskin Collection.
The Big Draw
Founded in 2000, The Big Draw (formally The Campaign for Drawing, initiated by The Guild) is an arts education charity that promotes visual literacy and the universal language of drawing as a tool for learning, expression and invention.
The charity leads a diversified programme encompassing advocacy, empowerment and engagement, and is the driving force behind the The Big Draw Festival – the world’s biggest celebration of drawing.
The charity supports professional and emerging artists through The John Ruskin Prize and exhibition, also supported by The Guild, and regular events, awards and competitions create platforms for each and everyone who wants to draw.
Throughout the year, The Big Draw manages collaborative research projects, campaigns and educational conferences on visual literacy, digital technology and STEAM. Working with cultural and educational organisations, policymakers and businesses The Big Draw demonstrates the social, economic and health benefits that drawing can bring and provides opportunities for everyone to access them.
The John Ruskin Prize
The John Ruskin Prize has gained a reputation as one of the most exciting and challenging multi-disciplinary art prizes in the UK. Inaugurated in 2012, The Guild of St. George renewed its links with The Big Draw (formerly The Campaign for Drawing) to inaugurate The John Ruskin Prize - open to all artists over 18 working in the UK, and since 2023, around the world. The Prize allows us to promote and give exposure to the work of emerging artists using a wide range of media and techniques. The Prize’s emphasis on close observation reflects John Ruskin’s belief that drawing (in its widest possible definition) helps us to see the world more clearly.