With just one year to go until March of the Elephants parades into Lichfield, Tamworth and Sutton Coldfield, sponsors, who are already part of the herd have shared their inspiration behind joining the trail.
St Giles Hospice, alongside Wild in Art, and presenting partners, the SnowDome, will bring a herd of 60 elephants to the streets, parks and open spaces from 1 July 2024.
Tim Carter, Director at the SnowDome said: “We’re excited and proud to be presenting partners for the March of the Elephants trail. As a company, it’s always been important to us to offer inclusive, family activities to our community, and we’ve chosen to work closely with St Giles on this project so we can continue to do that throughout the Summer of 2024.
“I’d encourage any businesses who are interested in the trail to jump at the chance of getting involved. It’s going to be a brilliant focal point within our communities and local areas, as well as offering the opportunity to build long-term partnerships with St Giles Hospice and other local organisations in the area.”
Emma Yates, Associate Director of Income Generation at St Giles Hospice, said: “We’re urging local businesses to get involved with this unique community project by sponsoring one of our 60 elephant sculptures, which will be designed and painted by local and national artists.
“The Learner Programme will see mini elephant sculptures being designed and decorated by students from local schools and community groups and will be included in the 2024 trail.
These mini sculptures will then be returned to the schools and community spaces to keep after the trail has closed.
The larger sculptures will be auctioned off at the end of the trail to raise money for St Giles Hospice, helping them to continue to provide their services to local people, and their loved ones, living with a terminal illness.
Another local business that’s already joined the March of the Elephants herd is Davison’s Law in Lichfield, who have already seen the impact taking part in an art trail and the benefits it can bring.
Helen Bartlam, Director of Davidson’s Law, said: “Many years ago, we got involved with the ‘Big Hoot’ owl trail in Birmingham. We really valued the level of brand engagement this offered us – people were purposely going out to search for our owl. In turn, this then brought lovely client conversations back into our offices and helped our working environment to feel more welcoming and less formal to our clients.
“We want to support St Giles and build deeper connections with our local community, and for us, sponsoring an elephant on the trail offers us just that. So many people have a personal link to St Giles, so it offers a point of deeper connection and a conversation-starter between us and our clients. Of course, having a beautiful elephant out on the trail with our sponsorship helps with brand awareness for our company too.”
St Giles spends around £10million a year providing care to local people, and their loved ones, living with a terminal illness and, with only 25% of this funded by the Government, they rely heavily on donations and income generation from the local community.
Keep up to date with the herd at www.marchoftheelephants.co.uk or follow @_elephantmarch on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook.
To find out more about sponsoring an elephant, get in touch today: elephants@stgileshospice.com