A letter from Becca
Now I’m in my forties and I’ve worked in the arts for 24 years! I have created as an artist and supported others as a producer, and now is the time to put all that I have learnt into this: my purpose – to reconnect us to the land and to each other, to give space to us to write new stories that help us understand how to take care of our planet and each other in an equitable way. Because essentially that’s what folktales do. They support biodiversity, they create excellent moments around a fire, and they are powerful tools to stop the powers that be from destroying our planet through extreme greed and individualism.
This is why I’ve committed to Radical Ritual – and to sitting in cheap paddling pools in the garden, charged by moonlight!
Our first public ritual is Consequences. A giant game of Consequences where different players draw a head, body, legs and feet without seeing what has been drawn before, with community groups in Yeovil, Somerset. By the end of the summer, we will have worked with nearly 500 people in land-based rituals to create a new giant that will be seen on the hill next to the Cerne Abbas Giant and across Somerset and Dorset in September this year.
I couldn’t do this alone, and I’m working with an incredible team. But more on all of this next time!
Why not try a ritual in your paddling pool this weekend?
Love,
Becca
Dear Friends,
I’m writing this on a full moon.
I’ve just sat in the freezing cold water of our paddling pool outside with my 7-year-old daughter as the sun came up. We put Himalayan sea salt and lemon juice into the water for cleansing, and we wrote down the things we wanted to see in the world. She wrote a poem. It was beautiful and imaginative and full of wonder for what the world will be as she grows up.
It was one of those moments. A ritual. It was ridiculous – the paddling pool is cheap and plastic, and the water was full of floating grass and bits of mud. But the water had been in the moonlight, and I like to believe in magic! Because why not? We were late for school, and we were a bit cold, and it was a bit ridiculous – but it actually felt great. When we finally got to the school gates, we laughed about it and hugged, and she whispered, “Thanks, Mum, I loved that ritual.”
Why am I telling you this slightly cringe story and giving you a bit too much information about my life? Well, as I sat down to write this letter to you about why I set up Radical Ritual, it was the first thing that popped into my head.
Radical Ritual is all about moments of art and connection and healing and nature and being together – and sometimes being a bit cringe! It’s about reclaiming our connection to the land around us and to each other. That includes the incredible green landscapes as well as the streets and squares that we share. And this feels very important right now – when we only have access to 8% of the land around us(thanks Nick Hayes for working with us, and everyone at Right to Roam). When the land is overused, polluted and destroyed by a capitalist system that makes the billionaires richer and the ‘common’ people poorer. When our folklore and stories of the land are destroyed through centuries of control to strip the wealth from people here, along with the horrors of colonisation across the world. When you strip the stories and the people from the land, then it’s yours to exploit.
about radical ritual
We believe that public art should be truly democratic, sustainable, and rooted in the voices of the communities it serves.
Our work creates inclusive spaces where people, artists, and communities actively shape the stories and landscapes around them.
At a time when access to nature, green heritage, and cultural participation remains deeply unequal, we are building a new kind of organisation—one that values co-creation, shared ownership, and environmental responsibility.
Our projects explore how heritage, sustainability, and participatory storytelling can shape more inclusive futures. By working collaboratively across disciplines, we challenge who gets to create and contribute to public art, shifting power towards collective decision-making and citizen democracy.
our approach
A Democratic Company Model – We are building an organisation where power is shared, decisions are made collectively, and creative work is co-owned by those who take part. We believe in citizen-led cultural production.
Green Heritage & Sustainability – Our projects explore how environmental storytelling and artistic practice can help preserve and evolve our shared cultural and ecological legacies. We use natural materials, low-impact methods, and long-term community engagement to ensure sustainability is at the core of our work.
Diverse Voices & Inclusive Participation – We work with artists, writers, and cultural leaders from underrepresented backgrounds to ensure that the stories we tell reflect the breadth of experiences, identities, and relationships people have with the land.
The Radical Ritual Team
BECCA GILL
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/CEO
Emily williams
EXECUTIVE DIREC TOR
Join Us
Whether you're an artist, community organiser, or someone passionate about the future of green heritage and democratic cultural spaces, we’d love to hear from you.