FOI 2025
News
Bath Spa University brings imagination, nature, and community together at this year’s Forest of Imagination
Friday, 19 September, 2025Bath Spa University is once again proud to help bring the award-winning Forest of Imagination festival to life.
From 23 September – 2 October 2025, the former Entry Hill Golf Course in Bath will be transformed into a free, immersive landscape of art, nature, and community.
This year’s theme, ‘Imagining the Future of the Forgotten Land’, invites visitors to reconnect with nature, explore bold ideas, and take part in positive action for the community. Entry Hill will become a vibrant Art–Nature–Community Park, alive with interactive installations, sensory trails, outdoor performances, and hands-on workshops for all ages. Each experience sparks collective imagination in response to the climate and nature emergencies.
Designed with local communities, not just for them, the festival celebrates Bath’s creativity and inclusivity. Easily reached on foot or by bike, visitors can wander across the reimagined ‘greens’, discovering artworks, stories, and new perspectives on how this overlooked landscape could thrive in the future.
Bath Spa University plays a leading role in shaping and funding the Forest, with collaborations alongside school and research centres including:
- School of Art, Film, Media
- School of Design (Architecture, Furniture, Product Design)
- School of Education
- School of Humanities
- School of Science
- Music and Performing Arts (Dance/Music)
- eARTh Research Group (Centre for Environmental Humanities)
- Creative Pedagogy (Centre for Policy, Pedagogy and Practice)
- Emerge Studio
Co-founded in 2012 by Andrew Grant RDI (Grant Associates) and Dr. Penny Hay (Bath Spa University / House of Imagination), Forest of Imagination has become an annual celebration of creativity and ecology, supported by partners including Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, BANES Council, Bathscape, The Egg Theatre, Bath Preservation Trust, Bath Community Kitchen, Avon Wildlife Trust, local schools, and countless volunteers.
Andrew Grant, founder at Grant Associates, says:
“Entry Hill is a forgotten green lung of Bath with enormous potential. By reimagining it through the lens of art and nature, we can inspire ecological empathy, bring people together, and show how cities can respond creatively to climate and nature emergencies.”
Dr Penny Hay, Artist, Professor of Imagination at Bath Spa University, and Co-founder of Forest of Imagination / House of Imagination, adds:
“Forest of Imagination is an open invitation for everyone to fall in love with nature through our collective imagination. It’s a space of possibility where children, young people and communities can co-create, play, and learn alongside artists and nature. After twelve years, the magic and wonder shine brighter than ever.”
With the support of BANES, the Forest of Imagination at Entry Hill is more than a temporary transformation—it’s a vision for a permanent Arts and Nature Park. A living, breathing proof of concept, it aims to establish Bath as an international beacon of creativity, ecology, and imagination.