Lucy J Wright

I've made some new friends lately so here's a little 'storytime' about me! ❤️ Pic 1: Hi, I'm Lucy. I'm an artist and a folklore researcher. Pic 2: I come from a family of folk musicians Pic 3: My Dad was a morris dancer in the 1970s (before I was born!) Pic 4: And I was the singer in a folk band, Pilgrims' Way in the early 2010s. (Our debut album even got us nominated for a BBC Folk Award 🎉) Pic 5: But I realized pretty quickly that the life of a touring musician wasn't for me. (I was bricking it here! Stage fright is real! 😅) Pic 6: I still wanted to work on folk though, so I decided to do a PhD. My Viva was on May Day 2024. (I was lucky to land a scholarship otherwise I'd never have been able to do it). Pic 7: My research was about folklore in the twenty-first century. I wanted to know what had happened to 'the folk'. The history books seemed to suggest that they'd all died out sometime around the industrial revolution - but that made no sense to me. I also wanted to know where all the women were. Almost all the folk customs I could find centred on men: women were either absent or strongly sidelined. Pic 8: My Dad had told me that morris was a 'man's dance' and that women only started dancing in the women's lib movement of the 1970s. So how come I kept finding archive photos of female morris dancers dating back decades earlier. Pic 9: it turned out that Lancashire had its own unique female-led morris dance tradition that was still thriving but had been left out of the English folk revival because no one believed that working class women in the north could be the bearers of an authentic folk culture. Pic 10: My first experiences at girls' morris competitions were intense, like nothing I'd seen before in all my years in the folk scene. They changed my life. Pic 11: They taught me that folk was still alive and kicking - especially in working class and urban communities previously disregarded by the old folk collectors. Pic 12: Over time I learned about other traditions that had evolved outside of the folk revival I'd grown up with. I've spent the last 15 years documenting some of them. (Continued below 👇😘)

A Brigid's Cross made from Rizla packets... Thinking about ritual litter and the stuff folks leave behind in sacred spaces, inspired by a conversation with @theepecsaetanist and @tamsin_wilson the other week. Also lovely to see @sarahjoy.ford at the opening of her new installation! Day 2 of my residency at @lancasterartsuk

Friends, if you're looking for something to do this weekend and you're Sheffield accessible, do consider checking out 'Gentle Revolts' at @blocprojects 💖 There's work by @kordacovalucie and @miroslava__vecerova , @simonabrinkmann , @limbic_shores - and you can also see my 'Garland Queen', 'Pink 'Oss' and 'Kelsey-Jo Barleycorn'...all gender-flipped renditions of British folklore 🌾 Open from midday Saturday, closed Sunday Runs til 31 January I'd love to know what you think! Photos by @jamesklclarkson 🙏

🎉 Momentous news, friends! This coming June I will—after 4 years and 4 months in ACE jail—be once again permitted to apply for the DYCP! 🥹🥳😅 Seriously though, I’m not sure everyone is aware of just *how long* the period of blacklisting currently is for those of us unfortunate enough to be unsuccessful *twice* for the ‘Developing Your Creative Practice’ award. You can receive two successes in the same timeframe... 😳 The first time I applied, I had just made the move to self-employment and received news of my rejection the day after my father died. The second time I was preparing for my first solo show. Both times I had received—and paid for!—professional bid writing support. Not that I should really have needed to, since I work in the arts and writing is my bread and butter, but I was a newbie to ACE and wanted to give myself the best possible chance 🤣😭 Turns out you can submit a ‘good’ app and still get rejected. And then be considered so hopeless as to be prohibited from trying again for *4 years*. Jeepers. 🤪 But it wasn’t my intention to come here and moan. Well maybe a bit. But I actually wanted to reflect on what happened to me when the only major funder in the country decided I wasn’t worthy of support and should probably pack it all in right there. These past 4 years in the funding hinterland have seen the creation of *my entire practice*. I’ve learned new skills, delivered exhibitions and commissions, joined a community and built one of my own. I’ve done all the things I wanted support for and more and I’ve grown in ways I could never have predicted. Would the money have been useful? 🤔 Darn right, it would 😑 I work a day job and can only imagine how blissful it would be to have a pot of cash to buy me some research time and travel and **breathing space**. But the art world has put me to *work* regardless and I’m gratefully hanging on in here. How’s that for a ‘step change’?? 💥 So anyway, if you have any top tips for DYCP success, please drop 'em below! And thank you to everyone who has helped me to make a go of this, in spite of things! 🙏🙏🙏 Poster by @sportsbanger 🤩

We asked Lucy Wright where she can see hope blossoming. @lucy_j_wright “Hope can be both intrinsic and extrinsic. It’s when you realise you’re smiling again, even when you thought you never would” — LONDON! We’re in Morden Hall Park 11-17:00 next Saturday (16th May!), bring us your hopes, or send a message of hope via WhatsApp voice note to 0800 222 9322 and add your voice to the growing national archive. Listen to other hopeful messages at .uk Let Hope Blossom is a project by Wild Rumpus in collaboration with the National Trust

🎉🎉🎉 They finally arrived! 🎉🎉🎉 Super-shiny 'Folk is a Feminist Issue' pin badges! Gold and pink and chunky AF. Put 'em on your jacket, your backpack, wherever you want a bit of feminist folk energy! ✨ Yours for under a tenner! Link in my bio and stories! Also, a reminder that my online shop is only open for a limited time so grab stuff before it's gone!

Loving to see the progress on my bronze crown for @createberwick / @artsheritage Thanks @benwinterburnn for the update! 👑👑👑

Photo dump from research visit to Hereford for the 900 year-old May Fair 🎠 Had a belting time! Big thank you to @emaleebeddoes and @glitterntwisted for organising! Can't wait to come back. Pics 1-4: Hereford May Fair Pics 5-7: Picks from the Hereford Museum store 😍 What a treat to get to dig about in there while the museum is closed for renovations! Pic 8: lovely Dita the cat 🖤 Pics 9-10: Hereford Cathedral and chained library Pic 11: fresco from Hereford Old House (a proper little gem, do visit!) Pic 12-16: trip to @sidneynolantrust in Presteigne. The installation by Copy Collective - inspired by Sidney Nolan's use of photocopiers at the latter part of his career - is up there for my exhibition of the year! Flipping excellent! Thanks to Karen for the tour 🙏 Pic 17-18: Castro the dog and witch marks with @betteblavatsky 💖💖💖 What a good time! ✨

A Reet Northern May Procession through the streets of Islington! 😅 With @mrnickyhart and @tomoscarmoore , Jamaican Jonkonnu costumes by @tamsin_wilson , Orcadia Morris Dancers, @belles_of_london_city and New Brancepeth Revellers kazoo band. Marking the opening of @offbeatfilm festival 2026! 🎉

Friends, I'm still reeling from Saturday night at @themildmayclub and don't think I have the words yet to say how incredible it was 🥹🤩💖 Seriously, it was a dream come true. A sellout event in Central London (with a 50+ waitlist). A women-led programme of contemporary folk arts from the north of England (the stuff that's usually left out of the picture when we talk about folk culture). A joyous, exuberant, welcoming crowd who showed us all so much love! And I got to dress up as the Lincoln Imp! 😈 There's so many people to shout out so here goes... To the absolute babes from Orcadia Morris Dancers - repping for carnival morris dancing from the northwest - you guys are pros. An bsolutely stunning performance, I honestly feel like this is a landmark in morris dancing history. After knowing you for nearly 15 years, I am SO glad we were able to celebrate together this way 😘😭💪 To New Brancepeth Revellers jazz kazoo marching band - room shaking, breathtaking, electrifying. London has never seen anything like you before! To @belles_of_london_city - even incognito, you were unmistakably wonderful! Thank you for putting on the PJs and bringing my 'Add to Rushcart' performance to life on the dance floor 🙏💪💖 To @melostme - future folk pioneer and the coolest person ever 😎🤩 Your set made me cry *twice*. To @tamsin_wilson - for bringing the Jonkonnu to our procession! Dopamine dressing dialled up to 100! To @disorderingdance AKA @nikirushxo - the BEST host a WMC folk night could ever ask for (your morris dance strip tease was an especially high point! 😍). Finally the biggest thanks to @mike_hankin @ritamariaconry and the whole team at @offbeatfilm - firstly for taking a chance on an offbeat folker like me, and secondly and everlastingly for their heroic levels of support, generosity and enthusiasm for making it all come together ❤️ I'm humbled. And of course to everyone who came and made it a proper belting party! I loved your get up and your grooves. Thank you! 🙏🌞✨ Ofc this was just the first event in the Offbeat Folk Film Festival so do check out all the brilliant things they've got coming up in the next fortnight 🎥🎉

What a way to open the Offbeat Folk Film Festival with a Reet Northern May Day Party! Ft. @lucy_j_wright parading as the Lincoln Imp through the streets of London alongside the @belles_of_london_city - all followed by a party hosted by @disorderingdance 🌸 Such a joy to join @barbarasanti in capturing the atmosphere for an upcoming @awenproductionscic film... watch this space! @offbeatfilm @mike_hankin @ritamariaconry @themildmayclub #MayDay #FolkFilmFestival @folklifefilms

A hedge morris dance in the underpass to celebrate May Day 🌱🌞✨ The Imp will see some of you later at our Reet Northern May Party @offbeatfilm @themildmayclub 😈😈😈 Sounds by @v3nus_aphrodit3 @new_reality_records 🙏