Funding for community arts project

The North Pennines AONB Partnership has been awarded funding for a Fellfoot Forward arts project

The £70,000 grant will fund the community arts project for 2023 as part of the Fellfoot Forward Landscape Partnership Scheme (LPS). The programme that will document the natural and social worlds through music and sound. Regionally, nationally and internationally acclaimed musicians and sound artists, including sound recordist Chris Watson and musician Richard Dawson, will work with rurally isolated communities to document and perform the sights and sounds of the Fellfoot Forward landscape across a year.

Led by the North Pennines AONB Partnership and funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Fellfoot Forward Landscape Partnership Scheme is a major project to conserve, enhance and celebrate the natural and cultural heritage of a special part of the north-west of England. The scheme area stretches from the North Pennines AONB boundary westwards to the River Eden, and from Hallbankgate south to Melmerby.

The project will bring together residents, schools, voluntary sector groups, scientists and conservation groups, parish and county councils, and landowners, to collaborate with artists and creative practitioners, using sound and music as a medium to explore the past, present, and future of the area’s landscapes. Their created work will be performed across the Fellfoot Forward landscape at special events and will also be broadcast through an online radio channel to be created by the project team.

Fiona Knox, Fellfoot Forward scheme manager at the North Pennines AONB Partnership, said: “Cultural activity is a powerful way to build people’s interest and understanding in the places they live, and to bring people together. New research is demonstrating the importance of understanding and improving peoples’ connection to nature for both wellbeing and environmental benefits. This project will bring the arts and the environment sectors together to enhance understanding and curiosity about this landscape, excite the next generation, and encourage people who live, work, and visit here to be inspired by, and better care for, this unique heritage.”

The project will draw people together, across village and parish boundaries in rural locations with limited existing arts provision. Inspired by the rich natural and cultural heritage of the landscape, people will be able to explore the relationship between physical environment, green space, and everyday cultural and creative activities, benefitting wellbeing, enhancing nature recovery, and supporting people to connect with and care for nature.

The outstanding natural and cultural heritage of the Fellfoot Forward landscape includes a unique range of species and habitats protected by national and international designations, including ten Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), and ancient monuments. The moors, dales, valleys and rolling lowlands are all threatened by climate change impacts resulting in habitat loss and degradation, and a reduction in biodiversity. This project will respond to these findings and work currently being undertaken by the AONB’s conservation team to restore the landscape. Through project activities communities will develop a strong sense of place, sharing their heritage with others, and valuing the natural and cultural assets for their own sake and for all that they provide us.

This arts project for 2023 builds upon insights and learning from the six arts pilot projects delivered in 2021, which supported visual and performing artists to work with 220 Fellfoot Forward residents. Feedback from communities and artists identified music and sound as a focus.

The creative practitioners include local arts delivery partners Eden Valley Artistic Network and BlueJam Arts, alongside participants from 4Eden, Langwathby, Castle Carrock, Longtown and Culgaith primary schools, families living in the scheme area, young people and volunteers involved in Fellfoot Forward conservation activity, and local communities.

John Coburn, Creative Producer for this project, said: “This programme will be an exploration of the Fellfoot Forward area like no other. At the heart of it all is increasing people’s connection and understanding with this landscape – with its shifting climate, its ancient, social and industrial pasts, and also with other people who live here today. The communities who live and visit here will have the opportunity to work with an incredible team of artists across one year. They’ll be supported to document and perform this land through sound and music, and share it back with the world – online, across fells and villages, and everywhere from high streets to hedgerows. We are so grateful to Arts Council England for enabling this to happen.”.

Notes for editors

• About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
  Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.org.uk.
  Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund
  Since The National Lottery began in 1994, National Lottery players have raised over £43 billion for projects and more than 635,000 grants have been awarded across the UK. More than £30 million raised each week goes to good causes across the UK.
• Fellfoot Forward Landscape Partnership Scheme – Led by the North Pennines AONB Partnership, the Fellfoot Forward LPS is a major project to conserve, enhance and celebrate the natural and cultural heritage of a special part of the north west of England, which stretches from the Cumbrian fellside of the North Pennines AONB and UNESCO Global Geopark to the River Eden, and runs north from Melmerby to Hallbankgate. Fellfoot Forward will bring together management and restoration of habitats, such as woodland, peatland and grasslands, with community archaeology, conservation of historic buildings, community arts and education, and is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The Fellfoot Forward LPS is made up of the following partners: Eden Rivers Trust, Natural England, Historic England, RSPB, Carlisle City Council, Cumbria County Council, Eden District Council, Cumbria Action for Sustainability, The Farmer’s Network, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, and Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre. For more information about the Fellfoot Forward Landscape Partnership scheme visit https://northpennines.org.uk/what_we_do/fellfoot-forward/
• For media enquiries relating to the Fellfoot Forward LPS, please contact Kate Stacey, katestacey@northpenninesaonb.org.uk