The Howardian Hills National Landscape is playing a small part in a ground-breaking £2M art project called Nature Calling. There are 6 major landscape ‘hubs’ and 21 smaller ‘spoke’ landscapes across England that are taking part; the Howardian Hills is one of these ‘spokes’.
Funded by Arts Council England, the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs and National Landscapes in England, Nature Calling aims to inspire new communities to connect with their local National Landscape, increase their access to nature, improve their wellbeing and inspire a sense of belonging in these special places.
Nature Calling will bring together the 34 National Landscapes in England, local arts organisations and community groups from within a 30-minute journey time of their nearby National Landscape. They will work together to co-create artworks inspired by these iconic places and the results will then be shared with the public in a season of art from May – October 2025. Around 70,000 people will take part.
Partners include the National Landscape Association, Activate Performing Arts, Poetry School, and the six regional National Landscape ‘hubs’ where the larger scale work will take place. These are the Chilterns, Dorset, Forest of Bowland, Lincolnshire Wolds, Mendip Hills and Surrey Hills. 21 National Landscapes will be doing smaller arts-related audience development activities, these will be known as ‘spokes’. The Howardian Hills is one of these.
Here at the Howardian Hills National Landscape, we already incorporate art into the community work we do as it has been shown to provide so many benefits for both people and nature. This takes the form of performances, installations, and community events to name a few. But because of its size and scope, Nature Calling will reach even more people, and we hope, even more of the nation that we are protected for.
National Landscapes are the UK’s nearby countryside. 66% of people in England (44 million) live within 30 minutes of a National Landscape, over 1 million people live within them and at least 170 million people visit every year. Nature Calling aims to reach out and encourage even more communities to feel welcome to enjoy these special places and on their own terms.
At the Howardian Hills National Landscape, we will work with communities in local urban areas, like York, focussing on audiences who would not normally access the landscape. As the project develops, we will share information about how people can get involved.
The ‘hub’ National Landscapes have commissioned artists from various writing disciplines, such as poetry, song, prose, or rap, to prepare a piece. These commissions are now live on the Nature Calling website. Next, the ‘hubs’ will commission an artist who will take those words and work with the community to co-create a final artwork. This will then be presented to the public in the season of art, May – October 2025. This could be in any art form, it might be dance, theatre, installation, digital, or music for example.
‘Spoke’ National Landscapes will be announcing their contributions and how artists or communities can be involved in the next few months.
We are really excited about this project, and we hope you are too. More information will be shared via the Nature Calling website as things develop. This will include stories from those involved and information on how to enjoy the artworks.