. . . consultation and celebration

 

benefits

Community arts projects can make a major contribution to rural regeneration, helping to stimulate local interest and participation.

They can reconnect communities with the landscape, encouraging them to linger longer and look more closely. They promote a sense of belonging, improve community identity and confidence and pass on transferable skills.

And it is important not to forget that, above all else, these projects are usually fun - and fun itself is a worthwhile benefit, contributing to good physical and mental health.

 

case study: Mendip Hills AONB - Echoes of Mendip (2002-04)

Developed and managed by Take Art on behalf of the Mendip Hills AONB Service, the aim of this project was “to raise awareness of the AONB to residents and visitors to the area”.

An intensive three month consultation process with community groups identified through Take Art’s rural touring network, produced unexpected results. While anticipated hard issues, like speeding traffic and poor public transport links, were mentioned, the most frequently expressed concerns were much more personal.

"Who lives over there?" and "I don't know my own neighbours anymore"

"The disappearance of nature study at school" and "I want more information"

In response to this exercise, Take Art devised a five year rolling programme of arts projects under the title Mendip Hills AONB - You Are Here!

The first of these projects, Echoes of Mendip, employed community artists Kate Green, a digital image maker, and Jane Flood, a storyteller, to work together in ten communities.

Kate’s brief was to facilitate community members to identify and photograph things in their villages that were important to them. These images, that included architectural details, plants and animals, were made into a collage that was digitally printed onto banners. These now have pride of place in village halls, schools and churches throughout the AONB.

Jane worked with communities to research local myths and legends and facilitated the creative writing of their own village stories. In Shipham, for example, the community rediscovered the tale of Luvvy Gurnett, “a crazy woman of loose morals”, who sits at the entrance to the village and greets each passer by with a blessing or a curse.

These stories, together with images from the photographic project, are now being made into a book and CD, told and recorded in the distinctive but vanishing Mendip dialect.

Words and images from the community projects have also been used to enhance and personalise information points, constructed using local stone, and designed by artist Michael Fairfax.

An unexpected result of this project was a promenade performance in Cheddar Caves where all the stories were told and the banners displayed. Over 300 people attended and the local media coverage and subsequent PR for the AONB Service and the project was significant.

The second stage of this ambitious, rolling programme started in summer 2006 as part of The Lifelines Project, a celebration of the distinctive Mendip
dry-stone walls.

 

 

Fisherman repairing lobster pots, Sennen Cove. Photo: Simon Cook

Beech trees on old coach road, Triscombe. Photo: Graham Parish

Hurlers stone circle near Minions on Bodmin Moor. Photo: Paul Glendell