There are opportunities for artists/writers/musicians across disciplines to deliver paid workshops and walks with a wide range of local groups. The workshops will run from the end of this month until the end of February 2025, the majority being between August and November. They will mostly be outdoor, day-long sessions but some may include visits such as to schools, the Museum or other locations. We are offering £363 per day which will include materials and preparation time. Evidence of your socially engaged practice is required and we are particularly interested to hear about your own take on the issues covered below.
This is an opportunity to affect the future of local landscape and to be a part of our research into the roles of artists in engaging the community with landscape into the future. If you support what Growing Places is trying to do and in particular its attempts to develop the role of artists in what we see as crucial areas of life, we would ask that you donate 20% of your fee back into the project to help us reach our match funding target.
Please fill in this google form or send us an email if you’d rather (including your name, contact details, social media, availability, whether you have a DBS check, no more than 500 words about your practice and in particular experience of working with specific groups – we are interested to hear about your take on the issues covered in the context below). There is no closing date but early submissions will be more likely to be considered as we are currently drawing up delivery plans.
Location of workshops:
The landscape north of Stroud, including and between the Slad and Painswick Valleys and into Stroud.
Target Groups:
- Nursery, primary and secondary schools. FE colleges and universities.
- Local organisations that work across ages, such as youth clubs, older people,
- Mental health and GP referral groups.
- Community based interest groups such as walking groups, local heritage groups, community farm membership.
- Socially excluded groups
Context:
Appreciation of the public benefits of access to landscape, an awareness of issues central to the Cotswolds National Landscape designation https://www.cotswolds-nl.org.uk/planning/cotswolds-aonb-management-plan/ and an appreciation of farming and woodland management practices in the future of our landscape is desirable.
The idea is for the workshops/walkshops to elicit responses to a variety of linked and sometimes entangled environmental themes:
- Addressing climate chaos in the countryside
- Regenerative farming
- Nature connection
- Soil health
- Dietary health
- Woodland biodiversity
- Landscape health and beauty linking as appropriate with specific interests of the various groups such as school curriculum.
We also seek your permission to include your details in the directory that the project is developing as a part of its legacy. We presume, unless you that your expression of interest is permission to publish your details and add you to our database.
Work produced will be considered for inclusion in the Growing Places Exhibition and festival with the possibility of direct input to the conference.
What next:
We will ensure that your details are logged for use in the directory.
We will try our best to allocate workshops fairly. We can’t promise that an expression of interest will lead to delivering a workshop, but we can promise to acknowledge all submissions, look at them seriously and keep you abreast of the project.