Name: Nature Calling
Price range: $

White circles hang from trees in the woods like a magical mobile.

Nature Calling

A view of Cheddar Gorge, vertical cliffs with a long view out to a sparkling lake in the far distance.

What is a National Landscape?

Nature Calling is the first national programme of new art commissions by the National Landscapes Association.

The National Landscapes Association is the membership body for the UK's 46 National Landscapes, iconic places you might have visited or seen on TV. They include familiar sights like the chocolate box villages of the Cotswolds; Willy Lott's farm - the scene of Constable's Hay Wain painting; and Pendle Hill, iconic in north west England as the backdrop for the legendary Pendle witches. They are all different, dynamic, living communities with distinct heritage and culture. Find your nearest National Landscape.

The Nature Calling programme

In 2023, The National Landscapes Association, working with Activate Performing Arts, was absolutely thrilled to secure funding from Arts Council England (as part of the Lottery funded Nationally Significant Project stream) and Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) (as part of the Protected Landscapes Partnership) and National Landscapes in England to deliver Nature Calling. Nature Calling is designed to amplify new voices and create innovative artwork in collaboration with communities close to National Landscapes and building to a national 'season' sharing the work between May and October 2025.

Our national Executive Creative Producers Activate Performing Arts, have decades of experience of working with community groups to create high quality outdoor art experiences.

Every National Landscape across England is involved.

We will be sharing what's happening and where and how you can get involved as the season launch approaches in early 2025.

A woman holds a gramophone trumpet to her ear like an ear trumpet. She is on a hill and pointing the trumpet to the sky where angry looking puffy clouds pass,

Approach

After a competitive process, six National Landscapes were selected to be 'hubs' - they will deliver larger scale art projects, inspired by brand new writing commissions.

National Landscape teams will work with local arts producers to help them collaborate with nearby communities.

Hubs: Chilterns National Landscape - working with communities in Luton; Dorset and Yeovil; Forest of Bowland and Burnley; Lincolnshire Wolds and community groups of under 25s and disabled people from across the county; Mendip Hills and Weston-super-Mare; and Surrey Hills and New Addington in Croydon.

You can find out more about the hub National Landscapes, their partners and commissioned writers and artists using the producer and commissions tabs, or follow the links below.

Producers

Activate Performing Arts - National Executive Creative Producers

Dorset based Activate Performing Arts have 30 years experience of creating large scale, immersive outdoor art.