A project funded by DEFRA through the Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme using arts and creativity to engage Teesdale primary school children with the landscape in Upper Teesdale and the rare and special flora to be found there. BUDDING BOTANISTS Back to Landscape and Environment Budding Botanists took place from April to July 2024 and was funded by The Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) through the Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) scheme. The project used arts and creativity to engage and inspire children in schools and their families and broaden their awareness of the rich and rare flora of Upper Teesdale (the ‘Teesdale Assemblage’) and its plight. The project aimed to: · Raise awareness of the rare flora of upper Teesdale · Engage and inspire children using arts and creative activity · Develop an interest and understanding of the environmental issues in our local protected landscape The project involved creative workshops and site visits to Cow Green Reservoir for four Teesdale primary schools: Bowes-Hutchinson's C of E Primary School, Cotherstone Primary School, Montalbo Nursery and Primary School and St Mary’s RC Primary School. The project engaged three County Durham based artists to lead the creative workshops: David De La Haye, Louise Taylor and Nat Wilkins. Site visits to Cow Green Reservoir were arranged for students and teachers from the four schools to discover more about the Teesdale Assemblage. The groups investigated the famous Spring Gentian and the history and heritage of these rare flowers. Site visits were accompanied by volunteers from the Teesdale Special Flora Trust and Volunteer Botany Group, including Dr Margaret Bradshaw, who worked with the students to understand the significance of these unique Teesdale flowers. The three artists facilitated creative activities on site in May and afterwards in schools in June, using photography and sound recording techniques. Students explored ideas about the local landscape and generated their own artwork in response. Artwork included photography, sound compositions, cyanotype prints and zines (small magazines). The project culminated in a public exhibition of the students’ work entitled ‘Fabulous Flora!’ at The Witham Art Centre Gallery in Barnard Castle. The exhibition also included an interactive opportunity for visitors to make their own ‘zine’ inspired by the flora of upper Teesdale. Project Gallery A budding botanist Dr Margaret Bradshaw enjoying the craic with the children Drying cyanotypes A budding botanist 1/16 Thank you to our generous Funders: We Need Your Support Today! Donate

stories and memories from ukraine Back to projects We’re delighted to be hosting ‘Stories and Memories from Ukraine’ on our website. OLEK DEV, based in Kyiv when war broke out back in February 2022, has spent his time recording memories and traditional stories from some of the older generation who have remained in the city throughout the Russian invasion. The project provides a way for Ukrainians here in UK and across the globe to listen to some lovely authentic Ukrainian voices – and for those surviving the turbulence in their own country to share stories from happier times. Here's the link to hear the authentic voices: Memories of Ukraine Here are the verbatim tranlations by Olek: Lyudmila Hryhorivna Galena Fairy Tale Ivasyk Telesyk Elena Vladimirovna Zinaida Pavlovna We Need Your Support Today! Donate

A partnership between Northern Heartlands and Teesdale Special Flora Trust funded by the Governments Green Recovery Challenge Fund through National Lottery Heritage Fund. Plants on the edge Back to Landscape & Environment During 2022-2023 we partnered with Teesdale Special Flora Trust in this exciting project funded by the government’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund through the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The Trust was set up to continue the work of the inspiring and renowned botanist Dr Margaret Bradshaw who, at the age of 98 (in 2024), still leads walks, oversees monitoring and surveying activity and gives talks on the ‘Teesdale Assemblage’ – a collection of rare alpine plants unique to Upper Teesdale and threatened with decline as a result of climate change. The project included schools workshops, a series of public talks and a touring exhibition. Find out more about Plants on the Edge here Project Gallery Teesdale's famous Spring Gentian (Gentiana verna) Model of the Spring Gentian by Yrs 3 & 4 at Middleton-in-Teesdale Primary Archaeology and botany walk in Upper Teesdale Teesdale's famous Spring Gentian (Gentiana verna) 1/7 Thank you to our generous Funders: We Need Your Support Today! Donate

creative health in bishop auckland Back to Health and Wellbeing Our creative health activity continues in Bishop Auckland, thanks to funding from Believe Housing Association, Bishop Auckland & Shildon Area Action Partnership and Durham County Council. We’re currently running weekly sessions at Bishop Auckland Town Hall , every Thursday from 1.00 pm to 3.00 pm. Each session involves creative activity led by a professional artist or an individual's own crafts and offers stability and a safe environment for the participants to relax, be creative and enjoy some social time with each other. As part of our weekly social prescribing programme at Four Clocks Centre, Professional animator, Sheryl Jenkins, worked with the group on producing a short animated film using characters and drawings created by them which articulate what these weekly creative sessions have come to mean to them. Project Gallery Model House and scenery Using tools to make a model house Felted Christmas decorations Model House and scenery 1/15 Thank you to our generous Funders: We Need Your Support Today! Donate

A project funded by the Green Recovery Challenge Fund to engage local people in the special flora of Teesdale in County Durham and educate about how we can protect it. Great Place Scheme 2017 - 2020 Back to Past Projects Northern Heartlands was originally one of 16 Great Place Schemes – funded jointly by Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund – which came out of the landmark 2016 Culture White Paper. Our Great Place Scheme in Co Durham focussed on the more rural areas of the county as well as some of the towns and villages of the former Durham coalfield area. We worked with hundreds of local people - listening to their stories, building confidence, valuing their hopes and dreams, increasing their sense of pride in their place and its heritage - and providing some innovative and exciting events and creative activities along the way. We also worked with a range of different partners at a strategic level, with an overall aim of building confidence and enabling the voices of our communities to be heard by those who make decisions on their behalf. The work included a series of Speaker & Discussion Events: creative conference sessions involving community representatives, decision-makers, artists, thinkers and the business community who were all invited to come together to share ideas on issues ranging from Neighbourhood Planning to Hill Farming and from Tourism to Placemaking. Our external evaluator described our Great Place Scheme as 'unique and ambitious'. Read the report here Project Gallery 1/29 Thank you to our generous Funders: We Need Your Support Today! Donate

Find out about the diverse range of projects we are currently working on throughout South West County Durham! Strategic Partnerships Back to projects Text needed, images and/or logos We Need Your Support Today! Donate

Find out about work and training opportunities as well as connect with the County Durham Artists Network. Artists' Space Click on one of the options below to see resources and opportunities for Artists! Training Opportunities Artist Call Outs Resources See creations from previous workshops in the gallery below! 1/15 We Need Your Support Today! Donate

A Heritage Fund project exploring the history of Willington in County Durham and getting local people to connect with their heritage. hyem fest! Back to Hidden Heritage Thank you to our generous Funders: We Need Your Support Today! Donate

thriving communities Back to Health & Wellbeing Between May 2021 and June 2022 we ran a social prescribing project called ‘NOW’ - a programme of activities helping to support those living with anxiety, depression, loneliness or mental health issues. It was funded by the National Academy for Social Prescribing and Arts Council England’s pioneering ‘Thriving Communities Fund' We worked with three delivery partners: Jack Drum Arts , TCR The Hub and UTASS. Over the course of the programme, our partners delivered more than 130 activity sessions including canoeing, nature walks, dancing, filmmaking, creative writing, arts, and crafts, helping with community events and sometimes just getting together for a cup of tea and chat. Read the full evaluation report here. What is Social Prescribing? Find out here Project Gallery UTASS UTASS Jack Drum Arts UTASS 1/21 Thank you to our generous Funders: We Need Your Support Today! Donate

Find out about opportunities to work with us and volunteer with us. External Evaluator Teesdale Special Flora - Plants on the Edge Teesdale Special Flora Trust is offering the opportunity to tender for the external evaluation of its project ‘Plants On The Edge’ funded by the Green Recovery Challenge Fund. The external evaluator will liaise closely with project partners and project officers and will report periodically to the Teesdale Special Flora Steering Group. The evaluator will assess the impact of the project against the following outcomes: A wider range of people will be involved in nature Heritage will be in a better condition Heritage will be identified and better explained People will have developed skills People will have learnt about heritage, leading to change in ideas and actions A fee of £9000 is available inclusive of VAT and expenses. Closing date for applications is 12.00 pm, Monday 14th February 2022 A full brief including how to apply is available here . More information We Need Your Support Today! Donate

Find out about opportunities to work with us and volunteer with us. Opportunities Volunteer Volunteer with us We are always on the look out for willing volunteers to help support our work. We are especially keen to find volunteer drivers to help us with taking participants to and from our health and wellbeing project "Take Part in Teesdale". Volunteers will drive a minibus provided by TCR Hub . More information is available here: Volunteer Drivers for Take Part in Teesdale If you'd be interested in volunteering for us, send an email to info@northernheartlands.org and we will be in touch! Call outs are often shared via our mailing list so make you subscribe using the form at the bottom of this page. Work with us Work with us We have no open opportunities to work with us just now. Keeping checking this space and follow us on our socials to hear about any upcoming opportunities. As a Registered Charity, we currently have a small but very effective team of Trustees, but we’re on the lookout for more! We would be very interested in hearing from you if you share our values, believe in our vision and mission, and you have expertise in finance and fundraising, and/or if you’re from one of the communities in our area of benefit in County Durham. Click on the button below for our Trustee Recruitment Pack. If you are an Artist, click below to go to our current opportunities. Go to Artist Call Outs Trustee Recruitment Pack We Need Your Support Today! Donate

We began life as an Arts Council and Heritage Fund Great Place Scheme in 2017. We have now become a registered CIO. Our History We began life back in 2017 as one of England’s 16 ‘Great Place Schemes’. Jointly funded by Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Scheme was designed to pilot new approaches to local investment in arts, culture and heritage. Northern Heartlands’ ‘great place’ was the south-west corner of County Durham; an area comprising the Area Action Partnership districts of Teesdale and Weardale (rural, isolated villages and hill farms), Bishop Auckland & Shildon, and the ‘Three Towns Partnership’ of Tow Law, Crook and Willington (small towns and surrounding settlements of the former Durham coalfield). Over the three years, projects ranged from small one-off workshops to a major new community opera created with local communities in partnership with Opera North. A small grants scheme supported by County Durham Community Foundation saw 47 projects developed by community groups. Approaches ranged from an innovative 18-month project commissioning an artist/researcher to work with hill-farmers to harness their views and voices, to ethnographic engagement with a cluster of small, neglected settlements in the Dene Valley Parish – once destined for demolition under the infamous Category D scheme when the pits closed – and supporting a major outdoor arts event in the former coal-mining town of Willington where, prior to Northern Heartlands’ engagement and as one young person succinctly put it, “nothing ever happens”. At the end of the Great Place Scheme, it was clear to us that this work had only just begun. Our evaluation revealed that our work had a profound impact on our communities, including: increased pride in the area increased confidence in themselves greater connection to the heritage and culture of the area as well as having a positive impact on health and wellbeing At the end of 2019 we made the decision to establish Northern Heartlands as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in its own right. Going forwards we will continue our work primarily in the south-west corner of County Durham, building on existing relationships with communities as well as striving to forge new ones in order to continue the work we have begun. We Need Your Support Today! Donate