Anglo Dutch Wood Pasture

Anglo-Dutch Wood Pasture

'Picture Portraits of Time Honoured Trees'

A Development & Dissemination Report Building On The North Pennines Leader + Supported Project 'Anglo-Dutch Wood Pasture Skills Exchange'

Introduction

Grampus Heritage and Training Limited are an environmental non-Governmental organisation (ENGO), formed as a 'not-for-profit' unit concerned with rural development. The arts form an element of Grampus's work, other elements (often combined) are the environment, communities, social need, history and culture. Grampus have worked together with East Cumbria Countryside Project (ECCP) for 9 years, on a range of projects involving nature and communities. Geltsdale, in the North Pennines, is a wild and remote area, which inspires art and requires protection. The woodland area of Binnie Banks is an ancient wood pasture system, which dates (we believe) from the Medieval period. Because of the practice of grazing cattle amongst the trees, the individual trees (some 300 of them) have special shapes and forms and great longevity - the animals graze the new growth from the trunks, causing scarring, callusing and a bulbous expansion. Each tree has it's own unique Tolkienesque character and observers feel that they see pictures and faces in the tortured and twisted forms. Grampus and ECCP are working together to protect these ancient trees and extend the enjoyment of them to new audiences. This proposed arts project is one element of this work - other elements are concerned with practical environmental works and historical and archaeological surveys, etc.

The Proposed Work

We want to involve local school children in drawing, photographing and interpreting veteran trees in an ancient and remote cultural landscape.
The activity will involve outdoor sessions with photographers, graphic designers & illustrators.
The activity will result in a display of the results, which will be mounted on sculptured sections of local wood; this display will rotate between different north Cumbrian venues in Brampton, Castle Carrock and Penrith.
We want to raise awareness about the artistic potential of veteran trees & draw this out, whilst given further messages about their historic and cultural legacy, character, fragility and environmental value. Our current and future work involves interpretation of rural subjects, using art as a media to inform, excite and bring about positive change.
This activity is important to Grampus because it uses art to give profound and related messages about natural beauty, culture, sustainability and environmental protection. The activity will raise awareness amongst young people who are the future custodians of the cultural landscape.
We anticipate that the activity will raise awareness of veteran trees as entities with artistic merit and individual character. Through drawing on that character, those involved will understand the links between art, landscape, culture, history and nature.

Artists Involved

The photographic artists to be employed are Rowan Brown and Val Corbett, the framing artist is Kim Butler, the graphic designer is Marilyn Leech and the illustrator is Ali White. Rowan and Val are independent artists, Kim works in tandem with Danny Frost, a well-known furniture designer using local wood and Marilyn and Ali are employees or ECCP
This group will form a team, Val, Marilyn and Ali are very experienced and will advise and assist the less experienced team members. Grampus & ECCP will manage the project and will assess the quality of the created work at regular intervals.

Making It Happen

Grampus and ECCP have planned this work for over three years now. This has involved site meetings, meetings with the artists concerned, visits to the school (Castle Carrock) that will be involved and discussions with the 4 venues for the conference exhibition and traveling exhibition.

Management will be by Grampus, who have 10 years experience of project management. They will be assisted by ECCP. There will be the 'artists' team, the frame / display producer (Kim Butler) and the school teachers. There will be management meetings on a monthly basis and all sub-teams will report to Grampus on a monthly basis.

Grampus have successfully delivered the following projects…

1997 - Preserving and Reconstructing Ancient Buildings of Wood - supported by EU Raphael.
1998 - 2001 - Art for All - mobility for disabled young artists to train & practice in Poland, Slovakia and Germany. - supported by EU Leonardo da Vinci.
2001 - Culturally Aligned Products & Processes - supported by EU Culture 2000.
2002 - Costumes and Masks, Stimulating Innovative Art & Design - supported by EU Culture 2000.
2003 to 2005 - Development of Ashgill Forest Theatre - supported by 'Forest Futures'.
2005 - 2006 - " Fashion-in-the-Forest" - shows and displays at Ashgill Forest Theatre and Talkin Tarn - supported by EU-Youth.

Partners and Funders

The partners and funders are ….East Cumbria Countryside Project (ECCP). ECCP are managers of numerous ancient and semi-natural woodlands, including those in Geltsdale, which will feature in this arts activity. Funding for ECCP is provided by our 3 local authority partners, Carlisle City Council, Eden District Council and Cumbria County Council. The organisation has also developed working relationships with, the Eden Rivers Trust, Cumbria Woodlands, Cumbria Contract Services and the North Pennines AONB. Partnership working is the key to ECCP's work.

North Pennines Leader Plus Initiative. Based in Alston, in the North Pennines, this EU-sponsored NGO is dedicated to supporting enhanced 'Quality of Life' for residents of East Cumbria and the North Pennines and also champions the environment, social issues and the arts.

Natural England. This UK Government body are managing the site in Geltsdale, which is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). They are concerned with the environmental elements of the project.

Castle Carrock School. The pupils from this school will take part in the arts project. The school is situated on the edge of a small fell-side village in northeast Cumbria. The children come from several surrounding villages and outlying farms; the majority travelling to school by mini-bus. A school has existed here since 1874, although the original building is now part of a larger complex that includes a large hall/dining area and four classrooms as well as a fully equipped computer suite and library. There are also extensive, walled grounds.
The most recent additions have been a new classroom, interactive whiteboards in all teaching rooms, a safe play area for the Early Years unit, a new all weather surfaced games area and an adventure playground with safe matting.
In 2002 the school achieved the Cumbria Kitemark Quality standard for Early Years education and in January 2005 achieved an Activemark award in recognition of their commitment to promoting the benefits of physical activity and school sport. In July 2005 the school was accredited as a Cumbria Healthy School
There are at present 106 children aged 3 to 11 on roll. In September 1998 the school started accepting Nursery age children on a part-time basis and now has a thriving Nursery class. A Mother and Toddler Group meets regularly on Thursday mornings in Castle Carrock Village Hall.
The school provides childcare facilities via a Kid's Club that runs in the morning and evening, as well as a dedicated service that caters for children from the local area during school holidays.

The Budget

The budget is structured to allow each paid artist to spend between 10 and 20 days on the project. Rates of pay are those that apply to Carlisle City Council employees (Marilyn Leech, Ali White & Iris Glimmerveen) and those in the private sector, including Grampus staff are the standard charge-out rates, which incorporate overheads, travel, etc.

The budget is structured to give value for money, with venues selected that will be well-visited but not costly. There is considerable input of in-kind, as well as in-cash matched funding, with the school in particular, being involved on a voluntary basis.

The spending will be spread over the 10 months duration of the arts project, with the artists being paid in pre-agreed phases, which coincide with visible, tangible and quality output. The artists who are employed by Carlisle City Council (ECCP) will be remunerated later in the project than those who are private and independent - this will negate cash-flow problems for the project. The project phases are … planning, execution, exhibition and dissemination.

Carlisle City Council (ECCP) has offered matched funding of £8,125 because the project closely fits to the mission statement of the organisation. Funding from the North Pennines Leader Plus initiative extends to over £25,000 for the entire work on the ancient wood pasture, with £3,450 being dedicated to this arts project, which aligned closely to their 'Quality of Life' support strand.

In terms of financial control, Grampus employ a financial controller and each project has a dedicated budget, which is approved and audited by the chartered accountants, Dodd & Co., in Carlisle.

Benefit to Grampus and the Public

As a community interactive NGO, Grampus are constantly seeking new ways of raising awareness about the rural environment. Although the arts have featured in this, since 1997, this is the first application to he Arts Council and is a concerted effort, on behalf of the organisation, to work more closely with artists.The public benefit from the project is in the virtual access to one of England's wildest, remotest and most precious cultural landscapes. This access will be achieved at first hand by the artists and the Castle Carrock school children and virtually by those visiting the conference and exhibitions and reading the booklet produced to show the artwork.
The school children are living in a geographically isolated and disadvantaged region, designated as Objective 2 and requiring of special attention by the European Commission.
The project meshes with arts policy for both Carlisle City Council and Cumbria County Council. …
Cumbria County Council's aim is to encourage everyone living in Cumbria to get involved in arts, sport and cultural activity. Our ambition is to create a county of opportunity where people feel proud of being Cumbrian and where they can explore and fulfil their potential. We want more people to share the experience of culture in all its forms. We want them to understand the legacy of the past and the issues for the future and to have gained the confidence to meet the challenges ahead.
Cumbria's Cultural Strategy acknowledges the county's main cultural achievements and promotes our aims for developing and supporting culture into the future. Our three main themes are:

Make Cumbria more prosperous by developing the cultural and creative infrastructure of Cumbria
Enhance the quality of life for individuals and the community of Cumbria
Celebrate our local culture and our status as a tourism destination

Meeting the Arts Council's Aims for Grants for the Arts

By involving pupils from Castle Carrock school and a wider viewing audience, the projects seeks to help more people to take part in the arts and especially provide creative opportunities for children and young people. Rowan Brown and Kim Butler in particular are young local artists and for them, this project is a major step forward in their career development; we are therefore helping the development of artists. Grampus is an organisation currently involved with the arts in a more peripheral way, this project will help to develop the art aspect of Grampus as a cultural organisation.

Evaluation

The project will be managed by Grampus who on an annual basis monitor and evaluate their own projects, which may have a value of £500,000. Monitoring will be on a weekly basis, with dedicated Grampus staff assigned to the entire Geltsdale project. Monitoring of all artists will be through the arts team, constructed jointly by ECCP and Grampus. There will also be self-evaluation by the artists and by the entire group of artists (peer evaluation). The school children and teachers from Castle Carrock School, will evaluate their own input in a feedback session following on from each activity day.

The visiting public will be asked to evaluate the exhibition of art by filling in a slip and placing it in a 'feedback & evaluation' box. The project will utilise the Arts Council's information sheet on Self-evaluation and fill in an activity report form.

More Information

Click Here to download the pdf and read more information about the exciting Geltsdale Anglo Dutch Pasture project.