New artists programme to bring the New Forest to life

New artists programme to bring the New Forest to life

The New Forest National Park Authority and the charity SPUD are launching a new three-year artist in residence programme.

The new partnership will deliver a programme of six artistic residencies and accompanying exhibitions focused on the New Forest.

Each successful participant will be hosted by SPUD, with two artists in residence each year, part funded by the NPA. The residency is open to artists or makers working in any medium, visual arts, crafts, performing arts, writing film, video, or digital media. Now applicants are being asked to submit their proposal by 22 November to be the first artist in residence in May 2022

The partnership believes that the arts are integral to people’s understanding of landscape. It wants to work with inspiring and inspired artists to think in diverse ways about landscapes, how people interact with them, and the challenges that they face. The new National Park Artist in Residence programme aims to develop a creative partnership between the arts and people that work, live, and visit the New Forest, and showcase that to new audience

Artists will be invited to explore five key areas that are crucial in helping to secure the future of the New Forest National Park:

1. Nature Recovery – habitats are restored, expanded, and maintained to enable wildlife to thrive, both within and around the National Park
2. Net Zero with Nature – significant cuts in land-based carbon emissions are secured through restoring natural habitats and carbon capture
3. Thriving Forest – a living, working Forest is sustained through support for commoning, local produce, sustainable tourism, access to affordable homes and helping to attract high-value businesses and employees
4. An inclusive National Park – people within reach of the New Forest, of all backgrounds, abilities and socio-economic groups, value the National Park as an important part of their lives and seek to care for it
5. Team New Forest – communities, businesses and organisations work together as a team to deliver the vision of the Partnership Plan, sharing knowledge, ideas, and resources to deliver the best for the Forest.

Jim Mitchell, Interpretation and Outreach Manager from the New Forest National Park Authority said: ‘The purpose of the programme is to help us think about the landscape differently. We want to support an artist who will ask questions about how we interact with the Forest, the ways in which we support it and dig deeper in the problems that it faces, and how new audiences can understand the Forest as a place and as a community’.

Each artist will have a chance to exhibit their work in a month-long exhibition at SPUD’s base in Sway after their residency, as well as deliver a public talk, engage with an educational event and showcase their work online.

Mark Drury, Director of SPUD, said: ‘SPUD has supported over 70 artists residencies since 2015 and have previously partnered with the NPA on several projects including the New Forest Arts Festival. This partnership provides a great opportunity to foreground artists within the National Park at a time when the natural environment is such an important focus. The residencies provide time for artists to engage with local communities and connect with a range of specialists across the Forest, helping build a greater shared sense of understanding.’

The first residency will take place between 2 May and 29 May 2022, with the exhibition following in October.

Proposals must be in by 12pm on Monday 22 November and sent to newforestnpartistinresidence@spud.org.uk.

Find more information and details about the brief at www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/artistinresidence.

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Main photo by Nick Lucas