HEAF is a creative-led project that began with the question 'What gives someone a sense of connection to land?' Since October 2025 the project has been gathering oral material from people connected to Eskdale Valley and the west Cumbrian surrounds to investigate individual connection to land and landscape.

In this second phase of HEAF the project will platform creative expressions from within and without. Practicing artists or crafts-people will be commissioned to produce installation pieces in collaboration with the Eskdale community. These works will form the heart of an exhibition in spring 2027, showcasing the whole project as a single conversation.

Creative Brief:

A selection of 3-4 Cumbria connected creatives are being commissioned to produce one work each which captures both their response to Eskdale and the lived experience of the community. We particularly encourage applications from artists and crafts-people whose practice incorporates skills or materials present in the valley heritage.

Each creative will work with a single community group over two practical sessions. The practicing creatives & community groups will each respond to different site along the river

We invite artists and crafts-people to imagine how their practice could support members of the community by introducing new skills, inviting open conversations and building a cohesive creation process. Over a period of three months they will hold two sessions with their group. They will then have further commissioned days to respond to the session outcomes and curate this into a single work for exhibition. Individual artists may choose to run the two sessions as a sequence or to offer two differing workshops, depending on their practice and ideas for the project.

Commission Budget:
Expected 7 days @£300pd - £2100
(Days to include 2x 0.5day workshops)
Materials - £300