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 CREATIVELY CONNECTED EVALUATION CONSULTANT We are seeking an experienced evaluator to explore the impact of creative enquiry and arts-led provocations on an environmental programme in Teesdale (Co Durham) and Swaledale (North Yorkshire). ​ CREATIVELY CONNECTED is a discrete one-year arts project funded by Arts Council England (ACE) and the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) as part of a wider programme focusing on high nature value farming: TEES-SWALE:NATURALLY CONNECTED. ​ Deadline for applications: Midday, 27th September BRIEF FOR EXTERNAL EVALUATOR 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

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

Plants on the Edge Back to projects 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 96, 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 Thank you to our generous Funders: Project Gallery Teesdale's famous Spring Gentian (Gentiana verna) Model of the Spring Gentian by Yrs 3 & 4 at Middleton-in-Teesdale Primary Sugar limestone - a rare geological feature unique to Upper Teesdale Teesdale's famous Spring Gentian (Gentiana verna) 1/7 We Need Your Support Today! Donate