Find out about the diverse range of projects we are currently working on throughout South West County Durham! Health and Wellbeing Landscape and Environment Connected Communities Past Projects Projects 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

Originally run by Northern Heartlands as The Four Clocks Project and now called Bishop Busy Hands, this 2 year+ project supports adults in Bishop Auckland to feel more connected and have improved mental health and wellbeing through arts and creative activity. creative health in bishop auckland Back to Health and Wellbeing Next Project Originally led by Northern Heartlands, The Four Clocks Project, now called Bishop Busy Hands, was a 2 year+ project supporting adults in Bishop Auckland to feel more connected and have improved mental health and wellbeing through arts and creative activity. Northern Heartlands worked in partnership with local Housing Associations, Social Prescribing Link Workers, Artists and Health providers to make this project happen. In 2024 we supported participants to become a constituted self-led group and move to its current location at Bishop Auckland Town Hall where it continues to thrive. Evaluation through Believe Housing’s HACT tool showed that the social return on investment for this project costing £9,400 was valued at £122,386 (a return of 1:14). To find out more about Bishop Busy Hands or to take part in sessions, please visit their Facebook page here: Facebook or contact bishopbusyhands@gmail.com As part of our weekly social prescribing programme at Four Clocks, professional animator, Sheryl Jenkins, helped the group to produce a short film using characters and drawings created by them to articulate how much the sessions had come to mean to them. Thank you to our generous Funders: We Need Your Support Today! Donate

Northern Heartlands is a community arts organisation based in south west County Durham. We work with the rural and isolated communities of Teesdale and Weardale, and in the towns and villages of the former Durham coalfields around Bishop Auckland, Shildon, Crook, Willington and Tow Law. We believe in the creative power of communities to bring about change. Our Mission Current Projects Our work is made possible by: Our vision is for strong, connected, and healthy local communities, where people are actively involved in shaping their lives and their environment Support Us And help our communities Donate Now Community member "Thank you for making this fab event happen."

Hyem Fest was the final event in Hidden Heritage, a Heritage Fund project exploring the history of Willington in County Durham and encouraging 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

A discrete one-year arts project forming part of Tees-Swale:Naturally Connected, a major £8.5m nature recovery programme Creatively Connected Back to Landscape & Environment Next Project We are the Creative Producer for Creatively Connected - a programme exploring high nature value farming through artistic enquiry. The programme is part of Tees-Swale:Naturally Connected, a 5-year nature recovery programme managed by North Pennines National Landscape and Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. bringing farmers, residents, landowners, ecologists, conservationists together through creative enquiry exploring challenging concepts, combining different perspectives and amplifying nature recovery activity. evidencing the value of arts and artists in non-arts settings culminating in a dynamic knowledge-sharing event in September 2025 © Matt Denham The Creatively Connected Team The Creatively Connected project has commissioned 5 artists (two working together) to develop a process of creative enquiry in response to the issues of nature recovery and high nature value farming. This project includes engagement with community and farmers, with each artist responding to a particular area of focus within the context of nature recovery. The artists are working individually but also sharing approaches to their work throughtout the project. Select an image below to find out more about each artist. John Coburn Artist (working with Tim Shaw) Tim Shaw Artist (working with John Coburn) Matt Denham Artist Azadeh Fatehrad Artist Laura Harrington Artist John and Tim are working in Swaledale. They have been meeting with fell runners, cyclists, cavers, farmers and many others. They are carrying out creative sonic activity to capture sounds along the footpaths, underground and up above that can help us understand more about the weather, climate and the state of nature in the area. The sound walks, listening activities and streaming act as a provocation for further community response, engagement and input. Matt is developing a rich, multi-layered creative project rooted in the concept of assemblage, inspired by the Teesdale Assemblage and the complexities of High Nature Value Farming (HNVF) practices. His approach—gathering diverse media (notes, photos, film, sound) and engaging with a wide range of local voices (farmers, botanists, volunteers, the Fitzhugh Library, and the Tees-Swale team)—uses a collaborative, and place-based methodology. Azadeh is working across Teesdale and Swaledale exploring the idea of ‘psychogeography’- how the landscape is perceived, experienced and understood by people from different backgrounds and perspectives. Azadeh has met with many farmers, community groups, volunteers and team members. Her approach to the work is led by those she encounters and to work organically with them. Azadeh has captured 24 stories to date and created a map work of these to help develop the project further. Azadeh is also working with the Tees-Swale team to film using drones. Laura is working primarily in Teesdale and has also met with colleagues in Swaledale including ecologists, farmers, and Tees-Swale team members. Laura is exploring the complexities and scale of this project and is looking at this through the lens of fibres in wool. Fibres of the wool are embedded structures and can help us understand the peatland, wetlands, plants and practices. This may lead to a series of activities and sessions which may help develop garments of some kind which can be shared/exhibited. Thank you to our partners and generous Funders: We Need Your Support Today! Donate

A Paul Hamlyn Foundation funded project challenging power structures and enouraging community members to collaborate and work together. Here you can find out all about our current projects. Turning the Hourglass Back to Past Projects “Turning The Hourglass” is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation ‘Arts Access & Participation Fund’. We’re working with communities in the parish of Dene Valley and the village of Witton Park, listening to what local residents would like to see happen in their village, supporting exciting events such as the Dene Valley Winter Light Parade and a Hallowe’en Walk and enabling people to have the confidence to start making things happen for themselves. Both places are former 'Category D' locations: villages destined for demolition when the pits closed and deemed worthy of no further investment. We started working in Witton Park in 2021 and we've been working with the community in Dene Valley since 2018, building on work we began as a Great Place Scheme. Read about our approach to this work here in a report by artist/researcher Stephen Pritchard. Read the final evaluation report for Turning the Hourglass here. Project Gallery Witton Park: Halloween Story Walk Witton Park: Halloween Story Walk Dene Valley: One Winter's Night Witton Park: Halloween Story Walk 1/39 "Mayhem, Magic & Majesty" Dene Valley & Eldon Lane Festive Light Parade 2022 "One Winter's Night..." Dene Valley & Eldon Lane Festive Light Parade 2021 Thank you to our generous Funders: "One Winter's Night ..." finalist for North East Culture Awards 2022 "Best Event or Exhibition" We Need Your Support Today! Donate

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.  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

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Latest News All Posts Search jaynebradley8 Jun 19, 2023 1 min We're now an NPO! We're really excited to be starting on journey as an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation for 2023-26. It promises to be a time... 7 views 0 comments Post not marked as liked We Need Your Support Today! Donate

Sat, 13 May | TCR The Hub Curious Youth Challenge Calling all LGBTQIA+ 11-19 year olds! Up for a Creative Youth Challenge? Join Curious Arts at Barnard Castle and take part in a day filled with creative activities to help you find and build your Tribe! Click the RSVP button to reserve your FREE place! Registration is closed See other events Time & Location 13 May 2023, 10:00 – 16:00 TCR The Hub, Shaw Bank, Barnard Castle DL12 8TD, UK About the event Join Curious Arts at Barnard Castle and take part in a day filled with creative activities to help you find and build your Tribe! Through workshops led by LGBTQIA+ artists across the North East, we will explore the theme 'Find Your Tribe' and what that means to you. Come along, and help build a community in a supportive and creative environment. Click RSVP button to register your FREE place. Show More Share this event

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