What we can offer

Delivering trusted, creative community engagement

Since 2017 Northern Heartlands has been successfully bringing creatives, communities and partners together to explore the ideas that matter the most. We want to help you, your business and your customers to make a positive difference.

A group of people stand in a circle inside a rustic room with exposed brick walls and large windows, gathered around a taped circle on the floor filled with colorful sticky notes. The participants look down and engage in a collaborative activity, with one person holding a microphone. Tables and chairs are arranged around the room, and natural light enters through the windows, illuminating the scene.

Who we are

We are an organisation with many years experience of creative enquiry and participatory practice. We’re based in the North East of England and work nationally.

We work with people to celebrate the unique identity of a place, valuing its heritage and culture, and fostering creativity. By amplifying local voices, we help empower communities to overcome challenges and imagine new possibilities so meaningful change can happen.

What we do

Creativity is at the heart of what we do. We design activity around the outcomes that matter to you, using a tailored, personable approach grounded in deep listening. Together, we explore the challenges you face - from connecting with customers and communities in memorable ways to strengthening relationships within your team.

As a charity, we bring artists, communities and partners together in their own places through consultation, engagement and creative activity. We focus on where creativity can make the greatest difference, helping shape decisions that reflect community needs and aspirations.

Our approach is underpinned by four stages

REVEALING insights other methods can sometimes miss

CONNECTING with diverse and often under-represented communities

INSPIRING engagement, participation and behaviour change

DELIVERING measurable outcomes aligned to your goals

What we can do together

An image of a person's right arm with a bracelet on the wrist. They are holding a marker pen and drawing a heart shape around the words "what makes us proud".

Community engagement

We use arts and creative practice to connect people with place and bring different voices and perspectives into conversations. Creative interventions that are fun and imaginative encourage those who are often least engaged to develop ideas, contribute meaningfully and share their expertise and understanding of issues facing people at a community level.

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There is a women on the left wearing a green jumper. She is discussing a book with a soft fabric binding with another women who is wearing glasses and a blue jumper. Both women are looking at the book which is laid on a table between them. There are pens and hand-sewing materials on the table and a plate of biscuits!

Consultation and co-design

We help communities who might not have the confidence to participate in decision making or who are not always included to make sure their voices are heard. We build on the strengths that exist and always start with listening.

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A person is resting their right arm on a large sheet of paper, they are holding a felt tip pen. An outline of a body has been drawn on the paper and there are many words written all over the paper, e.g., artistic, funding, space, confidence.

Creative facilitation

We’ve brought together policy makers and farmers, environmentalists and artists, planners and communities to navigate complex issues – we facilitate the space for multi-faceted conversations and new thinking.

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Two women and one man are in conversation seated at a table. The women on the left has pink hair, the man in the centre has a beard and is wearing a flat cap. The women on the right is wearing a pink bandana on her head. The table has a large sheet of paper and marker pens on it. There are other people in the background.

Team development

We work with businesses and organisations to discover creative techniques for working together, engaging teams and exploring ideas that lead to meaningful action.

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Our promise

We create the conditions for people to share their views confidently and be genuinely heard.

Our team of creative engagement specialists and producers has a strong track record of building trust across diverse communities and turning those relationships into meaningful, actionable insight.

Let’s talk…

Let’s explore how our creative approaches can help you connect meaningfully with the people at the heart of your success.

Get in touch

Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority CEO

“This bi-monthly online event is a chance to get all staff up to speed on projects happening within the Authority but today we branched out and included you, our first external speakers, and I’m very glad that we did! You did a fantastic job in relaying both the overall project and the individual aspects that helped to make the Creatively Connected project.”