Learning from each other

The Tees Valley is a region of high social and economic deprivation, and generally speaking, the local population has greater concerns in life than conservation and environmental protection. However, nationally significant habitats supporting rare species do exist here, and we at Tees Valley Arts (TVA) believe that artists and wildlife specialists can work together to help people learn about, enjoy and value what’s around them.

With this in mind, TVA developed a partnership with wildlife managers in each of the five boroughs of the Tees Valley, and together secured funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund for ‘Green TV’, a programme of hands-on environmental learning, through the arts. Activity is to run over two years, followed by six months of wrapping up, evaluating, sharing and celebrating. The Green TV model involves recruiting five freelance artists each year, one for each of the five local authorities. Those artists each work on one identified wildlife site with two schools, offer some community workshops, then go on to finally make an interpretative artwork (of sorts) for and about the site, informed by the enthusiasms and creative discoveries of the participants along the way.

Of course, artists don’t (usually) know the science, wildlife workers don’t (usually) know the arts, and teachers may not know a great deal about either, so all three in each borough spend time together, sharing knowledge, designing activities, and – supported by TVA – sorting out the endlessly complex schedules and logistics. From the start we involved the wildlife partners in all the processes of recruiting and selecting artists: their learning about and support for creative approaches to delivering environmental messages was one of the key project aims.

We did not specify artforms when we advertised for artists, but asked applicants to tell us how they thought their artform might work in a wildlife setting. Applicants also were asked to address the issues of working with school and community groups to achieve learning and understanding – these residencies were clearly not straightforward ‘artist commissions’ wherein the artists might be allocated to a site and left to come up with some decorative sculptures, for example. Visual arts have predominated, but the artists have taken very varied approaches. The final pieces from Year 1 include: a film, a photographic calendar (where physical interventions on site were not allowed), a 30-foot mobile of steel butterflies, animations and images on a mobile phone app triggered by GPS located ‘hotspots’, and a boat/sculpture with mirrored surfaces which reflect the lake and the sky.

We hoped that school students in particular would so enjoy their stimulating and hands-on environmental learning that they would remember it and encourage their families to go back and visit the sites in leisure time, which is exactly what happened. Teacher feedback revealed the kids’ excitement about what they had done and seen, to the extent that some of their families have become wildlife volunteers. The Year 1 artists all got very engaged with their particular sites, and would call by our offices at the end of the day, windblown and ruddy-cheeked, talking excitedly of special butterfly species, migrant birds or seals on beaches. They all seem to have loved the challenge of thinking about what had to be learnt and how to deliver it correctly but creatively, and sometimes in the rain. In many ways the best feedback of all has been that of the wildlife partners. They brought varying degrees of ‘belief’ to the undertaking – some were basically sceptical but prepared to give it a go, and others had considerable experience of ‘arts in nature’, but mainly of the traditional ‘sculpture in a setting’ sort of thing. Their commitment, understanding and expectations have grown throughout the project, and the best evidence of this is that we’re now discussing three potential ‘legacy’ projects with the Green TV partners.

Green TV has shown us – and partners, participants and funders – that imaginatively led, carefully thought through, managed, delivered and supported creative activities can deliver amazing gains for the environmental sector and science learning, to the benefit of all involved, including the artists. Green TV has flourished, and we can already see a rich harvest and strong, healthy buds.