Funded by Arts Council England, the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs and National Landscapes in England, Nature Calling aims to inspire new communities to connect with their local National Landscape, increase their access to nature, improve their wellbeing and inspire a sense of belonging in these special places.

Nature Calling will bring together the 34 National Landscapes in England, local arts organisations and community groups from within a 30-minute journey time of their nearby National Landscape. They will work together to co-create artworks inspired by these iconic places and the results will then be shared with the public in a season of art from May – October 2025. Around 70,000 people will take part.

Partners include the National Landscape Association, Activate Performing Arts, Poetry School, and the six regional National Landscape hubs where the larger scale work will take place. These are the Chilterns, Dorset, Forest of Bowland, Lincolnshire Wolds, Mendip Hills and Surrey Hills. Find out more about the National Landscape Association, the other Nature Calling Hubs and of course our wonderful funders on the Nature Calling website.

Here at Dorset National Landscape, we already incorporate art into the community work we do as it’s been shown to provide so many benefits for both people and nature. This takes the form of performances, installations and events to name a few. But because of its size and scope, Nature Calling will reach even more people, and we hope, even more of the nation that we are protected for.

National Landscapes are the UK’s nearby countryside. 66% of people in England (44 million) live within 30 minutes of a National Landscape, over 1 million people live within them and at least 170 million people visit every year. Nature Calling aims to reach out and encourage even more communities to feel welcome to enjoy these special places and on their own terms.  We will work with communities in Yeovil, on the northern of the National Landscape, and as the project develops, we will share information about how people can get involved.

We have been positively overwhelmed by the amount of interest from writers and artists in this project and would like to thank the creative community for all their curiosity and support.

We are very pleased to announce that Louisa Adjoa Parker, a writer of English-Ghanaian heritage who lives in Southwest England, and Becca Gill, an artist and producer working in outdoor arts, community engagement, and mass participatory events, will be exploring and celebrating the iconic Dorset landscape.