Since its establishment, Dartmoor-based Aune Head Arts has been developing long-term sustainable relationships with its neighbours across Dartmoor and Devon, explain Jennie Hayes and Nancy Sinclair.
As the Foot and Mouth Disease episode was drawing to a close Aune Head Arts (AHA) developed an arts project, ?Focus on Farmers?, to explore the complexities of the contemporary lives of hill farmers. The project would inevitably expose and explore sensitive issues, but the respect enjoyed by AHA meant that we had no difficulty finding three farm families on Dartmoor who were willing to face the in-depth scrutiny of three pairs of artists. Project partner Beaford Arts co-ordinated the residency of a pair of artists on Exmoor. The sensitivity of those involved in the project was important to the success of Focus on Farmers; they understood the impact of recent events on farming, respected the bodies and individuals who manage the landscape, and were able to incorporate a range of approaches to ensure that each working relationship had the best chance of success.
The first criterion for selecting the artists was artistic merit, but equally important was that the chosen artists would work sensitively with the farm families and with one another. Before artists were selected, staff from both organisations spent time with each family discussing the project, the fees they would receive for housing and feeding the artists, the honorarium to offset the interruptions to their work, the types of artwork which might be created and the many aspects of their lives which would be affected by having artists in their homes as well as on their farms.
The farming families welcomed the artists as adopted family members (and unskilled farm helpers) and allowed their home and work lives to be chronicled for 30 days. Asking the question, ?what is it like to be a hill farmer at this time??, the artists immersed themselves in this complex land?work? home environment. Mutual respect and new ideas developed in sometimes surprising ways, as each family and artist explored the potential of the project. Practical approaches were used to include the farmers? voices in the artworks, through the provision of minidisk players to record ideas and thoughts. Dinner parties were held at key points to ensure that those living and working in isolation on the project could catch up with what was happening on each farm, enjoy good local food, and further establish relationships and trust.
Running a project like Focus on Farmers in a rural area is perhaps more demanding than in an urban setting in a rural environment, if only because of the geography, differing cultural expectations, and a relatively poor arts infrastructure. In hindsight, bigger travel and food budgets were needed as well as extra planning of resources.
The combination of relationships formed through the project, as well as the mix of work, resulted in a sensitive, humorous and thought-provoking reflection of daily life on these four farms, culminating in an exhibition that is currently touring. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to glimpse inside a way of life that we all depend upon and yet have largely grown distant from.
The exhibition opening at Buckland Abbey was notable, in that farmers, their friends and local residents outnumbered the arts community. Farmer Arthur Cole had said after one of the project dinners, ?It?s good to spend time with people who aren?t farmers for a change?, providing a reminder of how many of us, often by necessity or lack of opportunity, spend time much of our time with those we might consider our ?own kind?, and how arts projects which invest in creating connections between people can provide a valuable route to building communities and increasing understanding.
Nancy Sinclair is Joint-Artistic Director of Aune Head Arts
t: 01822 890539
e: n.sinclair@auneheadarts.org.uk
Jennie Hayes is AHRB Research Fellow in the Creative and Performing Arts at the Centre for Creative Enterprise & Participation at Dartington College of Arts
t: 01803 861678;
e: j.hayes@dartington.ac.uk