The Long View has been made possible thanks to a number of organisations whose funding, enthusiasm, expertise and practical support is an integral part of this project. We are very grateful for this and excited about being able to work alongside a number of people who know a lot about trees, and the land around them. We are also delighted to have been awarded a grant from the Arts Council England.
The Lake District National Park Authority will be helping us delve into stories of culture, geology and history as we go. They are coordinating our public walking events, and will be linking The Long View with the Lake District campaign for World Heritage Site Status (#lakedistrictbid).
Friends of the Lake District will be sharing tree knowledge with us and exploring the details of the land’s natural and human history, with a particular focus on the Little Asby Hawthorn. Their public engagement events include opportunities to help with tree planting (and you can help mend walls within sight of the hawthorn).
The National Trust will be helping us learn more about trees, opening their arboreal survey archives for us. Several of the lake District trees are on National Trust land.
The Woodland Trust is of course all about trees. 2016 is an important year for them as they work towards the development of a new Charter for Trees, Woods and People. We will be one of their ‘Charter Champions’.
Forestry Commission England are developing an exciting programme of public art and we’re delighted to be launching our exhibition with them in the galleries at Grizedale Forest in late summer 2017. They’ll also be helping us grow trees.
HighWire at Lancaster University are devoting technological expertise to develop sensory systems to collect data from the trees, and together we’ll be devising surprising ways to share this.
The Field Studies Council Centre in Blencathra are the hub for the city insitutions that are twinned with the trees – allowing us to bring people from the cities to the trees, and take the trees (metaphorically) to the cities.
We are also enormously grateful to the farmers who are welcoming us to come time and time again onto the land where they work, and are sharing their stories with us. Other people who are helping us along the way include Home of Millican, with inspirational conversations and practical bags, including the bespoke ‘Fraser’ rucksack, and Kate Gliman Brundrett who has drawn the wonderful illustrations of the seven trees and the Lake District map for us. We are both ambassadors for Bramwell International and our feet wouldn’t be dry without their brilliant Meindl boots.