Le Citron Jaune, Oerol, and Activate Performing Arts have been at the forefront of the performing arts and public space art sectors for around thirty years. Each organisation has also been a pioneer in its region in the field of art in natural spaces. While today environmental issues and climate change are prominent in media and public discourse, this was not the case three decades ago. It was this shared, forward-thinking concern that brought Le Citron Jaune, Oerol, and Activate Performing Arts together. Beyond our mutual interests, we were united by a shared desire to work collaboratively in landscapes.
Fase 1: First Creative Europe programme, developing international connections
In 2019, we submitted as a trio a project to the European Commission under the Creative Europe programme, which resulted in the creation of LAND: Stewards and Artists. This initial partnership was soon joined by the Hungarian festival PLACCC, forming a network with clear objectives:
- Produce: Strengthen the relationships between partners, artists, and land stewards to support the creation and production of artistic works in the landscape.
- Engage: Foster local engagement with artistic work in natural spaces, with a particular focus on young people.
- Exchange: Develop the professional skills and expertise of partners and land stewards to deepen understanding of this specialised field of work.
The programme brought together over a dozen artists and companies, along with six environmental organisations from four countries. Through residencies and workshops, participants exchanged expertise and introduced diverse artistic perspectives to different landscapes. This first phase of collaboration was a resounding success.
Despite the success of this initial programme, we as partners recognised a desire to go further. We aimed to move beyond a straightforward artistic exchange and delve more deeply into the complexities and unique characteristics of the territories involved. With a strong foundation established during the Creative Europe programme, the network sought new opportunities for collaboration and development, leading to the next phase under Erasmus+.
This collaboration was genuinely focused on forging a meaningful connection between land and art. The participants were carefully selected from across Europe, representing a great mix of locations and scales. We explored the landscapes through hikes and worked directly in the natural areas of the various festivals, sparking fresh ideas about site-specific art and its connection with nature. For example, Oerol’s Ecological Compass was conceived during one of these meetings by festival organisers and artists. And let’s not forget—we had plenty of fun along the way! Siart Smit, Director of Oerol (2019–2024)
Fase 2: Erasmus+: getting to know each other
Building on our initial collaboration, we capitalised on a pause in the Creative Europe application process to apply for another European Union programme: Erasmus+. Erasmus+ supports professional exchanges between organisations across EU countries, providing an ideal opportunity for our partners to meet, explore each other’s work in our respective territories, and shape the next chapter of the project.
As this second phase began, we saw some changes. Due to political and financial challenges, PLACCC withdrew from the project. At the same time, Bodo – a Norwegian city bidding to become the European Capital of Culture in 2024 – and SYTEV, a young Slovak cultural organisation, joined the network.
Over two years, we embarked on a series of visits to each other’s countries. Each organisation was encouraged to invite artists and researchers they regularly collaborate with, resulting in a dynamic mobile campus. This campus brought together cultural operators, scientists specialising in ecological issues, and environmental managers.
These journeys offered an opportunity to examine specific territories in depth, explore diverse organisational models, and address the challenge of engaging audiences with environmental issues through artistic approaches. In the process, the LAND network partners developed a distinctive working method – interactive, dynamic, and uniquely suited to the project’s ambitions, which will be explored in detail later.
The insights and relationships developed during the Erasmus+ phase set the stage for the next chapter: scapes, a project that deepened the network’s engagement with its territories and expanded its impact.
Fase 3: Transitioning LANDscapes: creating landscape laboratories
The third phase of cooperation between network partners – Le Citron Jaune (FR), Oerol (NL), Activate Performing Arts (UK), and SYTEV (SK) – began in 2024 and will run until 2025. The first year focused on visits to the three key territories serving as fields of exploration: the Camargue, the island of Terschelling, and the Carpathian Mountains.
Before hosting these visits, each organisation formed an advisory group comprising researchers, local users (such as hunters, fishers, and sports enthusiasts), and residents. These groups brought valuable insights, informed by their lived experiences, backgrounds, and professions. During the two- to three-day visits, participants explored the area and identified its environmental, political, historical, and social challenges. The outcome of these discussions was the formulation of an ecological or environmental issue to guide the next stages of the project. This foundational step established the groundwork for meaningful artistic engagement with the territories and set the stage for the forthcoming artist residencies.
In the second year of the project, the focus shifted to the artists. Collaborators convened to select the participating artists, with the stipulation that each artist would work in a territory outside their home country. Each selected artist participated in a two-week residency in their designated territory, culminating in a presentation or early-stage sharing of their work.
From the outset, the partners decided to give scapes a strong professional development focus. Activate Performing Arts, with its extensive experience in supporting artists in its region, led this effort. They organised a workshop in Dorset for the selected artists, providing dedicated time to deepen their understanding of the territories they would work in and the audiences they would engage with.
This workshop also served as an opportunity for the artists to connect, collaborate, and reflect collectively. Additionally, Activate Performing Arts supported other network members in defining their objectives for their territories, particularly in fostering relationships with local partners.