Creative Focus
A number of our projects had a creative thread and were designed to bring the World Heritage Site alive through arts. We aimed to inspire artists and makers who live and work in the World Heritage Site, supporting existing and fostering new relationships into the future, along with sparking new ideas for local heritage organisations. We also worked to help young people to develop creative and entrepreneurial skills to help improve employability.
Creative Commissioning
The artistic programme was delivered by BEAM. BEAM has a wealth of experience in delivering arts in place, and works with artists and communities to enhance places through the development of bespoke creative arts projects.
This programme included artist commissions, cultural gatherings, special events and more. See further information below.
Mobile Museum of Making – The Makory
The Mobile Museum of Making, known as The Makory took to the road delivering making and heritage inspired activities to school groups and at public events. The Makory was developed using a “human-centred” and co-production approach, to ensure a truly creative and inspirational outcome tailored to the needs of participants, and communicating the story of making in the Derwent Valley.
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Young Entrepreneurs
The Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage site had many entrepreneurs, inventors and business people which made it thrive into the foundation of the modern factory system. This project reached a currently under-represented audience of 11- 18 year olds. It engaged them in their heritage using business and employability skills and artistic and creative skills. The heritage of the Site was used to inspire and motivate the “young entrepreneurs” to become the inventors, business people, creatives and inventors of the future.
Find out more about this project HERE
Experiment Fund
This project enabled Heritage, Arts and Cultural organisations within the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site to experiment with projects that could lead to sustainable income generation in the future. Prospective participants were able to apply for grants of varying amounts to try out income generation ideas.
Find out more about this project HERE
Great Works
Derbyshire Adult Community Education Service organised several creative courses inspired by the landscape and built heritage of the Derwent Valley. These were held at Derbyshire EcoCentre in Wirksworth and Strutts Centre, Belper. They included a brand new ABC Design Qualification. A programme of work placements in heritage organisations was also part of this project.
Some of the work produced by participants was included in an outdoor exhibition in Cromford from 16-18 April 2021.
You can view some of the work HERE
The London Mothers
Local artist Heidi Luker was commissioned by the Derwent Valley Mills Heritage Site and Beam as part of the Great Place Scheme creative programme, to produce a performance and video documentation to explore the heritage of Willersley Castle in Cromford, Derbyshire and in particular its role as a maternity hospital during the Second World War. […]
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Derwent Delights
Derwent Delights is a community arts project run by Fleet Arts, for the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Great Place Scheme, originally conceived in 2019 as a “geocache” trail. The project has been creatively re-imagined due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 as a celebratory exhibition, exploring the rich landscape and history of the […]
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Spin A Tale 8th May 2021
Join us for this fabulous online premiere of “Spin A Tale”! Constella OperaBallet will take you on a virtual journey of enchanting performances, spinning tales through music, dance, song, theatre and design to explore and celebrate Darley Abbey’s place in history and the wider Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. There’s an opportunity to get […]
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Tales of Derby Women Past
Spoken word pieces by She Speaks UK poets On Friday 9th October 2020 17:30 – 18:15 the live launch of of ‘Tales of Derby Women Past’, spoken word pieces by She Speaks UK poets, took place. The event was created exclusively for the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site online Discovery Days Festival 2020 . […]
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Thread by Seiko Kinoshita
A contemporary textiles installation and atmospheric lantern lit walk was created for the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site during October 2019. This major commission, funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England for the World Heritage Site’s Great Place Scheme was the second of 3 programmed arts commissions. Entitled “Thread” and the […]
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Mr Arkwright by Jo Fairfax
Cromford Mills, where innovation changed the world, hosted an art installation which took those innovations in a whole new direction! The interactive art installation, designed by artist Jo Fairfax, was a water and cycle-powered drawing machine which took inspiration from Sir Richard Arkwright’s early career as he started out his journey as entrepreneur, inventor and […]
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Platelayer’s Walk
On Sunday August 4th 2019, recording artist Jay Dean, (lead singer of Wirksworth based Goddesses and founder of Dubrek Studios in Derby), played for the first time a new sound composition in the historic railway workshops at High Peak Junction. This was the result of months of creative activity and collaboration, working with the team […]
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Tracey Meek
In 2019 local artist Tracey Meek was commissioned to take up an artist’s residency with Birdswood, a heritage narrowboat which runs trips along the Cromford Canal. Taking boat trips along the Canal and recording her journey she created a series of 3D collages, to make a bespoke pop up installation and experience aboard Birdswood. Tracey […]
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Arts at Strutt House
Strutt’s North Mill Museum, Belper, hosted an exciting event showcasing arts and music inspired by the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site on 19th May 2019. This event offered a unique opportunity to see inside the Grade II* listed Strutt House and enjoy a range of specially crafted pieces of music, poetry, performances and activities […]
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