Accentuate

Creative Landscapes was developed by the Outreach Team of English Heritage as its contribution to Accentuate, the innovative multi-agency programme funded by the Legacy Trust. From 2008 to 2012, Creative Landscapes worked with heritage organisations in two locations – Gosport and Hastings & St Leonards – to develop and support Heritage Open Days programmes that placed accessibility as one of their core values.

Along with the support to the Heritage Open Days programmes, Creative Landscapes also commissioned a series of creative opportunities that explored local heritage in accessible and participatory ways. Primarily led by disabled artists, these commissions have enabled disabled and non-disabled participants to look in different ways at the heritage around them, and provided practical demonstrations of how creative approaches aid accessibility.

I think the main strength of the Creative Landscapes approach was that it encouraged us to think creatively about aspects of things that we wouldn’t normally consider creative. Like simply getting from A to B. I think that was the big one really...by taking away the normal box, we were perhaps thinking outside the box because the box had just vanished...it was a great un-boxing exercise shall we say! Heritage Open Days event organiser, Gosport

The work of Creative Landscapes Heritage Open Days projects in Gosport and Hastings & St Leonards developed programmes of events that put accessibility at the core of the work. 

The project's work at Fort Brockhurst has been a central part of the Creative Landscapes Project since an initial pilot project – Hidden Battles – was run there in 2008. 

In 2010 three disabled artists were commissioned to undertake participatory residencies to engage people with local heritage and demonstrate accessible practice.

The Hastings Shrines project demonstrated a simple and broadly accessible approach to engaging people with their local heritage through an arts activity.