AR iPad apps, world-renowned artists taking on the Mappa Mundi, an untold history of Herefordshire's single mothers; Hidden Gems is an ambitious project to fund groundbreaking arts and culture projects around Herefordshire over the next eighteen months through Herefordshire's A Great Place.
So, when it came to deciding which projects were awarded the first wave of funding, the Great Place team weren't going to throw a few names in to a hat.
They assembled a team of judges. Some had a background in arts, some in heritage projects. All four came with passion, and ideas for how culture could shape Herefordshire's near-future.
We grabbed Leonie Linton, most recently of Ignite, for a quick chat about what excites her most ahead in the Hidden Gems applications, and about culture in Herefordshire.
"Money’s no object – what’s the one, singular thing you’d do/create to change arts and culture in Herefordshire?"
I love shared spaces. I love when you go away to places and there’s almost amphitheatres within some of the town centres.
I think they’re naturally a draw to bring people together – but you often find that people really use those spaces, and you could use those spaces as a focal point for outdoor theatre or artists working there or film screenings – they’re just so versatile. I just like that.
It’s a bit wild, but there’s also something to be said for having a glorious amphitheatre out in the sticks somewhere – in rural Herefordshire. We are rural and we are out there. It wouldn’t be so much for passing trade, or for people to go and eat their lunch in, but something like that.
I’m quite visual about that feeling you get the instant you walk in to a place – I want to be able to see the culture of a place. I love the big sculptures you get – and quite contemporary sculptures as well – so I’d like to see a contemporary take on Herefordshire. For example, the Meadow Arts trees that they wrapped several years ago – I just loved that. It was rural, it was out in the sticks, but it looked incredible.
Also I miss a music venue. I miss hanging out at the Jailhouse (I’m a bit older now, so maybe that’s got something to do with it). That was a real culture scene there. And I’m not sure where I’d go now to find music like that and live music – it would be good to have a larger live music venue.
What’s your own personal hidden gem when it comes to culture in Herefordshire?
I just love walking anyway - but I’m a moth to a flame, drawn to the Golden Valley area. Anywhere that has hills or drama – that just pulls me in.
That said, I also think it’s about connection as well – and for me as much as I love the drama of scenery and stuff, Bodenham Church – St Michael’s church and churchyard – all of that area is absolutely beautiful. There’s a connection because there’s family of mine who lay there but I just couldn’t imagine them being in a better spot. There’s drystone walling that surrounds the churchyard, there are always cattle grazing in the meadow next to it, then there’s an iron bridge which crosses the River Lugg.
From there you can hear the Canadian geese that sit on Bodenham Lake, and fly overhead. The trees are massive and magnificent there – and it’s just a beautiful place. For me it’s just the sense of place. It’s very personal, but for a Hidden Gem it really has that sense of meaning.
What were you looking for from the Hidden Gems applications – what is it that excites you when you hear about a project?
There were a lot of criteria anyway but ultimately you just want to feel moved by something, and to care, and for something to be a bit bold and a bit different. For me that’s why I thought the Feral/Hush Now application was fantastic. From two or three lines in, the concept was absolutely clear, and the story was so strong and so important to tell. And I did instantly care, and I did feel emotional about that.
I think that, coupled with their approach to it – I’m a theatre girl anyway, so that floats my boat – the fact that you could be part of a whole performance, but that also outside of that performance there’s a whole other flash-mob element of women walking through the streets of Hereford – that’s actually engaging other people and making them think.
It’s confronting. And that’s something I wanted from a project as well. Something that’s quite bold and important to be told.
Growing up, was there an event or a class or a teacher or a big sister or something linked to Herefordshire that gave you that buzz about arts and culture?
In terms of key people who really gave me the buzz to go in to the creative industries, there’s definitely people I can pick out. But I have to say the real nucleus of it - and I’ve got to say we really got lucky with it – was doing the performing arts course at HCA, and doing Estelle Van Warmelo’s youth theatre at the Courtyard.
The combination of the friends involved, and Estelle, it was just an exciting and fresh time. It was a real time of excitement and ideas – everyone was exploring and experimenting and taking up projects and using our own time to be creative and do fun things.
Running 4Play theatre company came out of that. The Anomalies came out of that. All of the other stage management jobs I had came out of that, through theatre works with Ellie Parker, working with Estelle, and on other shows.
There was such a buzz with that group of people at that time, it was like all the right things just collided. And it was really inspiring. Even now, when we all see each other there’s a real recognition from everybody that that was a unique time.
Although exactly what the combination was of ingredients that made that possible, I don’t know.
How do we get past the fact that this county is one of the more sparsely-populated areas in the UK?
It’s a really difficult one. We can’t get past it [the sparsity]. It’s a positive and a negative. When you’re out in those sparse pockets that’s often what makes it so magical and beautiful – that sense of isolation and space and drama, that you’re on your own in the middle of all that space.
I think we’re all conscious of travel costs. These are real issues you have to factor in to your decision making. Even when I was co-ordinating h.Art over the years, you could see the visitor numbers increase in certain pockets.
Branding and marketing and linking up all of the rural areas has got to be so strong because people want to know and have got to know that it’s worth the drive over there. Selling that, that has to be really strong to overcome that sparsity.
Who’s the Simon Cowell on the panel?
Definitely Toki. Awesome panel, and that’s what’s made it an absolute pleasure assessing these Hidden Gems, getting to meet everybody and to get to know them well or better than I did already.
It seemed like we were all really on the same level. But yeh, definitely Toki.
