GRASS ROOTS:
A new vision for farming families, the countryside, and the rural economy, after foot and mouth

Tuesday 23rd October

For the Record:
recording the impact of foot and mouth and the crisis in farming

A forum in which farmers and rural community leaders were invited to meet with artists, film makers, writers, and photographers to discuss a creative and cultural response to the FMD crisis. Reference were made to the US Agriculture Department FSA programme documenting farming and rural communities during the 1930s as a precedent for new work in response to the British crisis in agriculture. Examples were shown of digital art, video, photographic, literary and on-line documentation of FMD by farming families, rural schools, and artists in Cumbria, Scotland, Yorkshire, Lancashire, and elsewhere.

Evening forum (7.30 - 9.30 pm)

Farming and the media:
learning from the the FSA project

Documenting and re-imaging British farming and the rural community during and after the FMD crisis. Chair Michael Finch, Editor The Farmers Guardian

Wednesday 24th October

Communicating change: the 'wired' rural economy.
Proposals for new digital art, media and cultural industries as part of the rural recovery programme

The forum profiled innovative arts and media projects developed by farming and rural communities, and the role of community radio, the internet, and web casting projects in response to the crisis in agriculture. Proposals for new rural media initiatives and cultural industries, included a national radio and webcasting network for farming and rural communities; and 'precision farming': opportunities for artists to work with farming agencies on advanced telecommunications and satellite technology. Webcasting and radio workshops for artists and farming families to help them develop a more focused response to what is happening in agriculture.

Evening forum:

Farmers as Artists.

Mike Donovan, editor of the popular farming magazine New Practical Farm Ideas. Tapping the creativity and inventiveness of farmers and rural communities to engage with rural change, rethink the future of agriculture, and find practical solutions to farming problems.

Thursday 25th October

Alive! Farming families, countryside traditions and rural communities as a positive force and creative resource for change.

A focus on farming families and rural communities and traditions as the basis from which to build the new rural economy. A celebration of the entrepreneurial skills, imagination and inventiveness of farming people. The diversity of songs, oral traditions, and craft skills of rural communities as a 'cultural bank'. Farming and rural leaders spoke of the impact of FMD on farming life and incomes, and the importance of women as leaders of change in the rural economy. The role of the arts in communicating the changes in farming, and addressing social problems; e.g. supporting farm health and education programmes, combating social exclusion and meeting the needs of young people and the elderly in rural communities.

Evening concert:

Singing the Changes.

Examples of traditional and contemporary songs and music from around rural Britain. Documenting rural change, reinforcing the identity of regional farming communities, and maintaining countryside traditions, through song and dance.
M.C. Claire Mooney. Community musician, composer and song writer, Manchester.

Friday 26th October

Home Grown: rural innovation and creative projects. New applications for farm produced fibres and traditional rural crafts, imaginative marketing strategies for local foods, new uses for farm buildings.

A forum about innovative farm marketing and economic initiatives, and projects linking rural crafts and new technologies. Economic opportunities for rural and farming communities based on textile art, contemporary crafts, public art, architecture and design. Art and craft projects with wool, recycled farm plastics, willow rods, and wood. Farming and fashion collaborations providing new uses for farm grown fibres - hemp, wool, flax, etc. Marketing farm products and services on-line. Arts and tourism events promoting farm foods developed by the Women's Food and Farming Union, and by farmers in Wales and in Lancashire. Crop, a proposed three year programme of artists' residencies on farms developing new cultivation projects, and creative processing and marketing schemes for local foods, farm grown fibres, and energy.

Evening event:

The Bowland Banquet.

A celebration of local farm foods, regional culinary arts, and associated countryside traditions from Bowland, Lancashire, and neighbouring counties.

Saturday 27th October

Creative strategies for rural change: new economic opportunities for farming and rural communities through partnerships with the urban arts, media and cultural sector.

Ideas for collaborative projects for farmers and rural communities working with artists, designers, writers and architects to develop new economic opportunities following foot and mouth. Proposals for farm-based architectural projects exploring new uses for surplus farm buildings and farm grown fibres. Collaborations between farmers and the textile industry and fashion design. The role of digital media projects in support of the new rural economy. Proposals for a European wool cultures symposium and exhibition documenting environmental, cultural and economic uses for wool from local sheep breeds. Contemporary craft projects based on sustainable farm woodlands. Willow growing for bio-mass energy and craft projects. Innovative arts and agriculture projects from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, France, Finland, Germany, and the USA.

Evening event:

Barn Dance and Concert

Celebrating the best of country music and entertainment from the North West region.

Chipping FM:

workshops for rural communities demonstrated the potential of community radio, oral archiving, and web casting.

An intensive community radio, webcasting and audio arts broadcasting and workshop project for rural communities, farmers and artists. Audio art projects, plays and soundscapes commissioned for Chipping FM about rural and farming issues, and a five day international dialogue on-line on the impact of FMD and the crisis in agriculture linking farmers and rural communities around the world. Creative and practical survival strategies for farming and rural communities.

Exhibitions:

Living Village, oral arts archiving, video installations and digital art projects documenting the farming communities, village shops, rural businesses and countryside around Chipping and in Bowland.

Hathorhouse Dairy Cow Museum Project, a combined architecture and public art proposal for a national dairy cow museum in Cheshire.

CROP, environmental art and contemporary crafts projects in support of sustainable farming practice.

Cultural Documents of the FMD Crisis, an exhibition of recent photographs, video and website projects by artists and farming communities around the country, documenting the FMD crisis.

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