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A Vision for Partnership: June 04
The Forestry Commission and the Centre for
Contemporary Art and the Natural World are
pleased to announce that they are to explore the
potential for an exciting new, long-term
partnership in the Haldon Forest in Teignbridge,
Devon. By 2010, it is hoped that this
partnership will create an important new
eco-building built in a way which will
demonstrate the beauty, usefulness and
sustainability of the very resource for which
the Forest was created - Wood. In the short
term, the Centre will soon be based in a
redundant building close to Forest Enterprise's
existing offices at Buller's Hill.
This new partnership has been arrived at as a
result of consultancy funded by the South West
of England Regional Development Agency which
concluded that it would be impossible for the
Centre to raise the capital funds necessary to
regenerate historic Poltimore House in East
Devon and advised on the need for a new
location. The project director, Clive Adams and
Defacto Consultants evaluated 21 options of
locations in and around Devon before
recommending a relocation to the Haldon
Forest.
The Centre for Contemporary Art and the
Natural World is an innovative arts-led
educational charity which is focussed on
exploring our changing relationship to Nature
through the Arts. The core activities of the
Centre will be exhibitions, projects, including
live events both in galleries and in the
landscape, supported by a study centre and
studios. The integrated artistic and educational
programme will span all forms of contemporary
art including photography, architecture, design,
new media and performance.
Leading the project is Clive
Adams, a curator
with over 30 years experience of organising
successful, high-profile exhibitions. He is
currently a consultant curator to The Lowry in
Salford which recently won a Museums and
Heritage Award for Excellence.
| Forestry Commission forest
district manager Chris Marrow (pictured right
with Clive Adams) said: ' We are thrilled that
Haldon Forest has been chosen as the preferred
site for the new Centre. The area is already
renowned for work being done there to conserve
the region's natural heritage and foster a
greater understanding of its importance. The
CCANW project will give people an arts-based
perspective of the natural world and add a whole
new dimension to their understanding of what our
woodlands are about and how precious they are.'
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The Haldon Forest lies on a ridge just over 5
miles south-west of Exeter and covers an area of
1400 hectares mostly planted from 1920 onwards
with coniferous woodland but encompassing areas
of broadleaved trees, streams and dramatic views
to Dartmoor, Exeter and Exmouth. Part of the
forest is designated a Site of Special
Scientific Interest as it supports a exceptional
range of birds of prey, a population of breeding
nightjars and rich communities of butterflies.
The forest can be accessed off the A38 Devon
Expressway and A380.
Clive Adams (project director)
and Jill Adams (administrator)
initiated the project in 1995.
Clive Adams is a curator with a particular
interest in the work of artists which engages
with nature. He started his career at Arnolfini,
Bristol in the Seventies, and his exhibitions
have covered a period from C18th to the present
day. The most recent are 'Love, Labour and Loss:
300 years of British Livestock Farming in Art'
for Carlisle City Council and 'The Impossible
View?' at The Lowry (winner of the Museums and
Heritage Award for the best UK temporary
exhibition of 2003).
Clive Adams, Project Director,
CCANW
Knowle Farm Cottage, Knowle, Crediton,
Devon EX17 5BX
T+F: 01363 84096 E:
adams@ccanw.co.uk
The web site for Poltimore House Trust is: http://www.poltimore.org/ | 
