ArtfulScribe

Culture in Common is a community-led arts and culture programme for the New Forest, funded by Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places initiative. Led by a consortium including Energise Me, Folio, The Handy Trust, New Forest District Council, and the National Park Authority, it aims to increase cultural engagement in underserved areas. Since 2022, it has reached over 45,000 residents through workshops, exhibitions, and creative clubs, co-designed with local communities to reflect their interests and needs.

Recording Studio & Venue. Quay West Studios resides in the 120 year old St John’s Church, ladened with architecture and history. Peaceful and inspiring, the space welcomes you with towering ceilings and stunning light. Established in 2011 Quay West Studios set out to build the aspirations of its community and help the people they work with to achieve their goals, opening its doors at St John’s Church in 2022.

The South Downs National Park has it all – rolling hills, glorious heathland, river valleys, ancient woodland, thriving villages and towns. We are the youngest National Park in England, and the most densely populated, spanning from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east. This iconic landscape is managed in partnership for nature, beauty and heritage, for the benefit of people – communities and visitors alike. It has been a refuge and sanctuary, a working landscape and a recreational one, an inspiration for artists over centuries. We both seek to preserve the unique archaeological and historical legacies of past communities and support the creation of new responses to the landscape by contemporary artists, writer and makers.