A THOUSAND people are wanted next month to join an ‘ambitious’ arts project celebrating community creativity.

Green Space Dark Skies is a major participatory project that sees the community come together with artists and creatives to forge a powerful collective connection to the local landscape.

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The display of outdoor, human-powered, art will be created in the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on June 11th: with the exact location only being revealed to those volunteering.

Artworks will be created at dusk by participants from across Dorset as they travel along pathways and waterways carrying smart lights. The resulting cinematography will be captured on film with each short piece incorporating the stories of the people and places involved. The artwork is envisaged as a new way of seeing the Dorset landscape and promoting sustainability for future generations.

Outdoor art experts Walk the Plank are the lead creative organisation in the production of Green Space Dark Skies. John Wassell, Creative Producer says:

“Green Space Dark Skies is about class and landscape, race and landscape, disability and landscape. We want to build more countryside stewards for the future, and to inspire more people to see the connection between their use and enjoyment of the land and our care for the planet.”

The project is one of ten major creative commissions from ‘UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK’ which aims to celebrate community creativity throughout 2022. UNBOXED promotes free large-scale events and installations through globally accessible digital experiences in what they describe as “an ambitious showcase of creative collaboration.”

John Packman, CEO of the Broads Authority and lead CEO for National Parks UK Communications says: “Green Space Dark Skies is all about helping people to discover the joys and benefits of getting out into nature and celebrating the role and value of protected landscapes in a modern society. It’s a perfect fit with our mission as National Parks.”

“We also think it’s very timely to explore the rights and responsibilities citizens have with respect to nature and landscapes – how to make that relationship as fruitful as possible. We are examining the means to foster that dialogue with the widest possible representation of UK society, especially those communities that are currently underrepresented in the

countryside.”