Since being commissioned, the VIVO team have been working with the Mendip Hills National Landscape Team and Super Culture, spending their time meeting, gathering and listening with a variety of groups across Weston-super-Mare.

The project launched with an “Eat and Greet” in the Aller Parade Community Hub - a chance for the team to connect with the people of South Ward in their neighbourhood - drawing, chatting, sharing tunes, food and words.

Since then, we have been leading walks and workshops to explore nature on the doorstep and share ideas of what nature is - what it isn’t - and what it might mean to the people of Weston.

The next creative chapter opens back in South Ward with a group of young people to co-create an anthem that celebrates their community. There’ll be more trips into the Mendip landscape, along with interviews, field recordings, research trips and writing sessions - culminating with the weaving together of all they have gathered and learnt later in the year.

Gwyneth says: “This collaboration has already brought me so much joy and learning. As artists and humans, we have met each other through our journeys in the land together, and we have met the landscape through each other’s languages. I feel so much more connected to the spaces and people in and around my new hometown and I am looking forward to deepening connections with the community through the next phase of making. It feels now to me that the work has developed a voice of its own, inviting us to follow threads of discovery - more will be revealed, as Nature is Calling us on…”

About the artists

An acclaimed composer, lyricist and performer with connection at the heart of her practice, Gwyneth Herbert has collaborated with artists and communities around the world to create a huge canon of genre-defying work. Commissions include London Sinfonietta, Snape Maltings, Mahogany Opera.

Jason Singh is highly regarded sound artist, beatboxer, DJ and workshop leader, working across installations in museums and the outdoors, live performances and community residencies. Processing bio-data from plants, trees, wildlife, Jason captures the unheard sounds of nature within his compositions. Commissions include BBC, V&A, Milton Keynes Festival, and WOMAD.

Mendip resident, Chris Howard is an award-winning producer and director of British wildlife documentaries including the BBC’s Springwatch and Wild Isles series. He also collaborates with other artists, musicians and authors to bring British wildlife to life in new ways.

About Nature Calling

Nature Calling is a first for National Landscapes because of its size, scope and the level of investment. It aims to inspire communities across England to connect with National Landscapes, increasing their access to nature, improving their wellbeing, and inspiring a sense of belonging in these special places.

Nature Calling will bring together the 34 National Landscapes in England, local arts organisations and community groups from within a 30-minute journey time of their nearby National Landscape. They will work together to co-create artworks inspired by these iconic places and the results will then be shared with the public in a Season of Art from May – October 2025. It is expected that 70,000 people will take part.

National Landscapes are the UK’s nearby countryside. 66% of people in England (44 million) live within 30 minutes of a National Landscape, over 1 million people live within them and at least 170 million people visit every year. Nature Calling aims to encourage even more communities to feel welcome to enjoy these special places on their own terms.