Raise Collective
What is it?
Raise Collective is a network helping us shape the future of Cumbria Community Forest. This evolving group is comprised of artists, ecologists, researchers, and professionals working across health, education and community sectors.
Raise Collective supports our science-led foresters to create woodlands that deliver public benefits and can be sustained by Cumbrian communities. A particular focus is how our work can involve neurodivergent communities, celebrate neurodivergent culture and better understand the beneficial relationship between neurodivergent people and woodland environments.
Where is it?
These day-long sessions take place every 3-4 months at Cumbrian sites marked for tree planting.
The first Raise Collective session took place in September 2024 at Cummersdale, Carlisle. The second in Barrow (November 2024).
Future Raise Collective sites are being determined.
What happens at a Raise Collective session?
Involving local voices, this cross-disciplinary group shares research and insights to help us design future projects that deliver public and environmental benefits.
These day-long events are informal, exploratory and inspiring. They combine short walks, creative activity, historical or scientific investigations, and a wide range of discussions.
The Collective shares perspectives on the potential of public activity on these sites. They consider creative opportunities to involve local people, and engage neurodivergent communities. Contributions could include anything from a participant’s research into horticultural work with autistic adults; to knowledge of local archaeology or social history; to practice of a socially-engaged artist working with Cumbrian soil or rivers.
Each day generates ideas for projects to be considered for further development by Raise and interested participants.
How can I get involved?
Currently the group is invitation only, but we are keen to hear from interested people who feel their practice could be of value to this group.
Contact Raise Associate Producer John Coburn
All photographs by Rob Fraser / Somewhere Nowhere