Nature Calling x Big Chalk - joining the dots between communities, artists and conservation
Big Chalk is a huge project playing a vital role in nature's recovery, covering 20% of England - including some of the Nature Calling hub locations. Kerenza McClarnan, Arts Development and Programme Manager for the National Landscapes Association recently wrote a blog for Big Chalk on how Nature Calling is an open invitation to enjoy fascinating, beautiful and culturally rich landscapes and rare habitats.
What is Nature Calling?
Nature Calling is England's National Landscapes' very first national arts commissioning programme.
The programme has seen National Landscapes commission artists and writers to work deeply within multiple local communities to increase knowledge and access to nature for more people, to improve wellbeing and inspire a sense of belonging to the countryside on their doorstep. The result is six significant and original artistic responses with a season of events, installations and launches presented between May and October 2025. Nature Calling is delivered by National Landscapes Association, Activate Performing Arts and England's National Landscapes. It is supported by Arts Council England and DEFRA’s Protected Landscapes Partnership.
What is Big Chalk?
Growing from an initial partnership of Protected Landscapes (National Landscapes and National Parks), the Big Chalk Partnership comprises more than 150 organisations with a common vision of creating thriving chalk and limestone landscapes across southern England.
At its heart are 14 National Landscapes, the South Downs National Park and nine National Trails, including the iconic Ridgeway.
Big Chalk performs a vital role in nature’s recovery, connecting national targets and plans with participatory modes of delivery, including regional and local partnerships and farm clusters.
Importantly, it helps ensure delivery is effective and makes the best use of the resources available.
What's the link between Big Chalk's nature recovery work and Nature Calling?
Artists have long been drawn to chalk and limestone landscapes—not just for their striking beauty, but for the stories embedded within the ground itself. Shaped over millions of years, these calcareous formations hold the imprint of deep time. They carry with them the echoes of human presence—our ancestors who walked, farmed, worshipped, and shaped these lands over thousands of generations.
Five of the six Nature Calling hub commissions are in chalk and limestone landscapes: the Chilterns, Surrey Hills, Dorset, Mendip Hills and Lincolnshire Wolds. The geology of these places has deeply influenced the artists’ understanding and interpretation of the land. As they got to know the people and communities who live in and around these landscapes, a rich dialogue between people, place, and time emerged—central to what Nature Calling is all about.