What?
outside it is beautiful is a digital community audio stories artwork project set on the Bentham train line which aims to encourage anyone who travels on a train to look out of the window more, focusing on what they are passing through, as well as where they are going to. It aims to foster a greater connection between rail passengers and local commuters with the landscapes, wildlife and communities they are travelling through.
How?
Participating in free creative workshops, communities along the line will perform and record stories they have written which connect with the landscape that can be seen out the window. The stories will be curated for an audio work which will ping into passengers' ears via their mobile phones using GPS technology. We aim it to be a living, moving and live immersive audio artwork, a great tapestry of poetry, rap, music and prose.
Why?
We want to encourage train passengers to look out of the window and learn more about the communities and landscapes they are passing through. We want them to experience stories about the area in a different way and to encourage them to think anew about journeying on public transport. This is because we think that traveling on public transport on long journeys is a fantastic and empowering way to learn more about our landscapes, wildlife and communities. It's not about journey's end, but the journey itself. Train travel is also a great way to travel sustainably.
The project will also further develop communities' awareness of the areas they live in and enable them to share this with visitors through the creative act of telling stories.
The project will make a difference by encouraging a greater sense of responsibility and love for the landscape, deepen communities’ knowledge about where they live, develop their creative excellence and embolden participants and passengers to seek new wildlife, artistic and cultural experiences beyond the project.
Lastly, it's a celebration of the beauty, history and wildlife and landscape that can be seen out of the train window along the Bentham Line - the sights, sounds, textures, people and animals which are often unknown and invisible to the sometimes anonymous traveller who is passing by in minutes... even seconds.
How?
We have already completed an exploratory project with groups living along the line, but funding permitting, communities will come together and work with us, local artists and organisations to create words, stories and sounds about the places they live in and the natural landscapes and wildlife around them. They will excavate peat bogs. Journey with curlews. Visit the old Wintergardens. Gaze at the Dark Sky. Plumb the depths of the heritage of this famous line. They will become ghosts, prophets, horse whisperers, sages and artists. This huge tapestry of sound, this rap, this poetry, will be pinged onto passengers' phones as they travel along The Bentham Line- making it rich with sight, sound, history and wildlife - a landscape come alive in the ears and eyes of train passengers.
See here for how the app might sound on the train...
The project so far: Research & development phase
In October 2024 we activated our research and development phase, working with communities up and down the Bentham line from Morecambe to Leeds. In a week full of imaginative workshops exploring the culture of the rich Yorkshire and Lancashire dialects, the local wildlife and history of The Bentham Line, we met with people living with dementia, young people, vulnerable groups, vulnerable children, women just released from prison, the Kurdish community, the Forest of Bowland National Landscape, the Yorkshire Peat Partnership and the general public. Supported by Arts Council England through its National Lottery Project Grants programme and by Northern (rail) we formed long lasting partnerships, friendships and made the connections to develop more. We had in kind support from Northern and Culturapedia/Spot On and The Leeds-Morecambe Community Rail Partnership.
Phase two - development of our existing partners, collaborators, participants and funding strands
We developed our project putting in the place structures that we will need to create the project in phase three funded by Northern Rail's Community Fund for this strand.
Phase three - the project itself
We are fundraising to complete the project in phases.
The first phase will be the completion of a series of community workshops with nine different communities between Leeds and Morecambe, culminating in a performance celebration day on the train itself and in stations along the line. Funding pending this is planned for April - June 2026.
The second phase will be the performing and recording of the stories for GPS transmission and the public launch of the artwork. We plan to begin this stage in November, with a launch in 2027.
Please contact us using the form below if you want to find out more.
Thank you!