Changing Chalk – National Trust

We’re thrilled to be working with the National Trust-led Changing Chalk partnership on Sounding the Downs: Listening to the Chalklands – a new sound-based project bringing our Interactive Listening Walks and Remix the Archive instrument to five downland locations in Brighton & Hove and East Sussex.

This project is supported by the National Trust and the Changing Chalk Community Grants Scheme, and funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery players.

Interactive Listening Walks (ILWs) connect local urban communities to the nature and heritage of the Downs – in these supportive, fun, and grounding workshops, we tune into the changing sounds around us as we explore different places.

ILWs offer an innovative, sensory way for people to engage with natural landscapes. Our participants report improved mental health and wellbeing through being supported in a group to listen, immerse themselves in and play with the places we move through. These listening tools are free, simple and transferable – people who come on our workshops learn a new skill and way of accessing outdoor spaces.

Three of these Changing Chalk sessions are bespoke for existing partner groups (e.g. refugees and migrants, mental health recovery). Two will be open for booking through Eventbrite:

• for Hollingdean & Hollingbury residents to explore the local hill fort
• for people accessing support for their mental health to explore Stanmer Park