About
get to know us ….
Courage Copse Creatives CIC (CCC) create high quality, engaging community & professional projects that place the environment front & centre. Through their cultural & heritage projects, they have always championed ‘quieter’ voices – from women in the
male-dominated forestry sector to pupils from areas of high socio-economic deprivation. Breaking down barriers to cultural activities & the environment is embedded in the ethos of the company.
Using the Arts to engage the public with the importance of the natural landscape and our interactions with them
CCC is based in Courage Copse a 15.5 acre woodland in the Taw Valley, owned and managed by, Katy Lee and Vince Large, who originally set up CCC as the educational arm of their charcoal and woodland enterprise. So successful were their cultural activities in 2020 they incorporated into a Community Interest Company and have broadened the scope to include the wider Northern Devon landscape.
CCC specialize in creating projects that:
- use the arts and heritage craft to explore land ecology & challenges,
- encourage collaborative working and the blurring of boundaries between art forms,
- treat the land as an equal partner in creative process
- promote the use of off-grid technologies & opportunities,
- develop interactive well-being experiences
CCC use spoken & written word, movement and making, as a vehicle for communicating these messages and connecting people with natural places, amplify the voice of people & place & the relationship between them.
CCC teaches environmental responsibility by example, actively demonstrating through its environmental practices and ethos that high impact creativity can be achieved with low environmental impact. From its inception in 2012, the company’s energy supply was planned and designed to be totally off-grid and fossil fuel free. All electricity is generated on site from solar panels.
In recognition of the company’s work CCC are highlighted in Northern Devon Cultural Strategy under ‘Culture and Landscape’ and align with NDCS ambition to ‘place Northern Devon at the cutting edge of outdoor arts, embedding culture into the landscape and bringing creativity to people’s doorsteps.’
CCC have worked in partnership with a number of outside organisations to deliver their workshops and projects including DAISI (Devon Arts in Schools Initiative), Dance in Devon, Art Trek, The Silvanus Trust, North Devon Biosphere Foundation, Arts Destination, South Molton and Westcountry Rivers Trust amongst others. And have received funding from Arts Council, England, Heritage Lottery Fund, Awards for All, & Devon Community Foundation.
CCC also holds an Investing in Nature Award awarded by North Devon UNESCO Biosphere.
