Rude Health Festival creator Esther Huss talks new exhibition ‘Stronger Shores’: “Schools have had a hard time accessing arts”

Returning for a new edition during the autumn season, the showcase welcomes this latest addition to its repertoire, carried in collaboration with the local community to raise awareness about the coast’s environmental crisis. Guillermo Nazara chats with the event’s mastermind to learn more about the project’s development and how it has inspired a new wave of artists and audiences alike.

How does it feel to premiere this project as part of the Rude Health Festival?

It’s incredibly exciting and rewarding to premiere this project at the Rude Health Festival. This exhibition is the result of months of dedicated work with our creative groups at The Tute — our writing group, dance group, and art group have all brought their unique perspectives and talents to the project. Because of where our venue is located, we’re lucky to feel deeply connected to nature, with the coastline quite literally on our doorstep. That connection has really inspired the work and helped shape the themes we’ve explored.

The exhibition will feature a dance film, an art installation, and a book of poetry written by the writing group, offering a multi-sensory experience that reflects the collaborative spirit of the project.

This exhibition will also be touring to other venues, so it’s a fantastic opportunity to share what we’ve learned about the fascinating roles oysters, kelp, and seagrass play in our marine ecosystems. The project is a collaboration between The Tute, curator Matthew Jarratt, and Stronger Shores, and it’s been a brilliant partnership. We’re proud to showcase the creativity, curiosity, and community spirit that have come together in this work.

How did the idea for the project come about?

We were approached by Matthew Jarratt, who is working with Stronger Shores. They were looking for a venue in a community that could trial this artist-led approach to communicate scientific facts. At The Tute, we continuously strive to develop projects that are creatively inspiring and meaningful for us as an organisation, our participants, and audiences. Utilising the different artistic languages of our groups culminating in an exhibition felt like a good way to go.

The project also involved children from the nearby Cambois Primary School, who engaged in book binding and art making using kelp.

The piece explores how the coastline impacts both our environmental and human health. What can you tell us about this topic?

The Tute looks onto the coastline. We can see the erosion come closer — yet, the more under the surface factors like kelp and the significance of oysters we did not know about. Through this project, we have come to learn about the impact kelp and oyster reefs can have to protect our coastlines and, consequently, our communities.

Why do you think it’s important to keep raising awareness about this subject?

Cambois is a very caring community that has lived through many environmental challenges such as the now shut-down power station, extreme weathers, and a rich history in mining. People deeply care about where they live.

How have you managed to transform these themes into something performative?

The most performative element of the project is the dance film we’re screening. We made this in collaboration with our dance group. Stronger Shores came and gave an informative talk about kelp, seagrass, and oysters, and the role they play in securing our coastline. We then explored how you could portray this through movement. We had a lot of fun making it and injected humour into it. Since it could be a serious topic, we want to make it interesting and accessible.

The project denounces these environmental issues, but does it offer any solutions?

The project is about educating people about potential solutions, like the fact that oysters clean up to X gallons of water, and so, one potential solution to our pollution problems could be increasing the amount of oysters in our coastlines. Kelp and seagrass cling onto the seabed and help slow down the pace of erosion, they also take in a lot of CO2, so these natural assets can be our friend in healing the environment.

The local community has also taken part in its development, with schoolchildren creating sea-inspired art. What can you tell us about this initiative?

Every project we design has school integration in it. We believe that our core job is to inspire empathy and a love of arts in people, and the best way to do that is by working with the next generation of audiences directly in schools. Schools have had a hard time accessing arts due to multiple reasons: covid, budget cuts, and austerity. It’s more important than ever to ensure we find ways to take work to them. For this project, the brilliant artist Laurie Powell went into Cambois Primary School and led a workshop with the kids making art out of dried kelp, and the wonderful Linda France explored writing poetry with the children. They’ll be displayed as part of the exhibition.

What particular challenges have you found in the development of this piece?

It’s hard to communicate the fun and exciting potential of issues like this, a lot of people think of boring science lessons as soon as you start talking about environmental issues. Finding a way to use arts to inspire people on this subject and then attract an audience to it has been a fun challenge.

Are there any highlights in this production that you would like to flag?

It’s a weekend long exhibition and hopefully it’s greater than the sum of its parts, it’ll be a lovely opportunity to visit our venue.

Why come see ‘Stronger Shores’?

To learn about our coastline, to get inspired and to come to our venue, and pick up a brochure for the rest of Rude Health festival, which is chock full of very exciting artists like Liz Aggiss, Lucy Suggate, Alistair McDowell, Maria Crocker, and Amy Golding.

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The Rude Health Festival 2025 Edition runs until 5 December. Further information is available on the following link.

By Guillermo Nazara