Our Community Projects
Thanks to support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Exeter Cathedral has introduced an exciting new programme of activities and events for people in and around Exeter. Take a look below to see how we’ve been engaging communities with their local heritage.
Textile Project
July 2024 – present
The Textile Project is a collaboration between artist, Davina Kirkpatrick, and communities in Exeter to co-create a unique piece of textile art to be displayed in Exeter Cathedral’s new Treasures Gallery exhibition space.
The artwork will be inspired by the Cathedral’s textile collections, including vestments, rondels, banners and alter cloths, in addition to themes of birth (new beginnings/growth) marriage (union/love) and death (grief/loss).
The project has involved local community groups, including St Petrock’s Centre, CoLab, Hikmat and CoLab and Exeter College students in addition to members of the local community during public workshops at Exeter Library. Each person involved has created a ‘textile jewel’ inspired by one of the major themes which will then be incorporated into a larger triptych piece.
Soundscape Project
March 2024 – present
The Exeter Cathedral Soundscape Project aims to create a soundscape that will be used in the Cathedral’s new Treasures Gallery exhibition space. Soundscape Artists Nicole Redfern and Daniel Harvey have been working alongside the local community, through workshops with local schools and community groups, and using sounds of the Cathedral to create the new soundscape. The audio will support visitors in engaging with their sensory experience in the new exhibition space and will include sounds that represent the Cathedral.
Nicole and Daniel have also ran a series of public Sound Walks encouraging participants to tune into and listen more closely to the sounds of the Cathedral, encountering and experiencing the space in a new way.
Inlaid Tiles Project
March 2024
The Inlaid Tiles Project will work with the local community to co-create a tile design that will border the Chapter House floor, repurposing previously used medieval tiles. So far the project has included ‘tile scrubbing sessions’ to clean the medieval tiles ready for use and carefully cataloguing each tile.
Youth Panel
September 2023
A panel of 16-25 year olds met at Exeter Cathedral to discuss ways we can introduce innovative new ways to tell our story, to people of all ages and from all backgrounds. Participants shared their ideas on how to engage people with our stories and collections in new and exciting ways.
Summer Activities
2023 & 2024
Our free summer holiday activities aim to engage families with their local heritage.
In 2023, we hosted The ever Faithful City, a fascinating play telling the true story of King Henry VII’s stay at the Treasurer’s House, alongside a series of craft activities including the chance to make your own shield.
The following year, our original play Read’s Revelation told the story of Devon craftsman, Herbert Read, whose dream and subsequent warnings to the Dean of Exeter, led to a remarkable effort to save the Cathedral’s famous medieval Bishop’s Throne canopy from imminent destruction. We also ran a series of fun craft activities including painting illuminated letters, rag rug making, making handmade paper, woodcarving demonstrations and medieval tile making.
BioBlitz
July 2023
The Exeter Cathedral BioBlitz was a fun activity with an important mission. The aim was to identify as many species around the Cathedral grounds and green spaces as possible over two days; creating the chance to explore and hopefully discover something unknown and unusual. Working with Devon Wildlife Trust and the landscape architect, we will be using our findings to increase the biodiversity around us, contributing to the increase and preservation of our wildlife.
We hosted a range of activities including: snail racing with Wild Ideas, a VR Experience with Exeter Science Centre, origami, a moth trap reveal with Simon Bates, wildflower and lichen walks with Devon Wildlife Trust and a honey beehive with Exeter Beekeepers.
Riddler in Residence
2023 – present
Exeter Cathedral’s Riddler in Residence leads creative workshops inspired by the Cathedral, its green spaces, and its Library and Archives collections, including the famous 10th century Exeter Book.
The Riddler in Residence project works with a range of local community groups, including families, young people and formal education settings, with the aim of inspiring them to creatively connect with their heritage.
Team Gaia
January-February 2023
Timed to coincide with our hosting of artist Luke Jerram’s Gaia installation, Team Gaia was a collaboration between Exeter Cathedral and immersive theatre company Four of Swords.
The project brought together young people from across our local community, including Exeter’s ISCA Academy School, Exeter Hindu Temple Trust, the local Ukrainian community and the Pelican Project learning disabled artists and creatives.
Together the groups contributed to a series of workshops and explored a range of themes inspired by Gaia, including scientific, religious and mythological perspectives on the origins of planets. They also reflected on our own planet’s environment and discussed ways to protect life on Earth for the future.
Ideas and perspectives expressed in the workshops were then developed into a narrative for an immersive theatre performance, Beyond Gaia, which was co-created between the community groups and Four of Swords, and performed in front of a sell-out audience at Exeter Cathedral.
Combining dazzling visuals, performance, sound and music, the show told the story of an alien council of inhabitants from lost and dead worlds, assembled on Earth to celebrate the planet’s beauty, share their own cautionary tales, and inspire us all to safeguard the future of our world.
