The first Training for Real project was developed in collaboration with the Interpretation Officer for the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and was designed to complement other interpretation work being undertaken by the Park and to give the artists the fullest possible experience of working in a ‘live’ situation on a sensitive site. The outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease early in 2001 and its devastating impact on the area where the project was planned to take place, provided a powerful additional impetus. The artist were asked to take as their theme the value which we place upon the landscape and the important of routeways and wild places at a time when the countryside around Malham was almost completely inaccessible and the location community was experiencing considerable emotional economic hardship.

The project presented the opportunity for Chrysalis to develop a new training model, to work locally in the Yorkshire Dales and in partnership with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. From the outset, the intention was to develop a model of best practice which offered both practical and financial support to the artists involved.  

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