Jamie Feinberg

It’s impossible to talk about what makes northern New Hampshire unique without talking about the environment. I’ve found that the stereotype of North Country residents -- hardy, resourceful and independent – is basically true, and I’m sure this is in no small part due to the landscape of our region, which captivates us – and, in some ways, holds us captive.

Northern New Hampshire is beautiful in all seasons, but our communities are also isolated; much of the region’s land mass is part of the 1,200 square mile White Mountain National Forest, with mountains, lakes, and rivers defining the area’s character, offering locals and visitors alike a wealth of recreation opportunities – and simultaneously separating even “neighboring” communities from one another.

Northern New Hampshire is more depressed economically than the rest of the Granite State. Since the economic center of New Hampshire is in its southern corridor, making a living up north is often a struggle, especially since the past few decades have seen almost all of the manufacturing and “big” businesses in the region close down or move elsewhere.

In the nineteenth century, our mountains drew some of the country’s greatest artists to the region, and the White Mountain artists and their work became associated with the identity, expansion and development of the region. Many of the grand (and not-so-grand) hotels housed “artists in residence,” whose images became important drivers and symbols of the new and thriving tourism industry.

Today the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire is working with many partners to revive this connection – as a draw for tourists, but also to encourage local interest and understanding of how important the arts are to our identity and to our economy, past, present and future. We’re focusing on linking nature and art through education and a variety of program offerings – and using the arts as a communications tool for important messages about both community and environment.

We have been developing and nurturing partnerships with a variety of government agencies and environmental and conservation groups, benefiting from their size and reach to literally millions of recreational tourists who visit the White Mountains annually and offering them new, creative approaches to defining the relationships between people and the land.

For the past four years we’ve partnered with the White Mountain National Forest to host an artist-in-residence program each summer, providing an opportunity for artists in all media (from eco-artists to composers) from around the country to explore, interpret, celebrate and teach about the forest through their work. With each residency, we hope to engage both local residents and tourists in appreciating the outdoors through the arts – at exhibits or performances and through direct on-site art-making experiences. It’s our dream that other organizations and businesses will see the value of this approach; we’re happy to note that the Rey Center, a nonprofit dedicated to nurturing curiosity and discovery through art and science, has recently announced its own artist-in-residence program and we’re hoping that the hospitality industry will also revive this tradition during the next few years.

Ironically, despite being surrounded by incredible outdoor classrooms – and a huge array of natural resources waiting to be used as teaching tools – it’s becoming harder and harder for teachers to take their students outside. Many students living in the shadows of mountains and on the borders of forests only rarely get the chance to experience and understand them. In order to develop the next generation of environmental stewards, it’s critical to provide young people with meaningful experience of that environment.

To address this concern, we’re working with our partners to build a website highlighting Art & Nature connections. We’re collaborating with the Appalachian Mountain Club, the University of New Hampshire’s Cooperative Extension Service and the NH Children in Nature Coalition to offer free screenings of the film “Mother Nature’s Child,” followed by community discussions about our connection to the outdoors. We’ve also worked with local conservation organizations to develop a series of workshops for educators exploring how to teach environmental literacy through the arts. Educators from schools and after-school programs leave with concrete ways to build interest in and understanding of the environment – while also fulfilling Common Core standards.

Our goal is to simultaneously work to build community around our rich environmental resources and to encourage our community to define its own idea of place. One of the most divisive current issues in our state is Northern Pass, a plan to run 187 miles of transmission lines from Canada through northern New Hampshire and south. While some want the new jobs that the project would offer, others argue that the proposed structures would deface the forest landscape and strike a significant blow to tourism and regional identity. We will be helping local people throughout our region explore their differences on issues like these through a residency with poet Verandah Porche this spring, during which she will encourage residents to carefully consider their connection to the land and what “place” means in the North Country – and to listen to one another’s views.

Northern New Hampshire benefits from acknowledging and appreciating its environmental assets. When we spotlight the connection between arts and the environment, we are engaging in both grass-roots placemaking and cultural tourism – building local communities and also promoting cultural destinations to recreational visitors.