Eden Project is first and foremost about reminding us of our dependence on and connection to the natural world.
Eden’s message is one of hope. A partner of Manchester Aid to Kosovo since 2003, Eden Project has contributed vision, skill, optimism, fun and finance to MAK’s work. Eden has also hosted MaK concerts partnering MaK in some highly successful fundraisers and funded both planting and art flags for MaK.
“MaK has done amazing things to help this community and Eden has been only too pleased to help. This is a story of transformation and hope. The project has gone from strength to strength. It’s a huge human story of dedication to the place. The park is the focus of the renewal of the community. It is the best and most significant project I have ever been involved with.” Jane Knight (Eden Project, Landscape Architect)
Eden’s valued inspiration and support was triggered off in an Elbow concert in 2004 when a MaK member steward suggested we ‘tell the management about the Park’. That meeting was the beginning of a ten year collaboration that is still developing. The park has been designed by Jane Knight, Landscape Architect of the Eden Project. Jane works closely with MaK and the community of Podujeva. Her park design developed through a collaborative process that has involved workshops both at Eden and in Kosova. The process continues.
Learn about MaK’s collaboration with Eden Project.
We have also been supported by the Sue Hill, as Artistic Director of the Eden Project. Sue’s creativity and enthusiasm has uplifted and inspired artists in the Kosovar community leading to exciting collaborative projects.
“I recently travelled to Kosova to work on the Peace Park. It was at once the most harrowing and inspiring experience. Harrowing because we were working with people who had lost their entire families in the most brutal and inhumane circumstances. Inspiring because the young people we worked with were full of the future and its possibilities for growth, beauty, friendship, wonder, play…” Sue Hill (sculptor, theatre maker, artistic director, Eden Project)
Eden’s support has involved horticulturalists advising on soil and planting and several Eden staff participating in the dedication of the Peace Park in 2009. In 2011 horticulturalists from the Eden Project, Jo Thomas and Steve Burrell, and wildlife film maker Matt Hamilton worked in Kosova. Jo and Steve worked with MaKs’ gardeners on the Manchester Peace Park, Podujeva, advising on the Park’s progress as it steadily takes shape and increases in beauty and colour. They also developed MaK’s horticultural links with both local schools and a psychiatric unit.
“We are a part of nature not apart from nature” Tim Smit (CEO and co-founder, Eden Project)
