There are many ways to travel.

Some journeys are about reaching a destination. Others are about what we discover — about a place, about one another and sometimes about ourselves — along the way. At HeARTlands, we think of this as Creative Pilgrimage.

For us, pilgrimage does not have to mean travelling to a sacred destination. It can simply mean journeying with intention — allowing ourselves to slow down, become curious, encounter new landscapes and stories, meet new people and remain open to being changed by the experience. Sometimes that journey might take us across a room to meet someone new. Sometimes into an artist's studio, an ancient landscape, a gallery or a community we have never visited before. Sometimes it will take us across Ireland. And in the future, it will take us beyond our shores.

Our Creative Pilgrimages create opportunities for artists, writers and creatives to travel together — visiting places rich in art, landscape, history, culture and story, meeting other creative communities and sharing our own Landscapes, Legends and Love Stories along the way via our HeARTlands exhibitions and events. 

The journey is not about arriving first. It is about journeying well together. We don't expect everyone to begin in the same place or walk at the same pace. Some will arrive with decades of creative experience; others may only be beginning. We share what we know. We remain curious about what we don't. We celebrate one another's successes, make space for new voices and honour the people, places and stories we encounter.

Because, sometimes the most important thing we discover when we travel is not another place. It is one another. We travel towards one another and wherever the journey takes us, we carry the same HeARTlands spirit with us:

Creativity. Curiosity. Generosity. Welcome. 

And Love.

The place may change.

Our spirit does not.