Welcome to HeARTlands
Art Exhibitions & Creative Community
Art Exhibitions & Creative Community
HeARTlands is an artist-led not for profit organization and creative community rooted in Longford, at the heart of Ireland, connecting artists, writers, photographers and creatives through exhibitions, coaching, mentoring, creative and cultural exchange and regular community get togethers.
Founded by Anna M. Delaney and Phil Atkinson, HeARTlands showcases, celebrates, tours and sells creative work from Ireland's Heartlands, connecting artists with audiences across Ireland, Europe and beyond while welcoming artists, stories and creative traditions from elsewhere into our own communities.
Every HeARTlands exhibition is built around three themes:
Landscapes tell us where we belong.
Legends tell us who we are.
Love Stories tell us why and how we care.
At HeARTlands, we believe creativity flourishes when people feel safe, valued and free to explore — without hierarchy, without having to prove themselves first. That belief shapes everything we do. Welcome creates safety, safety allows trust, and trust is what lets people truly create, rather than perform. We won't ever measure someone's creative worth by where they've exhibited, how long they've been creating, or whether they're only beginning to find their voice. An artist showing for the first time and one showing for the fiftieth time are equally welcome at our table.
We lead with generosity over competition, and curiosity over judgement. Knowledge, opportunities and encouragement are shared here, not guarded — because we believe creativity isn't diminished by being shared. It's multiplied. This is a community led by heart, not ego, and it's built by people showing up for each other, in authentic relationships, month after month.
Wherever you are in your creative journey — just starting, returning after years away, or already established — you are welcome here.
Our door is open.
Come on in.
Pull up a chair.
There is always room for you here.
Whether you have come to exhibit, to write, to create, to learn, to share, to listen, or simply to be, we are glad you are here.