2013 – Following the success of the Crediton Festival, the organizing committee agree to form a Town Team to lead further community projects.
2013 – 23 Crediton Town Team coordinates a biennial Crediton Festival and many other community projects, including the High Street Flags and the Boniface Panels. During the Covid pandemic they install picnic tables in the town square to encourage safe socializing.
2017 – Crediton Town Team consults local groups about their need for more space, particularly for performance groups. The Team decides to form a new organisation to drive forward their plans to develop a new Arts Hub for the town.
2018 – Nine volunteers, with a variety of skills, are recruited and decide to call themselves ‘The Crediton Heart Project’. Their aim is to keep the heart in Crediton and its surrounding villages by developing a new Arts Hub for all.
2019 – The Heart Project commissions a Public Consultation and Feasibility Study, which concludes Crediton needs a larger performance space as well as rooms for other community activities.
2020 – The Covid pandemic halts progress with the Hub project. The Heart Project focuses instead on developing a community website, requested during the public consultation.
Crediton In & Around is launched as a website to share local information, news and stories in a time of crisis.
The Crediton Heart Project achieves charity status, opening up new possibilities for funding.
2021 – As lockdown eases, Crediton In & Around expands to include listings of businesses and services, a What’s On calendar and a Visit section. It is the first and only online platform to promote everything going on locally.
The Hub project is revived – potential building sites are explored as well as empty buildings for conversion.
2022 – The Heart Project runs its first Summer Arts Festival in a marquee on empty land behind the new Redlands surgery. The festival features art workshops for families, a concert and a willow owl!
2023 – The Second Summer Arts Festival is hosted by the Crediton Arts Centre, with an expanded programme of family workshops, film, music and theatre events.
The Town Team and Heart Project agree to merge, as their work and aims are so similar.
2024 – The Crediton Masterplan identifies the derelict toilet block on Union Road as a potential site for development. The Heart Project works with the Town Council and Mid Devon District Council to explore the possibility of building a new Arts Hub on the site. They commission an architect feasibility study.
The Heart Project’s Third Summer Arts Festival is even bigger, with workshops at the Arts Centre and in the community, film and music events, finishing with ‘Arts in the Park’, a day of fun activities in Newcombes Meadow. More than 1,000 people attend.
2025 – Kick Start Art is launched by Heart Project trustee, Linda Williamson, a termly challenge to inspire children to explore creativity and have fun making art.
The Heart Project collaborates with the Crediton Arts Centre to deliver the first Spring Awakening Music Festival
The Park House Feasibility Study concludes a 300-seat theatre, with a café opening onto the park, could be built on the Union Road site. The Park House could offer a wide range of entertainment and events by local groups and visiting artists, transform our park and regenerate our town centre.
The Park House Public Consultation receives more than 600 responses. Most are in favour of the project, with some understandable concerns expressed about parking and costs.
The Fourth Summer Arts Festival includes a workshop programme, an open air cinema event and ‘Arts in the Park’. The Heart Project also delivers an extended autumn workshop programme for community groups and a weekend of Christmas craft workshops in December.
2026 – QE Academy invites the Heart Project to be a partner in their ambitious plans to transform College House into an Arts Hub for their students and the community.
Kick Start Art grows steadily, attracting 478 entries in its fourth term. The winning entries from the first 18 months are celebrated in a touring exhibition.
Crediton In & Around is relaunched as a simpler, easier to use website, focusing on the most popular pages. The name is changed to Crediton Heart Project to link it more closely with the charity’s other work.
