About ILha Rural School of Arts The People’s Forest Support us to protect ILha
Support us to protect ILha
Dear Friends,
ILha is one of the last of the wild places.
In this region, ILha is known as the lungs of the ecosystem and the pulse of the peoples.
Here, there are still people who farm small holdings. Here, the forest and its connecting ecosystems has largely been left to grow in its own rhythm. Here, people still understand the quality that living with the land brings to human life.
What began as a relationship with this landscape soon became a relationship with the community, with the people who have tended this land for generations, and with a way of life that is becoming increasingly forgotten.
Here we encountered something beautiful. A living relationship between people, land and culture that continues to shape daily life.
Many stories can be told about ILha. Stories of the forest.Stories of ancient skills and crafts. Stories of creativity, community and belonging.
Today, we want to share a simple one.
This land, once seven small farms, is currently under threat. And it is also holding an extraordinary possibility. To restore the relationship between people, land and culture through one particular place, by creating The Rural School of Arts and The People's Forest.
We now have the opportunity to secure this land as a permanent home for everything that has grown from that relationship so far, and for these long-held dreams to finally take root.
A place where people, land and culture can continue to learn from one another. A place that will not be sold again. A place that can be held in stewardship for generations to come.
Over time, this place will become home to teaching spaces, guest spaces, an Earth Dreaming Centre and a community of teachers, artists, makers and land stewards. Ideas that have emerged through more than twenty years of listening to land and place.
Supporting us to save ILha, represents something far bigger. By preserving the pulse of this place a new light can be shone on the rhythm and value of a life close to the land.
For today the part that comes first is to secure ILha to become the home of all these dreams.
To do this we need your help to raise £390.000 by August 31st.
We ask for your support to make this possible. If you resonate with the wider vision, donate and share our campaign
With love and gratitude,
Isik, Craig, Bruno and all of us
There are many ways to support this project
You can make a donation; buy an experience, artwork or piece of furniture, Invest through Sponsorships. We are open to create Partnerships, with aligned individuals and organisations who would like to see the vision flourish.
Make a donation small or large
Purchase a piece or join us for an experience to support the raise
£50 - £2500
Founding Stewards
Become part of our community of Founding Stewards
Pathways between 5K-10K
Become a Key Stone Donor
Contribute £50K and become a Key Stone Donor
By supporting us to protect ILha your donation will build
Relationship
A deep relationship with land, place, people and culture
Stewardship
Holding land in service of future generations.
Belonging
Creating conditions for people to reconnect with place, community and one another.
Learning
Exploring what becomes possible when people live in deeper relationship with what sustains them.
Possibility
Demonstrating that there are other ways of living, learning and relating.
Continuity
Carrying knowledge, culture and relationship forward across generations.
Creativity
Honouring traditional knowledge while creating new cultural possibilities.
Humility
Learning from place rather than imposing upon it.
Supporters
We are already so grateful for donations received from people all over the world and the region towards this vision. So far 132 people have supported us to raise £140K.
We have been supported by The A Team Foundation and have a growing relationship with Pela Terra alongside many local and regional partners.
How donations will be used
All donations will be received by ILha ltd 16577859, a not-for-profit company registered in England and Wales, established in service to the vision of the Rural School of Arts & The People’s Forest. We are currently in the process of setting up a Portuguese Association to parter with the UK company. All amounts received are in service of the vision. In the event that we are not able to reach our target by August 2026, all donors will have the choice on whether their donation is returned to them, or used to create the Rural School of Arts in a new iteration.
I have donated to this project:
“because it is a unique possibility to save an ancient landscape”