It is the result of a unique year-long collaboration between community co-researchers, artists, heritage professionals including the National Trust, ArtsEkta, Kilcooley Women’s Centre and the Link Family and Community Centre in Newtownards, alongside researchers from the Centre for Public History at Queen’s University Belfast. 

Lisa Rea Currie, Community Innovation Practitioner, BeHere, from Queen’s University Belfast commented: “I am thrilled to see the exhibition in place, it not only shares a snapshot of the joy and connections developed through the BeHere project but how a historic house like Mount Stewart can inspire a sense of belonging for local people when they co-design paths to inclusion that best serve their needs.”  

Through workshops, conversations and creative practice, community co-researchers explored how belonging is linked to wellbeing, focusing on how heritage can create feelings of safety, familiarity and community, in contexts shaped by places that historically would have been out of reach for most people. The project has already begun influencing how heritage and community organisations engage communities in responding to Northern Ireland’s contested histories. 

Dr Emma Reisz, BeHere Project Lead and a Co-Lead on the Historic Houses, Global Crossroads project, from the Centre for Public History at Queen’s University Belfast said: “BeHere began from a simple but challenging premise: that communities are the experts on what belonging means in their own lives, and that to contribute to a sense of place, heritage must shaped by communities, not for them. This exhibition demonstrates the value of long‑term, community‑led research in contexts where heritage has often been experienced as unfamiliar or even exclusionary. It shows how creative, participatory approaches can open up ‘desire paths’ into historic spaces, and that if we want more inclusive heritage, we must support communities to lead, and support institutions to adapt in response.”  

Jenny Ferguson, General Manager of Mount Stewart commented: “At the heart of the National Trust’s strategy is an ambition to end unequal access to nature, beauty and history at our places and beyond.  We are deeply committed to working with community partners to remove practical and emotional barriers to inclusion, as we aim to support more people to find meaning and benefit from places of heritage in their everyday lives and on their own terms.  

“The BeHere Project has been an important step for us at Mount Stewart in understanding how we can best work with others to achieve shared goals, and we are learning so much from our co-researchers from The Link and Kilcooley Women’s Centre and our partners at ArtsEkta and Queen’s University Belfast. We are thrilled to host this beautiful and creative exhibition which we hope will encourage others to think about the different ways places of heritage and their collections can bring meaning, benefit and joy to their own lives.”  

Mark Houston, Director of The Link added: “The rhythm and routine of just showing up is important to our service users but a project like BeHere has brought aliveness. It’s lifted their head from the table and the crossword to other possibilities. It’s stretched them and the quality of their experience is better, which is what we hoped for. It has been one of the best projects we have done with service users in my five years at The Link.”  

The exhibition was officially opened by the Mayor of Ards and North Down, Councillor Craig Blaney, with Lady Rose Lauritzen of Mount Stewart and Mike Nesbitt MLA also in attendance during an event on Friday 5 June.  

It is open to the public at Mount Stewart House until 26 June 2026. It will then move to Ards Visitor Information Centre, Newtownards, from 6 – 24 July 2026, followed by Bangor Carnegie Library from 27 July -17 August 2026, with a community heritage best practice sharing day at Curve Gallery, Bangor, on 15 August 2026.