Caught by the River is an arts/nature/culture clash which lives at caughtbytheriver.net. It began as an idea, a vision and a daydream shared between friends one languid bankside spring afternoon.
Conceived as an online meeting place for pursuits of a distinctly non-digital variety — walking, fishing, looking, thinking, birdsong and beer, adventure and poetry; life’s small pleasures, in all their many flavours — it was, and still is, about stepping out of daily routines to re-engage with nature. Finding new rhythms. Being.
Now in its thirteenth year, Caught by the River is ever-morphing, widening its tastes and pool of contributors. The site – and its various offshoots, including gigs, festival stages and the Rivertones record label – host work in many forms and flavours, be it of a musical, poetic, creative non-fictional, photographic or illustrative description, or otherwise.
Recent goings-on of note include a run of Arts Council-funded events in independent venues in Todmorden, Huddersfield and Farsley, as well as Caught by the River Eden — a spoken word and music piece commissioned especially for the online iteration of Aerial Festival, featuring brand new work from Stuart Maconie, Roy Wilkinson, Chris Watson, Jack Cooper (Modern Nature), and Helen Mort.