Beaford Arts is an arts organisation in Devon, England. It was established as The Beaford Centre in 1966 by John Lane for the

Dartington Hall Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "on ...

Trust. It promotes and supports the arts in rural north Devon - an area of 799 square milesTorridge District Council strategic plan 2005-10; North Devon District Council corporate plan 2007-10 bounded by Dartmoor, Exmoor, and the Atlantic west coast. Beaford Arts is England's oldest

rural arts In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

organisation, based at Greenwarren House in the village of

Beaford Beaford is a village and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England. The village is about five miles south-east of Great Torrington, on the A3124 road towards Exeter. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 393, ...

in North

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

. It has been involved in a number of arts projects including

James Ravilious James Ravilious (22 August 1939 – 29 September 1999), was an English photographer, who specialised in recording the rural life of north Devon. Early life Ravilious was born in Eastbourne, the second son of the neo-romantic artist Eric Ravil ...

's work to create the Beaford Archive. This collection of 80,000 black-and-white photographs taken over seventeen years "forms a unique exploration of the society, culture, geography and economy of a 'corner of England'".Peter Hamilton, lecturer, Open University, 1998 The Beaford Archive also includes 10,000 older images of north Devon, mainly taken between 1880 and 1920, collected by Ravilious from his subjects during his work. It is currently stored in secure conditions in the

North Devon Record Office There are three county record office, local archives covering the Historic counties of England, historic county of Devon, England. The Devon Heritage Centre in Exeter is the main archive. It has a branch office, the North Devon Record Office in ...

. Beaford Arts' present functions are: * supporting the existing work in the Beaford Archive * developing and supporting new rural art work * promoting performances in rural areas (the average population density in northern Devon is 189 people per square mile) * running a residential arts centre in Beaford for children and young people from across Devon. For ten years from 1992 the Beaford Centre ran

The Plough Arts Centre The Plough Arts Centre is a theatre, cinema and art gallery in Torrington, North Devon, England. The Plough is situated in a former Territorial Army drill hall on Fore Street in the centre of Torrington. The site was previously a 16th-centu ...

in Torrington. Since 2002, however, they have been independent organisations.

References

External links

The Beaford Archive

jamesravilious.com
Organisations based in Devon Arts centres in England Tourist attractions in Devon English photography organisations Photo archives in the United Kingdom 1966 establishments in England {{coord missing, Devon