Beaford Arts facts for kids
Beaford Arts is a special group in Devon, England, that helps people enjoy and create art. It started way back in 1966 as The Beaford Centre. John Lane created it for the Dartington Hall Trust. Today, Beaford Arts is based in Barnstaple. It works to support and promote art in the countryside of North Devon. This area is quite large, covering about 799 square miles. It is surrounded by Dartmoor, Exmoor, and the Atlantic coast.
Contents
Beaford Arts: England's Oldest Rural Arts Group
Beaford Arts is known as England's oldest arts group focused on rural areas. This means they bring art to places outside of big cities. They have been part of many exciting art projects over the years.
The Beaford Archive: A Window to the Past
One of their most important projects is the Beaford Archive. This amazing collection was created by a photographer named James Ravilious. He took about 80,000 black-and-white photos over seventeen years. These pictures show what life was like in a special part of England. They capture the people, culture, places, and how people made a living.
The Beaford Archive also has 10,000 older pictures of North Devon. Most of these were taken between 1880 and 1920. Ravilious collected them from the people he photographed. This huge collection is kept safe at the North Devon Record Office.
What Beaford Arts Does Today
Beaford Arts continues to be very active. Here are some of the things they do:
- They help look after and share the amazing pictures in the Beaford Archive.
- They support new art projects happening in the countryside.
- They arrange performances in rural areas. This is important because these areas do not have many people living close together.
- They run a special arts center in Beaford. Children and young people from all over Devon can stay there and learn about art.
A Look Back: The Plough Arts Centre
For ten years, starting in 1992, The Beaford Centre also managed The Plough Arts Centre in Torrington. However, since 2002, The Plough Arts Centre has been its own independent organization.
External links
- The Beaford Archive
- jamesravilious.com
