A Voice to Tell Our Story

More than 300 children, 10 primary schools, 4 artists, 1 amazing project – A Voice To Tell Our Story

Working with researchers from the University of South Wales and artists from North Devon, this exciting 3 year project, funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation,centred around helping the next generation in our communities to speak up, listen well, and have fun working together and learning through the arts.

The Adventures of Don Quixote by Bicycle

Travelling together on bicycles, actors and audiences experience the colourful and misguided escapades of Don Quixote – self styled Knight of La Mancha.

This exciting piece of interactive family theatre travelling along the Tarka Trail involved actors riding custom designed bikes that even a medieval knight would be proud of.

As part of the show audiences decorated their bicycles - transforming them into horcycles!!

When I’m 40

Young North Devonians created a new response to local flooding risks with the help of world-leading climate photographer Gideon Mendel. In September 2023, as part of a Beaford Arts commission, Gideon visited North Devon to help local children explore what their environment might be like in 2050. The result is a new collection of 18 images titled ‘When I’m 40’.

The Company of Wolves

Once Upon a Time, in a small village in the depths of North Devon, a young girl put on her red shoes and cloak, and headed into the forest alone, watched by unseen eyes. As the shadows lengthened, she began to run - here began a mysterious night-time hunt for a rogue wolf, and what an adventure it was!

EARTH WATER FIRE!

In the times before modern science, things were explained differently. Tales told through generations passed on the knowledge and wisdom of people and place, wrapped in the epic journeys of heroes, heroines and dragons. But what would these heroes say about the challenges of rural life, here, today?

Where To Begin

Two generations of professional North Devonian theatre makers join forces to create this brilliant, vivid and hilarious new play which asks, “what if the climate changed in North Devon?

Dan & Boff’s Wild Tour of Devon

Dan and Boff’s “Wild Tour of Devon” saw them run a whopping 120 miles in the course of a week as they made their way from show to show in five rural locations across the whole county. Local runners were invited to join them along the way and their progress could be tracked live via OpenTracking.

The AONB Bespoke Digitisation Project

AONB Project Officer Dave Edgcombe used contact sheets from the Archive to select previously undigitised negatives for scanning. These images captured by James Ravilious and Roger Deakins have now been made available to the public for the first time.

omicron

Beaford commissioned photographer Robert Darch to record the uncertain landscape brought about by omicron outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021/22 drawing on the spirit of rural social documentary photography pioneered by James Ravilious for the Beaford Archive.

A Song For Devon

In March 2021 Sound UK, Beaford, Villages in Action and Exeter Phoenix commissioned Seth Lakeman to create and perform an original song to mark one year since lockdown began.

How We Remember celebrates the community spirit of the people of Devon and the beauty of the county.

The performance features Seth and local singers, including Barnstaple Community Choir and Wren Music's choirs.

Beauty & the Beast

multi story theatre’s adaptation of the classic tale harks back to mythical beginnings. The Spirit of the Moor transforms an angry young man who threatens her terrain into a hideous monster. It will take someone adventurous, someone with courage, to help him redeem himself.

The production was created to work within Covid restrictions to to provide an inclusive communal experience for our rural audiences.

Community Trails

A project in partnership with Devon Wildlife Trust working with primary school children in various locations across North Devon to explore their local area. Starting with the archive photographs by Ravilious and Deakins, we asked the children to consider what had remained the same since the photographs were taken and what had changed.

HERE | Uncovering North Devon

A three year project exploring the Beaford Archive, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund culminating in an exhibition of previously unseen photographs of North Devon by the revered photographer James Ravilious and Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins.

Hefted

A play written by David Lane, developed in partnership with Beaford. A story in nine scenes, hurtling through 600 years of life in the dynamic landscape of North Devon and beyond into the near future, it was inspired by Beaford’s oral history collection and work with local schools and communities.

Peddling Poetry

In the Summer of 2018, 10 ‘Poetry Boxes’ were placed along the Tarka Trail, the North Devon section of the Devon Coast to Coast Cycle Route. What happened next was an unexpected delight…Over 600 poems appeared in these boxes in just 8 weeks!!