Ashburton Arts Centre

After a decade touring with Midge Ure and India Electric Company and following his top 10 single, a reimagining of Fade To Grey, Cole Stacey shares his acclaimed solo album Postcards From Lost Places (listen on Bandcamp). Expect captivating stories, lyrical songwriting rooted in tradition, haunting melodies and a night of connection in a remarkable setting. “A magnificent sound” BBC Radio 5 Live

“Breathtaking, that incredible voice” TradFolk

Cole Stacey is a visceral and lyrical songwriter, singer and musician who has roamed the highest diverse echelons of British folk, 80s pop, spoken word and ambient electronics....

For thousands of years, man has shaped Dartmoor. Photographer Chris Chapman and archaeologist Alan Endacott have been studying life in this compelling upland landscape since the early 1970s.  From Chris’s work documenting contemporary residents, to Alan’s study of our prehistoric ancestors and the archaeology they left behind, they have fascinating perspectives on Dartmoor, its people and its places. 
Chris and Alan will be in conversation with Sophie Pierce. Chris Chapman is a photographer, filmmaker and author who has been documenting life on Dartmoor for over fifty years.  His new book Hallowed Earth: A Lifetime in Photography, contains over 200 images from his personal archive, as well as personal reflections, and highlights the social and environmental changes that Dartmoor is undergoing....

Field System presents an evening of May Day revels, beginning with a short film presentation by Stone Club and culminating in the raucous, dark folk of Craven. Join us for some wonderful and weird live music and visuals to mark that, indeed, Sumer Is Icumen In! Stone Club’s featurette is a fantastical exploration of the Cornish landscape, myth and magic....

What is the nature of contemporary witchcraft? And what role can it play in our modern world? Dr Rebecca Beattie grew up on Dartmoor and was trained in a Wiccan coven....

This talk is replacing the one which was originally advertised at this time, by Peter Randall-Page, who has had to cancel due to ill health. Please see explanatory note below. One of the most innovative artists working with place and pre-history anywhere, Robin Sullivan works with clay, stone and other materials to make deeply personal and engaging social artworks that bridge sculpture and performance....

The history of human activity on Dartmoor goes back more than 12,000 years, to the end of the last ice age. Here people have lived, farmed, worked stone and minerals, practised their religion and buried their dead. All these activities have marked the landscape in different ways, from the tombs and ceremonial monuments of the first farmers of the Neolithic age to the mining remains left behind by Victorian entrepreneurs....

What role does place play in our emotional lives? Join writers Fiona Robertson, Sophie Pierce and Kirsteen McNish for a conversation about the human relationship with landscape. In the turmoil of our feelings, from love, to grief and everything in between, why do we feel drawn to the wild and the ancient?...

Listen to Gwenno on Spotify
Gwenno's 2025 single, Utopia on YouTube
Gwenno will be performing solo. “Spacey, strange and richly melodic” The Guardian

Gwenno Saunders is a visionary artist whose eclectic career spans more than 25 years as a musician, songwriter, producer, and performer. Starting out with solo Welsh, Cornish, and English language EPs in the early 2000s, Gwenno went on to front indie-pop group The Pipettes before forging her path as a solo artist....

“Landscapes of the past are over. It’s the creation of landscapes of the future – however novel they may be – that are important.”  Derek Gow

Rewilding is a controversial and sometimes divisive subject; but what happens when it’s actually put into practice? And can we really restore nature and wildlife in a meaningful sense in a world we have fundamentally changed?...

How can poetry illuminate and deepen our relationship with the natural world? Join award-winning poets Jane Lovell and Mark Haworth-Booth for readings from their latest collections—poems that reveal a deep attentiveness to place, wildlife, and the shifting balance between wonder and loss. Through poetry and conversation, they explore what endures and what is slipping away, and celebrate resilience and wildness in a changing world....

Take a wild ride across Dartmoor with storyteller Sara Hurley. You will meet witch-hares and whisht-hounds, pixies, giants and Ashburton’s very own river sprite from this land of rugged rock and oak-sided valleys that is alive with folk tales. Discover the local stories behind familiar local places and enjoy some fabulous Dartmoor legends told by a well-loved Dartmoor based storyteller who will enchant you with her words....

Dartmoor’s precious natural environment is under threat: the bogs are drying out, purple moor grass is running riot, and gorse and bracken are encroaching. So how do we ensure that Nature has a future on Dartmoor? Farmers, conservationists, Government agencies and the public all have a role to play; come and hear some key figures discuss how we can work together going forward....

Join Martin Shaw for a compelling journey into the power of myth. In his new book, Liturgies of the Wild, he argues that a we live in a myth-impoverished age, which makes us vulnerable to harm. Drawing on the ‘ancient technologies’ of myths and initiatory rites, Shaw teaches us to read a myth the way it wants to be read, and shows us how to gather and reshape our own thrown-away stories....

Leonard Bernstein America from the musical West Side Story
Leonard Bernstein Simple Song from the theatre piece Mass
Elliot Carter Elergy
Bernard Hermann Suite from Psycho
Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings
Ernest Bloch Concerto Grosso for Strings and Piano Obligato

Paticia Calman, leader of the Lyric chamber Orchestra writes:

“We open in Bernstein’s New York with “America” from West Side Story — all razzle-dazzle and drive — before pausing for reflection with “A Simple Song”, Bernstein’s moving meditation on faith and humanity from Mass, written for the Kennedy Centre’s inauguration in 1971. “Next comes Elliott Carter’s Elegy for Strings — a hauntingly beautiful, lyrical work that unfolds with restraint and grace. Its interwoven harmonies evoke quiet mourning and deep introspection....

Ranagri is an award winning folk band from Ireland and England. With a unique blend of instruments that includes voices, guitar, bouzouki, flutes, whistles, harp/electric harp, and bodhrán/drums, they create a sound that is both mesmerising and unforgettable. Critically acclaimed albums, ‘Playing For Luck,’ ‘Fort of the Hare,’ and ‘The Great Irish Songbook’ (with pop legend Tony Christie), were recorded at the Grammy Award- winning Stockfisch Records label....

Liz Simcock has been called one of the country’s finest female singer songwriters. Her songs – often autobiographical and highly personal – are immediately accessible to audiences and injected with poetry, emotion and splashes of humour. In 1999
she featured on the Playpen Album of New Acoustic Music alongside Eliza Carthy, Billy Bragg, Eddi Reader and Kathryn Williams....

In Un|Earthed, storyteller Inez Aponte follows a fragile thread back through time to meet the mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers who carried her family to safety and freedom. When her search for her Surinamese grandmother's lineage met a dead end — a mere footnote reading "Of Non-White Descent" — Inez embarked on a journey to unearth the stories colonial history had wiped off the map. Seamlessly combining biographical accounts with reworkings of Surinamese folklore, she creates a new map of home, rootedness and belonging....

Adrien Brandeis’s music presents a colorful and finely nuanced jazz, allowing the pianist to stage a display of his contrasting musical influences: jazz, classical music, french impressionist and latin music.

Resurgence is his fourth album, released in May 2025.
Here he is playing, and talking about the music:

The artist has decided not to go ahead with this, due to lack of advance bookings. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you'd like to know about any possible future performance. "As an honorary New Orleans citizen, Pete will lead an outstanding eight-piece ensemble of talented musicians....

A special community screening
‘The People’s Emergency Briefing’ #PEBuk
What’s happening with climate and nature, and what does it mean for everyday life in the UK? Join us for a screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing - an eye-opening film for everybody bringing together nine leading UK scientists and experts with the latest evidence on climate and nature breakdown and why it matters for things like:
Extreme weather

Food security

Health

Cost of living
“….an opportunity for people to come together, hear clear information, and think about what it might mean for our community.”

The 45 minute film is based on the recent National Emergency Briefing in Westminster (featured by ITV, Channel 4 and The Times) with appearances from Chris Packham, Deborah Meaden, and a range of voices from across the UK. Here’s the trailer: 
youtube.com/watch?v=JaI-dHgh65Q....