Dartington Arts

The Summer School fosters a unique community of professional, student and amateur musicians, all sharing a commitment to learning and music development. Since 1953, it has taken over the Dartington estate for four weeks every summer.

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Our 15th century Barn Cinema was converted to an auditorium by architects Walter Gropius (founder of the Bauhaus movement) and Robert Hening in the 1930s. It offers a year-round programme of the best in international independent film – from popular blockbusters to the classics – alongside event cinema from some of the finest international performance venues, with something for film lovers of all ages.

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Artist residency and public performances make up Dartington Live: a programme international in outlook that is collaborating with a wide range of artists and companies to develop and present new work here. We see Dartington Live as a catalyst for a culture of change, encouraging the growth of artists and creative ideas and developing exceptional artistic experiences with and for people.

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Residency and partnership form the basis of the contemporary visual arts at Dartington, which is currently in development.  Our Aller Park building is home to a collective of contemporary artists who curate events and opportunities to engage with their practice; art.earth leads on the curation of events and exhibition at Space Gallery with a particularly focus on ecological themes and inspiration; Arts Lab runs a series of workshops, events and exhibition at Space Studio 20, and we work with local and young artists to exhibit in The Green Table café.

We work to support local arts organisations and help them flourish. Some of these relationships have been in place for many decades, having had their genesis in the era of our founders, Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst – such as Dartington Community Choir and The Dartington Playgoers. Some partnerships have their roots in the contemporary history of Dartington College of Arts, with SoundArt Radio and Devon Baroque amongst these. Our more recent partnerships aim to serve our creative community by supporting local arts organisations – such as Arts Lab, art.earth, Dance in Devon, Devon Theatre Club and Totnes Early Music Society.

It is possible to hire our studios for workshops and events. Please see our venue pages for further information. Information about workshops and events presented by third parties can be found within our ‘What’s On’ events listings.