BEAF Arts would like to thank the generosity of all those who have made the 2023 Festival happen and who have supported us to create this incredible showcase of creativity.
BEAF Arts provides opportunities for artists, audiences and communities. We champion accessibility, inclusivity and affordability within the arts. As an innovative and independent organisation of freelancers and volunteers, we feel passionately that culture changes communities for the better.
Supported by Alice Ellen Cooper Dean Charitable Foundation, Alpine Foundation, Awards for All, Community Action Network, Dorset Community Foundation, Dorset Police, Henry Smith Charity, JP Morgan, Lottery Community Fund, New River Retail, People’s Health Trust, Recreate Dorset, Sovereign Centre, Sovereign Housing #iwillfund, Studio Roost and Valentine Charitable Trust.
Access
For information on accessibility at venues and events, please go to the website: gotbeaf.co.uk/beaf/accessibilitybeaf2023/
To ensure as many people can come to our ticketed events as possible, we have a ‘pay what you can’ system.
BEAF Arts is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our ticket sales go back into supporting our work, community and artists.
This includes ‘solidarity’ tickets for those who are able to pay a little more. Free tickets are also available to those on low income, outsider artists, asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants.
The festival is just one part of the work we do within the local community. We work all year round to create opportunities for artists and audiences. We give voice to our diverse community, as well as finding and encouraging the next generation of artists and arts champions.
We commission and co-create new work and find affordable places in which to experiment, exhibit, perform and stage events. We also create opportunities for freelancers, volunteers and people who want to work in the arts, opening doors for people, because we believe in a world where there are no barriers.
We believe people should feel supported and valued, whatever their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or gender identity.
All information was correct at the time of going to print, but please check the website for up-do-date and additional information.
gotbeaf.co.uk
2023 sees our most ambitious festival to date, delivering events that celebrate culture and creativity from the many unheard and underrepresented voices in our society today.
BEAF plays a critical role in supporting new creative talent, amplifying these voices through its year-round programme of workshops, events and activities, all leading to this incredible showcase presented across the ten days of the festival. This year we bring music from Soweto, films from Iran, photography from the Ukraine alongside powerful and moving work created right here in Boscombe produced in collaboration with our two key projects, The Outsiders Project and Seeking Refuge.
Since 2021, BEAF has invited an international artist as inspiration for our unheard voice theme. South African artist William Kentridge was our first invited artist, and this year the festival has been inspired by Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, and her work Turbulent, speaking of the global turbulence of the modern day. In her words, “I’m really interested in social justice, and if an artist has a certain power of being heard and voicing something important, it’s right to do it.” The work in the festival provides a unique platform for ideas to be shared, viewpoints to be discussed and concepts to be debated. We look forward to welcoming everyone to view, take part and enjoy.
#BEAF2023
Our pop-up arts space, Boscombe Arts Depot, B.A.D., becomes the hub of activity for the festival, featuring new theatre, music, film, writing and performance. This includes our first project commissioned as part of our three-year residency and commissions programme funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
I would personally like to say a massive thank you to all our funders and supporters, and the brilliant team, volunteers and helpers without whom the festival would not be possible.
Carol Maund Festival Founder & Director BEAF Arts Co
Fri 16 June 8.30pm - 11pm
O2 Academy 570 Christchurch Rd
Boscombe BH1 4BH
Age restrictions: No under 8s. Under 14s must always be accompanied by an adult over 18 Doors open at 8pm
BEAF 2023 kicks off with a party!
Music from Bantu Continua Uhuru
Consciousness (known as BCUC) brings incredible sounds all the way from Soweto. Combining a heady mix of indigenous funk, hip hop and punk rock energy, BCUC portrays the rich traditions, rituals and beliefs coming out of South Africa.
Supported by Harare, music from Zimbabwe. Harare features a groundbreaking line-up, with the richtones of marimba and mbira, swooping basslines, irresistible dance rhythms and uplifting vocals. Harare delivers a spectacular mix of Southern African musical styles.
“Without a doubt, the best live act I saw” – Gilles Peterson
“The most impressive new comers this year” – The Guardian
Tickets: Early bird £15 until 30 April. £20 thereafter.
Sat 17 - Sun 25 June 11am - 6pm
Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.)
616-622 Christchurch Rd
Boscombe, BH1 4BP
BEAF’s pop-up arts space, Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.) will host BEAF’s major festival exhibition this year. Boscombe World by artist Harold Offeh. Boscombe World, an exciting and original BEAF commission, is an adventurous visual and sensory installation, inviting curiosity and play.
“Boscombe World explores the area’s rich history as a seaside resort for visitors in search of health, recuperation and pleasure,” explains Harold, “brought into dialogue with Boscombe’s contemporary perception as a place for recovery, sanctuary and asylum.”
The installation invites visitors to engage with Boscombe as a place of healing and restorative care.
Harold Offeh is an artist working in a range of media including performance, video, photography, learning and social arts practice. Offeh is interested in the space created by the inhabiting or embodying of histories. He employs humour as a means to confront the viewer with historical narratives and contemporary culture.
He has exhibited and performed widely in the UK and internationally including Tate Britain and Tate Modern, South London Gallery, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, Wysing Art Centre, Studio Museum Harlem, New York, MAC VAL, France, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark and Art Tower Mito, Japan.
Until Sept 2023
Boscombe Precinct and Sovereign Centre
Sat 17 - Sun 25 June
11am - 6pm
Boscombe Precinct
627 Christchurch Rd
Boscombe, BH1 4AP
Spilling out onto the precinct, BEAF Arts has built its first Art Pavilion, an interactive space for workshops, performances, a game of chess or backgammon, or maybe just a place to lounge and grab a coffee.
Created by local designer Karolina Bilvinaite, from Bed Studio, the Pavilion combines work from artists and the community, making this a vibrant and colourful hub for the duration of the festival. Street artists Ninth Seal and Tech Moon and arts facilitator, Beth Brickman, have worked together with students from specialist education and training provider,
SWRAC to include a four-metre-high artwork, a cabinet of curiosities taking references from Boscombe’s past and future.
Tickets: Free, although some booking may be required
Sat 17 - Sun 25 June 11am - 1pm and 3 - 5pm daily
Every day the Art Pavilion will be hosting drop-in and bookable workshops. Over the Opening Weekend, join Keira Rathbone to create an exhibition of ‘typewriter eyes’ (page 7) or for young ones, watch the Buzztastic Bee-Balancing Blundershow (page 8). Plus, clay workshops, print your own T-shirt, wax-crafting, creative writing, and much more throughout the week.
Use the QR code to get a live update of the programme.
BEAF’s public art programme commissions permanent street art and temporary art projects to enliven the streets of Boscombe. The Flags of Boscombe project commissions an artist each year to create colourful and original flags and banners for the precinct and Sovereign centre. This year artist, Ian Wornast, from ActionSpace has created semi-abstract flags in response to Boscombe and its architecture. Ian has been mapping Boscombe’s history and the built environment around us through colourful mark making documenting iconic buildings in Boscombe. Watch out for Ian’s vibrant flags that will fill the streets in April.
Commissioned by Bournemouth Coastal BID
Sat 17 & Sun 18 June, 11am - 6pm
BEAF Art Pavilion and art trail
Join Keira in the BEAF Art Pavilion where she will create live typewriter artworks documenting the eyes of people in Boscombe. Keira describes her work as ‘typics’. In these sessions Keira will typict the eye and in doing so she will capture a unique moment of looking into each others eyes, connecting and listening.
Over the course of the festival, a collection of eyes will also fill the streets of Boscombe, creating a trail for visitors to find and explore.
Free event
Sat 17 & Sat 24 June
11am, 1pm & 3pm
BEAF Art Pavilion
627 Christchurch Rd
Boscombe, BH1 4AP
You may have heard of a Flea Circus, but what about a Bee Circus?! Come and take a closer look at one of nature’s most buzz-tastic creatures, the humble bee.
The Buzztastic BeeBalancing Blundershow
(Albina Magnificӑ) is a
new, family friendly show from Dorset artists Sophie Fretwell and Bogdan Babei. Born out of a passion for platforming the unheard voices of bees (they’re often very quiet and buzzy, and therefore easily misunderstood), The Buzztastic Bee-Balancing Blundershow show also highlights the struggles of a Romanian migratory parent to find his community. Prepare to bee amazed!
A closer look at…
Sat 17 June & Sun 18 June
7pm - 8.30pm
Boscombe Arts Depot
(B.A.D.) 616-622
Christchurch Rd
Boscombe, BH1 4BP
kid is a one-man show written and performed by Si Mack, writer in residence at The Outsiders Project. The show started in one of the project’s Lock-Ins. A man receives a letter and opens it to find that Social Services have a six-year-old boy in their care and they have been told he is the father. The show is a beautifully written story of that child and that man. It is a profound, dark and funny exploration of fatherhood.
Director Nell Leyshon Assistant Director/ Producer Jo Billingham16+ event.
Content warning: This performance contains strong language.
Please note: this performance is an alcoholfree space, no drinks will be served or allowed into the performance.
Our theatre in B.A.D. is part of our Safe Homes Network.
Tickets:
PWYC Tickets: £7/£12
Solidarity ticket £15 Free tickets available
Sat 17 June
12pm, 2pm & 5pm Royal Arcade, Sovereign Centre & B.A.D.
In Touch celebrates the memories of three girls on the Boscombe Hippodrome dancefloor on a night out in 1959. This multi-sensory performance show evokes a moment from the 1950s in Boscombe via music, dance, fragrance and one of our most overlooked senses: touch.
Join artists Francesca Baglione, Abi Cunliffe, Lorna Rees and Steve Nice as they lead you on an evocative and entertaining tactile journey to the past. In Touch includes classic dances of the era, such as ‘The Stroll, ‘The Twist’ and more, with opportunities for the audience to join in.
In Touch is accessible and fun, suitable for all ages.
The Outsiders Project is a BEAF Arts initiative, focusing on working with the unheard and marginalised communities in Boscombe. The vision is to show that people side-lined from society can write, perform and create work at the highest level. The Outsiders Project supports artists to push boundaries and to prove they can create authentic work of outstanding quality and worth.
The Outsiders Project runs a year-round programme
of workshops, ‘lock-ins’, and performances, and makes work in partnership with other like-minded organisations. Productions are shown locally and then shared with a wider world on tour.
The role of the project is to support the artists to give them a voice. They in turn, give other people their voice.
For more information, visit: gotbeaf.co.uk/beaf/ our-work/outsiders-project/
“A master storyteller”
Tom Robinson BBC 6Music
“An Essex boy Lou Reed”
Louder Than War
“Think Baxter Dury’s warped younger brother”
The Times
Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.)
Sat 17 June, 9pm - 10.30pm
616-622 Christchurch Rd
Boscombe BH1 4BP
Scott Lavene is a storyteller who can capture all the madness, joy and frustration of life while singing about worms writhing in the ground.
Lavene’s been in bands since his teens, but only really located the voice that makes his albums Broke and Milk City Sweethearts so remarkable – that
combination of wry observation, humble wisdom, unguarded vulnerability and unpredictable humour – in a music workshop for alcoholics and addicts, long after he’d bid farewell to childhood dreams of pop stardom, and the ghosts and demons that accompany those dreams.
With his stories, Lavene makes us all feel a little less alone. He’s that voice in our ear who always has a tale more weird, more tragic, funnier than our own, but in whose experiences we can see our own. Laughter, tears, madness and redemption reside within this magical songs. The full spectrum of existence. You’d be a fool to miss out.
Tickets:
PWYC Tickets: £10
Solidarity ticket: £15
Free tickets available
Mon 19 June 6pm - 7.30pm
Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.) 616-622
Christchurch Rd
Boscombe BH1 4BP
A monthly event for our outsider artists to try out their new work. Expect new writing, spoken word and music from unheard
Mon 19 June, 4 - 5pm
Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.) 616-622
Christchurch Rd
Boscombe, BH1 4BP
A rare and exclusive chance to hear from writer and outsider John Healy. Born in 1942, John became an alcoholic by his late teens. Forced into the army, he went AWOL dishonourably discharged onto the street, he spent 15 years in the violent subculture of a wino jungle.
Barbaric Genius (2011) Directed by Paul Duane, 72 mins
Mon 19 June 8.30pm - 10pm
Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.)
616-622 Christchurch Rd
Boscombe BH1 4BP
voices. Also expect strong language, uncensored stories and intense, inspired writing.
Director and producer Jo Billingham
Please note: This performance and John Healy’s talk are alcohol-free spaces.
During one of his prison sentences, he learned how to play chess and won ten major tournaments.
In 1986, living hand-tomouth on a council estate, he wrote his “savage masterpiece” The Grass Arena. The award-winning book was then made into The Grass Arena film.
Tickets:
Combined talk and film £8
PWYC single ticket: £5
Solidarity ticket: £10
Free tickets available
Sat 17 - Sun 25 June, 11am - 6pm
Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.) 616-622
Christchurch Rd, Boscombe BH1 4BP
Brendan Barry is a photographer, educator and camera builder whose creative photographic practice combines elements of construction, education, performance and participation.
Brendan is working with us at BEAF to create a large camera obscura in Boscombe Arts Depot. Over the course of the festival, you’re invited to capture images of Boscombe and the people within our wonderful community.
Portraits of Boscombe will become activated with daily activities where we can learn about each other through experimenting and processing.
Brendan’s camera obscura will remain at B.A.D. after the festival for ongoing projects and workshops.
Sat 17 - Sun 25 June,11am - 6pm
Boscombe Police Box Christchurch Rd Boscombe, BH1 4BT
Postcards from Prison is an exhibition made up of rarely heard voices from inside the criminal justice system. Following an open call-out, the exhibition has been curated by members of The Outsiders Project.
The final selection, displayed inside Boscombe’s Police Box, is part of the wider work of The Outsiders Project, where those with lived experience of the criminal justice system have been visiting prisons across the South and South West to deliver workshops and performances.
Developed in partnership with Koestler Arts
Sat 17 - Sun 25 June
11am - 6pm
Boscombe Precinct Studio Roost
635 Christchurch Rd
Boscombe BH1 4AP
Also pop-up van exhibition
Sat 17 - Sun 18 June
Boscombe precinct (outside B.A.D.)
For Clara is shaped as a letter to the future. A travelling pop-up van exhibition presenting a time capsule, containing stories, images, video and writing that is addressed to Anders’ imaginary great, great granddaughter. Large parts of the work
Sat 17 - Sun 25 June, 11am - 6pm
Boscombe Sovereign Centre, 600 Christchurch Rd
Boscombe BH1 4SX
Stories from a nation under fire. Stories from a nation made of hope, pride, and resilience.
When the war in Ukraine started, hundreds of thousands of civilians left their previous lives behind, and volunteered to protect their homeland. Who are these people? Is such bravery superhuman, or the most intrinsic
was created in collaboration with Nora, Anders’ daughter who is nine years old. It is their attempt to imagine a future where their descendant, Clara, finds herself living as a migrant.
For Clara consists of real and imagined stories, as well as documentary photography shot across Europe over the past decade. Anders’ work creates stories that works against the notion of ‘us and them’ and instead shows that, if we go back or forward far enough in time, we are all migrants.
Sat 17 - Sun 25 June
11am - 6pm
Royal Arcade Boscombe BH1 4BT
Selected from the BEAF 2023 call-out for commissions, this group show presents work from artists based or working locally in the area. The exhibition presents intertwining narratives and portraits past and present, responding to the festival
human trait there is?
Ukrainian photographer Julia decided to use old soviet prism lenses, along with her regular equipment, to make a powerful point. Instead of being broken, the country’s spirit has been multiplied. Defenders is part of a larger project called Being Ukraine, an initiative from creative studio Fine Acts, together with photographers Julia Kochetova and Mila Teshaieva, and studio WE BAD.
theme of unheard voices. Some of the works shown reflect stories of migration, while others represent how we identify, relationships and how we envision mental health in contemporary society.
Artists Corrianna Clarke, Maddison Collymore, Mark England, Sadaf Firoozi, Rose Leyshon, Mark Perry and Nicholas Teo.
Sat 17 - Sun 25 June
11am - 6pm
Royal Arcade
Boscombe BH1 4BT
The artists in the Access BEAF exhibition are a group of emerging artists from across Bournemouth and Dorset. The group was set up to support one another, particularly for those artists who have
experienced racism and may have faced barriers and access into the arts and education.
The artists within this exhibition are using the Royal Arcade as a test space to experiment, acting as a platform to share their work with a wider audience in a shared space.
Tues 20 June 7pm - 8.30pm
Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.) 616-622
Christchurch Rd
Boscombe BH1 4BP
Showcasing the very best of emerging talent from the area, Prime Cuts examines BEAF’s festival themes of ‘Turbulence’ and ‘Unheard Voices’ through the eyes of local creators.
Prime Cuts features a selection of short performances from
emerging artists, each using a blend of theatre, spoken word, song and movement to explore themes around identity, visibility and their place in a turbulent world. Join us and show your support to the next generation of voices.
16+ event. Content warning: May contain strong language.
Tickets:
PWYC Tickets: £7/£12
Solidarity ticket £15
Free tickets available
Wed 21 June
6.30pm - 10.15pm
Boscombe Arts Depot
(B.A.D.) 616-622
Christchurch Rd
Boscombe BH1 4BP
Land of Dreams (2021)
A political satire set in the near future where America has closed its borders and become more insular than ever. Highlighting themes of belonging, racism, trauma and surveillance, the film acknowledges the greatness of the American experiment while offering a warning beacon for what could come.
Looking for Oum Kulthum (2017)
A film within a film, telling the story of Mitra, an ambitious Iranian director working on her dream project, a film about the life of legendary Egyptian singer Oum Kulthum. Mitra’s film explores the struggles, sacrifices and the price of success of a female artist in a male-dominated society.
Tickets:
PWYC Tickets: £7.50
Solidarity ticket £12
Free tickets available
Thurs 22 June
6.30pm - 7.45pm
Boscombe Arts Depot
(B.A.D.) 616-622 Christchurch Rd, Boscombe BH1 4BP
Lady Unchained is a poet and author of her debut book, Behind Bars, about punishment, prison and release. Her mission is to prove there is life after prison. She is the founder and creative director of Unchained Poetry, an artistic platform for artists with lived experience of the criminal justice system.
Lady Unchained will be speaking with members
of The Outsiders Project about her extraordinary journey and experiences. Expect authentic stories and strong language.
“My life ended and began with a prison sentence. Those metal doors awoke the faith in me.” – Lady Unchained.
This is a 16+ event. Content warning: May contain strong language.
Tickets:
PWYC Tickets: £5
Solidarity ticket: £10 Free tickets available
Thurs 22 June 2pm - 4pm
Boscombe Arts Depot
(B.A.D.) 616-622
Christchurch Rd
Boscombe, BH1 4BP
Issa is an exceptional writer, performer and
supporter of creative work in the region. Issa will perform some of his work, telling more of his story, including how he went from being a school dropout and homeless to an exceptional
Sunday 25 June
3pm - 4.30pm
Boscombe Arts Depot
(B.A.D.) 616-622
Christchurch Rd
Boscombe BH1 4BP
Join us on the last day of the festival for a programme of short films by local and national artists, exploring themes of identity, turbulence and culture.
voice in the poetry scene. Followed by a Q&A
Tickets: PWYC Tickets: £5
Solidarity ticket: £10
Free tickets available
Tickets:
PWYC Tickets: £5
Solidarity ticket £10
Free tickets available
Fri 23 & Sat 24 June 7pm - 8pm
Bournemouth Foodbank
118 Haviland Rd Boscombe BH7 6HW
BEAF has commissioned Boscombebased dance company, Joli Vyann, to perform their awe-inspiring fusion of dance circus with participants of our Seeking Refuge Project.
Based on their original work Stateless, Joli Vyann fuses the energy of handto-hand acrobatics and Cyr wheel with graceful contemporary dance, creating a captivating style of physical performance.
Stateless explores the topical subject of immigration, humanity and tolerance, taking audiences on an emotional journey into the lives and fate of people forced to leave their country of birth.
The BEAF 2023 performance of Stateless combines voices from refugees with the experimental sounds from Japanese composer, Nao Masuda, playing live on the Taiko drums with Iranian musician Babak Barbod.
Content warning: Sensitive content
Sat 17 - Sun 25 June, 11am - 6pm
The Old School House (TOSH) Gladstone Rd Boscombe BH7 6BG
The Stories We Thread brings together all the voices of the Seeking Refuge project; the young unaccompanied refugees, the asylum seekers and all the men and women refugees who come to our weekly workshops, to create one large communal artwork. Using one of the
oldest photographic printing techniques, the cyanotype, a camera-less process, the work represents the stories and the journeys of all those who have fled their homes and communities.
Facilitated by workshop leaders, Heidi Steller and Maddison Collymore.
A closer look at...
Tickets: Pay what you can £12/£20. Solidarity ticket £25 and free tickets available.
Fundraising Event for the Bournemouth Foodbank
The whole ticket price goes as a donation to the Bournemouth food bank,the more you give the more we raise for their amazing work. Eventbrite’s fee is excluded in the donation.
Seeking Refuge is a BEAF Arts collaborative project sharing the hidden voices of people who have been forced to flee their homes. It provides a year-round creative programme, including the Thursday Threads textile workshop, weekly photography workshops, film screenings, a backgammon club and many more activities, all bringing refugees and asylum seekers together in a welcoming and supportive space.
Seeking Refuge is supported by: Alice Ellen Cooper Dean Charitable Foundation, Community Action Network, Dorset Community Foundation, Henry Smith Charity, JP Morgan, Lottery Community Fund, People’s Health Trust, Recreate Dorset and Valentine Charitable Trust.
Find out more: gotbeaf.co.uk/beaf/ ourwork/seeking-refuge/
Fri 16 June
BEAF Festival 2023
Opening Celebration 6pm - 8pm @ B.A.D.
BEAF 2023 Launch Party Featuring BCUC 8.30pm - 11pm @ 02
Throughout the festival Sat 17 - Sun 25 June 11am - 6pm (all day)
Boscombe World @ B.A.D.
Portraits of Boscombe @ B.A.D.
BEAF Art Pavilion @ Boscombe Precinct
The Flags of Boscombe (Public installation 2023)
@Boscombe Precinct & The Sovereign Centre
BEAF Group Show @ Boscombe Royal Arcade
Access BEAF @ Boscombe Royal Arcade
The Stories We Thread @TOSH
Postcards from Prison @ Boscombe Police Box
Defenders @ Boscombe Sovereign Centre
For Clara @ Studio Roost
Sat 17 June In Touch 12pm, 2pm & 5pm @ Royal Arcade, Sovereign Centre & B.A.D.
A Night Of Music and Stories 9pm - 10.30pm @ B.A.D.
Sat 17 & Sun 18 June
Eye Contact 11am - 6pm @ The BEAF Art Pavilion
For Clara 11am - 6pm @ Boscombe Precinct kid 7pm - 8.30pm @ B.A.D.
Sat 17 & Sat 24 June
The Buzztastic BeeBalancing Blundershow 11am, 1pm & 3pm @ BEAF Art Pavilion
Mon 19 June
John Healy in conversation 4pm - 5pm @ B.A.D cinema
The Lock-In 6pm - 7.30pm @ B.A.D.
Barbaric Genius 8.30pm - 10pm @ B.A.D. cinema
Tues 20 June
Prime Cuts 7pm - 8.30pm @ B.A.D
Wed 21 June
Iranian Cinema Evening 6.30pm - 10.15pm @ B.A.D. Cinema
Thurs 22 June
Lady Unchained 6.30pm - 7.45pm @ B.A.D.
Nature, Nurture… or both 2pm - 4pm @ B.A.D.
Fri 23 & 24 June
Stateless 7pm - 8pm @ Bournemouth Food Bank
Sun 25 June
B.A.D. Film Shorts 3pm - 4.30pm @B.A.D. Cinema
