Beatafarm Creative Residency

The Beatabet Collective run an extended artistic residency programme for 3 months every summer. Beatafarm takes place in an isolated converted farmhouse high in the Massif Centrale, France. The project provides an excellent opportunity to concentrate and expand the group’s creative practices, creating new work through collaboration and experimentation.
A rotating group of 10-15 artists (at any one time) live and work together in an isolated converted farmhouse. In the past the Beatafarm has hosted visual artists, video directors, web artists, live and physical theatre artists, all types of instrumentalists, slam poets, trapeze artists, sound designers and more. The centre benefits from:

• 2 Recording studios
• Video editing equipment
• Countless instruments
• Art materials
• Workshop space
• Wireless broadband connection

Participants are encouraged to share skills and explore their own practice through the development of new material both collaboratively and through individual expression. The backbone of the schedule comprises of group workshops, group criticism sessions, improvisation sessions and creative games. The vibrant working atmosphere on the farm is thus a result of this on-going, friendly and open collective discussion, and the project runs at its optimum when levels of interaction are at their highest.

The project is co-ordinated by three to five Beatabet members, but is in principle non-hierachical and participant-led, thus giving the Artists the maximum amount of flexibility to make use of the time, space and company how best fits them. Over the years we have been working hard to fine tune the project.

Feedback from participants:

“Beatafarm has seriously become the creative highlight of my year” N. Wilsdon, returning participant.

“Would it be crass of me to say that it was absolutely f***ing brilliant?” M. Hawkins, new participant who applied through the Arts Council's Arts Jobs mailing list.

“It’s a fantastic relaxed environment for creativity. The people involved are also a great strength, being, in my experience, a very energetic and lovely bunch of folk. The dedication of the organisers is great too.” D. O'Brien, returning participant.

Application for Beatafarm 2010 will open in february 2010; if you are interested in finding out more, or would like to be put on the mailing list for application packs then please email beatabetinfo@gmail.com with 'Beatafarm 2010' in the title.