BEAF

The Lock-In
2024-06-18 19:00 - 20:30 (Europe/London) | B.A.D. Boscombe Arts Depot, 616-622 Christchurch Road, Boscombe, Dorset, BH1 4SX, United Kingdom
The Outsiders Project
Tues 18th June, 7pm-8.30pm, B.A.D.
An evening of brand new writing, spoken word, and music from our outstanding outsider artists.
The Lock-In was first created during the pandemic as a way for our writers to safely gather and share what they had been working on independently. It quickly became apparent that these evenings were more than just somewhere to read our work – but a space to connect, share ideas, learn from each other, and develop confidence in performing; taking our writing from page to stage. The Lock-Ins have now become an important part of the work we do, and have grown to a place where we are proud to welcome audiences. The pieces you’ll see are seeds of ideas that form part of much more ambitious work: One-person shows; Novels; Poetry collections; Albums. Anything is possible.
Expect new writing, spoken word, music, and uncensored stories from unheard voices.
The Outsiders Project Lock-In’s are funded through the Lottery Community Fund.

Disneyland in Dagenham
2024-06-15 19:30 - 21:00 | B.A.D. Boscombe Arts Depot, 616-622 Christchurch Road, Boscombe, Dorset, BH1 4SX, United Kingdom
Join born storyteller Scott Lavene on his UK tour supporting his upcoming album, Disneyland In Dagenham.
In the 1980s, the Walt Disney Company were considering building their first European theme park not on the outskirts of Paris, but in Dagenham, Essex. In his youth, Scott Lavene used to pick up drugs from a dodgy flat overlooking the proposed site. Disney and Dagenham were never a good fit, he thought, as he stood on the balcony one evening as the sun set, awaiting an overdue hash delivery.
It never happened of course – perhaps the multinational corporation were put off by the sewage works and car factories that Mickey Mouse and Goofy would have counted as their neighbours. So he recalls on the title track of his exceptional third album Disneyland In Dagenham, monologuing in warm deadpan over a wandering acoustic guitar. It encapsulates his conflicted feelings about the county he was raised in. “A cowboy kind of place, a bit rough around the edges,” as he puts it.
It’s changed a lot since then. Filming the video for the song, he and his sister took a drive around their old haunts along the A13. “The sewage works don’t smell anymore and they’re now calling Rainham ‘East London’, which is hilarious. It made me grateful for my past, for the shit we could get away with back then.”
“Full of great poignant, funny and sad songs that display the man’s great writing talents. At times he’s David Bowie, Syd Barrett and Ian Dury at the same time.” – Louder Than War
“Mordant, spivvy, pop-punk TMI gabble about the urgency and futility of it all from lyrical Essex motormouth.” – MOJO
“Think Baxter Dury’s warped kid brother.” – The Times
About Scott Lavene
Lavene is one of the original members of The Outsiders Project, performing in the first theatre production, The Vodka Hunters in 2019, and leading on the creative writing workshop programme. A born storyteller, through his records and his writing, Scott Lavene has long been populating a hallucinogenic world of his own creation with ne’er do wells, ragamuffins and eccentrics. With his exceptional third album Disneyland In Dagenham set for release this May via Nothing Fancy, Lavene heads out on the road again, having just done a circuit of the UK in support of The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn.
Content warnings – Expect strong language and references to drugs
Please note that this performance is an alcohol-free space. We won’t be offering drinks and please do not bring your own drinks in. Our theatre in B.A.D. is part of our Safe Homes Network.
Getting to B.A.D. Theatre
If you are coming by bus: Take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne, or next to Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. Walk along the highstreet and please come to the main entrance at B.A.D., directly opposite Costa.
If you are coming by train: Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk to B.A.D. Turning right out of the station, walk straight down Christchurch Road until you reach Marvo Mysteries Escape Room, where you will cross over onto the pedestrianised precinct and continue walking past Boscanova cafe to B.A.D.
If you are coming by car: You can reach us via the A35 and Ashley Road. We would recommend parking in the Sovereign Centre Car Park, from which you can follow directions to the highstreet where you’ll find the main entrance, opposite Costa.
Accessibility:
If you have any accessibility needs when it comes to parking or travel, please let us know prior to the event and we will do what we can to support you.
Accessible toilets are also available in Boscombe Sovereign Centre.

Open School Creative Launch
2023-11-15 18:00 - 19:30 | The Old School House, Gladstone Mews Gladstone Rd, Bournemouth, BH7 6BG, United Kingdom
Are you an artist living within Dorset or the wider South West?
Help us shape our programming for Open School Creative 2024 by joining us at TOSH for our launch night! We’ll be discussing what kind of support, workshops or events you would find most useful, with FREE snacks, drinks and activities.
We particularly encourage attendance from diverse and lesser heard voices in the arts, including those who may feel they do not have formal arts education backgrounds.
Please sign up to our mailing list at BEAF Arts Co or TOSH to hear more about OSC.
Open School Creative (OSC) is a creative development network for all artists and creative practitioners operating within Dorset and the wider South West.
OSC is a collaboration between BEAF Arts Co and TOSH (The Old School House) to support our community of artists and their artistic development at all stages of their career. OSC events and workshops are for artists interested in collaboration, skills development, community and networking.
TOSH is a creative community and coworking space, and is a Grade II listed building based in the centre of Boscombe. TOSH supports local creative businesses with workspace packages and meeting rooms, as well as free drop-in Cowork Club mornings and Creative Hub nights. TOSH also offers regular arts workshops to join, and is available for hire for events.
BEAF Arts Co is an open-access, multi-art form festival and year round arts programme based on the south coast in Boscombe, Bournemouth. We are an innovative and independent organisation of freelancers and volunteers, who feel passionately that culture changes communities for the better.
Image © John Saborido

Getting to us at TOSH:
If you are coming by foot or by bus, take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne, or the stop after Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. If you are coming by car we would recommend parking in the sovereign centre car park.
Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk from B.A.D. along Christchurch Road.
TOSH has accessible toilets and kitchen facilities. If you have any access needs you would like to let us know about you can email us at gotbeaf@gmail.com

Tattoo by The Outsiders Project
2023-11-02 19:30 - 20:45 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
Re-launch of our sell out 2021 show including some old favourites and brand new unheard stories. Expect strong language, uncensored stories and brilliant writing.
We are the originals. The outsiders. We scar our bodies to never forget.
Every tattoo has a story and these have never been heard before.
With stories from prison, the depths of addiction and recovery rooms – we tell the stories buried under ink and time. They’re raw, exquisite, fearless, and uncensored. Every word is written and performed by our outstanding outsider artists.
The Outsiders performances at the Kneehigh Asylum were the best things I’ve seen and heard for a decade. It has changed the way I think about the stories we tell. And that goes for every single person in the audience. –Anna-Maria Murphy, Kneehigh Theatre
This project is supported by Arts Council England, The National Lottery, PHT, The Alpine Fellowship, Sovereign Centre, BEAF, Talbot Village Trust and Recreate Dorset.
Please note this is a 16+ event. Content warning: Tattoo contains strong language and references drugs, violence and abuse.
This performance is an alcohol-free space. We won’t be offering drinks and please do not bring your own drinks in to respect the performers. The Outsiders Project vision is to show that people side-lined from society can write, perform and create work at the highest level in a safe space and supportive environment. Our theatre in B.A.D. is part of our Safe Homes Network.
Running time: 1 hour and 15 minutes with no interval.
Arrival time: Please note that the event will start at 7.30pm and doors will close by 7.25pm, we recommend arriving by 7.15pm.
You do not need to print your ticket, your name will be on our list.

Ticket info:
We want to keep prices to a minimum so as many people can come as possible, so we are offering a pay what you can system, as well as solidarity tickets for those who are able to pay a little more.
Free tickets are also available for those with low income, outsider artists, asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants.
BEAF Arts Co is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our ticket sales go back into supporting our work, community and artists.
Refunds:
If you can no longer make this event, then please contact us a week in advance of the event to request one. Refunds after then will not be accepted and please note Eventbrite’s fee cannot be refunded.
Access info:
B.A.D. is on the ground floor and has wide doors for access. We are currently fundraising to build accessible toilets, in the meantime accessible toilets are available in the sovereign centre.
If you have any access requirements please do get in touch with us at gotbeaf@gmail.com
Getting to us:
If you are coming by foot or by bus, take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne or next to Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. Walk along the high-street and please come to the main entrance at B.A.D. directly opposite Costa.
If you are coming by car we would recommend parking in the sovereign centre car park, then come to the main entrance on the high-street.
Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk from B.A.D. along Christchurch Road.

B.A.D. Cinema presents: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
2023-10-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
Harold is an ordinary man, living on the side lines, until he goes to post a letter one day… and just keeps walking

About this event: Doors open from 6.30pm, highstreet entrance to Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.) on Wednesday 11 October. The film will start at 7pm.
About the film: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, 2023, (12A) directed by Hettie Macdonald.
“This politely unassuming little film builds into a wrenching examination of grief, guilt and eventual closure.” The Guardian
Adapted from her own novel by Rachel Joyce. Learning that his old friend and colleague Queenie has terminal cancer, Harold (Jim Broadbent) sets out to post her a letter of condolence, but impulsively decides to visit her in person instead, walking from his home in Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed, and leaving his wife Maureen (Penelope Wilton) hurt and confused at home.
Language: English
Running time: 108 mins

Ticket info: PWYC Tickets: £5 / Solidarity ticket £10 / Free tickets available
We want to keep prices to a minimum so as many people can come as possible, so we are offering a pay what you can system, as well as solidarity tickets for those who are able to pay a little more.
Free tickets are also available for those with low income, outsider artists, asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants. BEAF Arts Co is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our ticket sales go back into supporting our work, community and artists.
Refunds: If you can no longer make this event, then please contact us a week in advance of the event to request one. Refunds after then will not be accepted and please note Eventbrite’s fee cannot be refunded.
Access info: B.A.D. is on the ground floor and has wide doors for access. We are currently fundraising to build accessible toilets, in the meantime accessible toilets are available in the sovereign centre.
Getting to us: If you are coming by foot or by bus, take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne or next to Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. Walk along the high-street and please come to the main entrance at B.A.D. directly opposite Costa.
If you are coming by car we would recommend parking in the sovereign centre car park, then come to the main entrance on the high-street.
Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk from B.A.D. along Christchurch Road.

B.A.D. Cinema presents: Name Me Lawand
2023-09-27 19:00 - 20:30 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
This empathetic and beautiful documentary follows a young deaf boy who finds his voice following his journey from Iraq to Derby.

About this event: Doors open from 6.30pm, highstreet entrance to Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.) on Wednesday 27 September. The film will start at 7pm.
About the film: Name Me Lawand, 2022, (PG) directed by Edward Lovelace.
“ A remarkable documentary.” The Guardian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Five-year-old Lawand is on a quest to find a world where there are people like him – people who will understand him. Since birth, Lawand has been profoundly deaf and unable to communicate with those around him. He undertakes a treacherous journey with his family from Iraq to Derby, home of the Royal School for the Deaf. But this new life soon comes under threat when the family face deportation. Along with members of the Derby community, they begin a new quest – a fight to stay in the place they now call home.
Employing a striking visual style that frames Lawand’s development, from being voiceless to a voice representing others in the Deaf Community, Edward Lovelace’s (The Possibilities Are Endless) documentary is an inspirational and touching coming-of-age story.
Language: English
Running time: 91 mins

Ticket info: PWYC Tickets: £5 / Solidarity ticket £10 / Free tickets available
We want to keep prices to a minimum so as many people can come as possible, so we are offering a pay what you can system, as well as solidarity tickets for those who are able to pay a little more.
Free tickets are also available for those with low income, outsider artists, asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants. BEAF Arts Co is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our ticket sales go back into supporting our work, community and artists.
Refunds: If you can no longer make this event, then please contact us a week in advance of the event to request one. Refunds after then will not be accepted and please note Eventbrite’s fee cannot be refunded.
Access info: B.A.D. is on the ground floor and has wide doors for access. We are currently fundraising to build accessible toilets, in the meantime accessible toilets are available in the sovereign centre.
Getting to us: If you are coming by foot or by bus, take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne or next to Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. Walk along the high-street and please come to the main entrance at B.A.D. directly opposite Costa.
If you are coming by car we would recommend parking in the sovereign centre car park, then come to the main entrance on the high-street.
Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk from B.A.D. along Christchurch Road.

B.A.D. film shorts
2023-06-25 15:00 - 16:30 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
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 related to this year’s theme of ‘unheard voices.’
Films by Zeina Aref, Khaleb Brooks, Asmaa Jama, Adam Lewis Jacob, Zanan collective and Andrew Vallance.

Film still – Zeina Aref

Tickets: PWYC Tickets: £5 / Solidarity ticket £10 / Free tickets available

Ticket info: We want to keep prices to a minimum so as many people can come as possible, so we are offering a pay what you can system, as well as solidarity tickets for those who are able to pay a little more.
Free tickets are also available for those with low income, outsider artists, asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants.
BEAF Arts Co is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our ticket sales go back into supporting our work, community and artists.
Refunds: If you can no longer make this event, then please contact us a week in advance of the event to request one. Refunds after then will not be accepted and please note Eventbrite’s fee cannot be refunded.
Access info: B.A.D. is on the ground floor and has wide doors for access. We are currently fundraising to build accessible toilets, in the meantime accessible toilets are available in the sovereign centre.
Getting to us: If you are coming by foot or by bus, take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne or next to Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. Walk along the high-street and please come to the main entrance at B.A.D. directly opposite Costa.
If you are coming by car we would recommend parking in the sovereign centre car park, then come to the main entrance on the high-street.
Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk from B.A.D. along Christchurch Road.

Boscombe World Tea Room
2023-06-24 13:00 - 15:00 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
Tara White
Join artist Tara White for a drop-in tea blending workshop, where you’re invited to create your own custom Boscombe Blend. We’ll explore the healing properties of tea, generations of tea culture and our inherited connections to different ingredients. Fill your tea bag with a variety of dried flowers, seeds, herbs and fruit, design your own label and enjoy your tea whilst sharing knowledge on the origins of your ingredients. At the end of the session, you will be presented with a tea identification card enabling you to reproduce your personal Boscombe Blend at home, to share and continue the conversation!
Tara White is an artist whose practice investigates layers of personal insight, embodied history and memory. They examine cultural connotations attached to objects to invoke alternative meanings.
Please note this is a drop-in workshop, you are able to come and go when you like. As spaces are limited we do recommend booking so we can facilitate you.
BOOK A FREE TICKET.

Stateless
2023-06-23 19:00 - 2023-06-24 20:00 | Bournemouth Foodbank, 118 Haviland Road, Boscombe, England, BH7 6HW, United Kingdom
Joli Vyann

BEAF has commissioned Boscombe-based, dance company Joli Vyann, who will be performing their awe-inspiring fusion of dance circus with participants from our Seeking Refuge Project. Combining voices from the refugees with the experimental sounds from Japanese composer, Nao Masuda, playing live on the Taiko drums with Iranian musician Babak Barbod.
Based on their original work Stateless, Joli Vyann fuses the energy of hand to hand acrobatics and Cyr wheel with graceful contemporary dance to create 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 soundtrack to Stateless includes spoken word excerpts of real-life interviews with refugees, which Joli Vyann have met and talked to about their experiences of displacement, and being torn away from their homes by political circumstances.
Joli Vyann, Stateless. Image ©️ Gigi Giannella
Stateless is a BEAF 2023 Commission
Based on the original performance produced by Turtle Key Arts for Activate and the PASS Circus Channel Project. Part of the European cross-border cooperation programme Interreg IVA (Channel – France England) co-financed by the ERDF.
Co-Directors & Choreographers: Olivia Quayle & Jan Patzke. Performers: Olivia Quayle, Jan Patzke, Michael Kelland and Jennifer Wilson. Composer: Nao Masuda. Set Design & Creation: Hannah Coombe & Natalia Maslanka (Arts University Bournemouth)
Content warning: Sensitive and distressing content
Please note that this performance has flashing and strobe lighting, loud noises and sensitive content including stories about migration and displacement.
The foodbank is accessible and has a lift.
Fri 23 & Sat 24 June, 7pm-8pm
Tickets: Pay what you can £12/£20. Solidarity ticket £25 and free tickets available.
The whole ticket price goes as a donation to the Bournemouth Foodbank, the more you give the more we raise for their amazing work. Eventbrite’s fee is excluded in the donation.
TICKETS

LADY UNCHAINED
2023-06-22 18:30 - 19:45 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
Performance Poet

Lady Unchained performs her brilliant work which illuminates her life and the world we live in. The performance will be followed by a conversation hosted by The Outsiders Project.
“My life ended and began with a prison sentence, those metal doors awoke the faith in me” – Lady Unchained
Lady Unchained is a poet, performer, award winning broadcaster, mentor, artist manager, TedXLondon speaker, presenter for National Prison Radio, and Co-Chair for NCJAA’s Advisory Board. Her mission is to prove that 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. She has hosted Unchained Night’s in partnership with Artsadmin at Toynbee Studios for five years, a night of inspirational storytelling through poetry and music. Lady Unchained runs poetry workshops in prisons and in the community in Women Centres to help women find their creative voice. She is the Lead Artist for the HMP Cookham Wood project in partnership with Icon Theatre.
Image ©️ Lady Unchained
Please note: 16+ event. Content warning: I am Lady Unchained may contain strong language and reference to adult content.
Tickets
PWYC Tickets: £5 / Solidarity ticket: £10 / Free tickets available

Ticket info: We want to keep prices to a minimum so as many people can come as possible, so we are offering a pay what you can system, as well as solidarity tickets for those who are able to pay a little more.
Free tickets are also available for those with low income, outsider artists, asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants.
BEAF Arts Co is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our ticket sales go back into supporting our work, community and artists.
Refunds: If you can no longer make this event, then please contact us a week in advance of the event to request one. Refunds after then will not be accepted and please note Eventbrite’s fee cannot be refunded.
Access info: B.A.D. is on the ground floor and has wide doors for access. We are currently fundraising to build accessible toilets, in the meantime accessible toilets are available in the sovereign centre.
Getting to us: If you are coming by foot or by bus, take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne or next to Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. Walk along the high-street and please come to the main entrance at B.A.D. directly opposite Costa.
If you are coming by car we would recommend parking in the sovereign centre car park, then come to the main entrance on the high-street.
Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk from B.A.D. along Christchurch Road.

Tell me you’re neurodivergent without telling me
2023-06-22 14:00 - 16:00 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
Myriam San Marco
Myriam will be talking about their writing journey and performing extracts from their first one-person show, Tell me you’re neurodivergent without telling me – an exploration of the neurodivergent experience and a critical response to neurotypical society. Myriam’s work explores the themes of mental health, addiction, neurodivergence, parenthood and how internal change can inspire a passion to fight injustice.
TICKETS: PWYC Tickets:£5 / Solidarity ticket: £10 / Free tickets available

Nature, Nurture… or both - cancelled
2023-06-22 14:00 - 16:00 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
We are sorry to let you know that Issa will not be able to join us for BEAF Arts Festival 2023.
The Outsiders Project is the proud leader of the Safe Homes Network, supporting unheard voices to make and perform their own work. We understand that at times projects have to be postponed, but we continue to work with our artists so they can develop their ideas in our supportive space.
However we hope you can still join us to see local performer and writer, Myriam San Marco on Thursday 22nd June at 2pm. Please book here.

Issa Loyaan Farrah-Kelly
Come and hear how Issa has gone from being a school dropout and homeless to being a brilliant voice in the poetry scene. He joins up street-land and art-land. Be inspired by his work, his beautiful voice, and his commitment to the arts and other voices.
The performance will include the story of his journey, and there will also be a chance to ask Issa questions.
Issa Issa Loyaan Farrah-Kelly is an exceptional writer, performer and supporter of creative work in the region. He is a keen supporter of the ethos and values of BEAF and The Outsiders Project.
This will be followed by a Q & A with The Outsiders Project.
Issa Issa Loyaan Farrah-Kelly. Image ©️ Dan Crisp
BOOK TICKETS
PWYC Tickets: £5 / Solidarity ticket: £10 / Free tickets available

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhyXjZvckIA

Iranian Cinema Evening
2023-06-21 18:30 - 22:15 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
An Iranian cinema evening featuring two films directed by Shirin Neshat & Shoja Azari, Land of Dreams and Looking for Oum Kulthum.

Shirin Neshat & Shoja Azari

Land of Dreams (2021), directed by Shirin Neshat & Shoja Azari – 110 minsLand of dreams follows the story of an America in a near future that has closed its borders becoming more insular than ever.
Simin is an Iranian American woman on a journey to discover what it means to be a free American. She works for the Census Bureau which, in an effort to control its citizens, has begun a program to record their dreams. Unaware of this devious plot, Simin is torn between her compassion for those whose dreams she is recording and a truth she must find within.
“The whole film is about this Iranian woman mediating between her Iranian past and the American culture she was raised in. But it is also about mediating between her interior life and external life, and dream versus reality. There’s a lot to do with crossing boundaries. Simin is a very strange character who doesn’t really belong here or there. For me, it was an interesting idea to develop. For example, her relationship to the Iranian community is only through social media, where she uploads videos of herself, but social media also furthers this distance. If you speak Farsi, you will understand that she has an accent, so she’s not really fluent in the language. But she’s also not quite American.” Shirin Neshat, Art Review article, 2021
Language: English, Farsi (with English subtitles)
Looking for Oum Kulthum (2017), directed by Shirin Neshat & Shoja Azari – 90 minsA film within a film, Shirin Neshat’s Looking for Oum Kulthum tells the story of Mitra, an ambitious Iranian director, mother and wife in her late 40s, who is working on her dream project: a film about the life of legendary Egyptian singer and diva Oum Kulthum (1904-1975), whose music and extraordinary personality are still loved by millions of Middle Easterners.
Mitra’s film explores the struggles, sacrifices and the price of Oum Kulthum’s success as a female artist in a male-dominated society. However, having left her family behind for her career and in the efforts to capture the essence of Oum Kulthum as a myth, a woman and an artist, Mitra’s own struggles blend with those of the singer as she finds herself caught in an emotional and artistic breakdown.
Languages: Arabic, Persian, German and English (with English subtitles)

Film timings:
6.30pm-8.20pm – Land of Dreams.
Short break
8.40pm – 10.15pm – Looking for Oum Kulthum

Tickets:PWYC Tickets: £7.50 / Solidarity ticket £12 / Free tickets available

Ticket info: We want to keep prices to a minimum so as many people can come as possible, so we are offering a pay what you can system, as well as solidarity tickets for those who are able to pay a little more.
Free tickets are also available for those with low income, outsider artists, asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants.
BEAF Arts Co is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our ticket sales go back into supporting our work, community and artists.

Refunds: If you can no longer make this event, then please contact us a week in advance of the event to request one. Refunds after then will not be accepted and please note Eventbrite’s fee cannot be refunded.

Access info: B.A.D. is on the ground floor and has wide doors for access. We are currently fundraising to build accessible toilets, in the meantime accessible toilets are available in the sovereign centre.

Getting to us: If you are coming by foot or by bus, take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne or next to Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. Walk along the high-street and please come to the main entrance at B.A.D. directly opposite Costa.
If you are coming by car we would recommend parking in the sovereign centre car park, then come to the main entrance on the high-street.
Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk from B.A.D. along Christchurch Road.

Rising Voices Special Edition
2023-06-21 16:00 - 18:00 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
RISING VOICES is a Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth production, directed by Dr. Aanka Batta, with Brad Gyori as lead researcher. Rising Voices is a poetry showcase of Dorset based writers of colour from across the spectrum of migration and immigration: asylum seekers, immigrants, second and third generation people of colour , and mixed heritage people of colour. The writers have developed their work through a series of workshops on decoloniality, covering topics such as racialized trauma, performing within coloniality and world literatures and languages.
While diversity representation in the arts in our area has been growing, the initiatives are almost never diversity-led. Rising Voices is a diversity-led initiative, with Aanka as director, who herself is an immigrant. The initiative is designed to increase visibility for writers of colour, poetic forms from other languages, and collective awareness building on matters of racial politics. Since its launch in Spring 2023, Rising Voices has already been booked by the Wilkswood Reggae Festival, Hope FM radio and received mention by the BBC Solent Radio and by Bournemouth Writing Festival.
In this special edition, Rising Voices brings an opportunity for Boscombe to hear poetry from local writers of colour, and engage them in a Q & A on their lived experience.
Come talk all things migration- in Hindi, Arabic, Urdu!
Please book a free ticket.
Listen to some members of the Rising Voices here on Hope FM.
Image credit – Aanka Batta

Prime Cuts
2023-06-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
Showcasing the very best of emerging talent from the area, PRIME CUTS examines the festival theme of Turbulence

Showcasing the very best of emerging talent from the area, PRIME CUTS examines the festival theme of Turbulence through the eyes of local creators. This event features a selection of short performances from emerging artists, each using a unique 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.
Produced by Jo Billingham.
Image ©️ Roz Pike
Please note this is a 16+ event. Content warning: This performance may contain strong language.

TICKETS:
PWYC Tickets: £7/£12 / Solidarity ticket £15 / Free tickets available

Future Worlds
2023-06-20 14:00 - 16:00 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
Anders Birger
“If there were to be a statue of you built in the future, where should it be placed? What should it look like, and what would people think of as they passed it?
On World Refugee Day, join Anders Birger for a workshop on your future.
How do we want to be remembered, and how will we be remembered?
In this workshop we will be exploring our future stories and imagine ourselves looked back on from a not too distant future. What will be your narrative, and what stories will be told about us by our descendants? Photographer and writer Anders Birger will lead us through his own work created in collaboration with his daughter Nora, and their imagined great (great) granddaughter Clara. We will work together as a group to create our own future image remembered by those who will come after us and find ways to manifest this image for ourselves as well as for those who will inherit it.
What will be your story?”
Anders Birger is an artist within BEAF Arts Festival 2023 exhibiting ‘For Clara’; a time capsule that consists of stories from our time dealing with topics such as identity, nationality, borders and trauma, and how these topics are part of deciding how we define ourselves.
‘For Clara’ is shaped as a letter to the future. A travelling pop-up van exhibition, that presents a time capsule, containing stories, images, video and writing, that is addressed to Anders’ imaginary great great granddaughter. Large parts of the work 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.
This workshop is free but booking is advised as spaces are limited. BOOK HERE.
For all our free workshops as part of BEAF Arts festival visit here.
Images ©️ Anders Birger

Barbaric Genius
2023-06-19 20:30 - 22:00 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
The remarkable story of John Healy’s rise from wino and street thief to chess master and award-winning author.

John Healy
The story of one remarkable man’s journey from street mugger and wino to chess champion and award-winning author, and how a single phone call brought him crashing down again. John Healy’s story encompasses almost every aspect of the human spirit, from violent intoxication to transcendent spirituality, as well as providing a social x-ray of British society from the gutter to the House of Lords.
Barbaric Genius (2011) directed by Paul Duane – 72 mins. Age rating: 15
Barbaric Genius film still. Image ©️ Glyn Roberts
Supported by Lottery Community fund.
Tickets:PWYC Tickets: £5 / Solidarity ticket: £10/ Free tickets available. Combined ticket with artist talk £8 / Solidarity ticket: £15

Ticket info: We want to keep prices to a minimum so as many people can come as possible, so we are offering a pay what you can system, as well as solidarity tickets for those who are able to pay a little more.
Free tickets are also available for those with low income, outsider artists, asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants.
BEAF Arts Co is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our ticket sales go back into supporting our work, community and artists.
Refunds: If you can no longer make this event, then please contact us a week in advance of the event to request one. Refunds after then will not be accepted and please note Eventbrite’s fee cannot be refunded.
Access info: B.A.D. is on the ground floor and has wide doors for access. We are currently fundraising to build accessible toilets, in the meantime accessible toilets are available in the sovereign centre.
Getting to us: If you are coming by foot or by bus, take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne or next to Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. Walk along the high-street and please come to the main entrance at B.A.D. directly opposite Costa.
If you are coming by car we would recommend parking in the sovereign centre car park, then come to the main entrance on the high-street.
Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk from B.A.D. along Christchurch Road.

The Lock-In
2023-06-19 18:00 - 19:30 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
The Lock-in is an ongoing monthly event for our outstanding outsider artists to try out their new uncensored work.

The Outsiders Project
The Lock-In is an ongoing monthly event for our outstanding outsider artists to try out their new work. Expect new writing, spoken word and music from unheard voices.
Expect strong language, uncensored stories and brilliant writing.
The Outsiders Project focuses on working with the unheard and marginalised members of the community of Boscombe, and the work is shown locally then shared with a wider world. We run workshops and the monthly lock-in, and make work on our own and in partnership with other organisations.
“The Outsiders Project is a genuine route into writing and performing for people who wouldn’t otherwise find their way into it. It’s a magic world for a lot of people. Especially people who’ve had tough lives. Lives out of the arts. Outside the enchanted wall. The Outsiders Project is about breaking the spell. Smashing down the wall.” Damian Le Bas, writer of The Stopping Places, A Journey Through Gypsy Britain
Image ©️ Caroline Beale Johnson
The Outsiders Project is a BEAF Arts Co project. Supported by: Lottery Community fund, Henry Smith, Dorset Community Foundation, Alpine Foundation, Sovereign Centre and New River Retail.
Please note this is a 16+ event. Content warning: The Lock-in contains strong language and references drugs, violence and abuse.
This performance is an alcohol-free space. We won’t be offering drinks and please do not bring your own drinks in to respect the performers. The Outsiders Project vision is to show that people side-lined from society can write, perform and create work at the highest level in a safe space and supportive environment. Our theatre in B.A.D. is part of our Safe Homes Network.

Ticket info:
We want to keep prices to a minimum so as many people can come as possible, so we are offering a pay what you can system, as well as solidarity tickets for those who are able to pay a little more.
Free tickets are also available for those with low income, outsider artists, asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants.
BEAF Arts Co is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our ticket sales go back into supporting our work, community and artists.
Refunds:
If you can no longer make this event, then please contact us a week in advance of the event to request one. Refunds after then will not be accepted and please note Eventbrite’s fee cannot be refunded.
Access info:
B.A.D. is on the ground floor and has wide doors for access. We are currently fundraising to build accessible toilets, in the meantime accessible toilets are available in the sovereign centre.
Getting to us:
If you are coming by foot or by bus, take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne or next to Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. Walk along the high-street and please come to the main entrance at B.A.D. directly opposite Costa.
If you are coming by car we would recommend parking in the sovereign centre car park, then come to the main entrance on the high-street.
Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk from B.A.D. along Christchurch Road.

John Healy Q & A - cancelled
2023-06-19 16:00 - 17:00 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
We are sorry to have to let you know that due to unforeseen circumstances this event is now cancelled.
However, following the amazing documentary BARBARIC GENIUS about his life, we will have a discussion about his work and life. Nell Leyshon, Artistic Director of The Outsiders Project will be joined by outsider artists Gary Pierre, who at one point led a very similar life to John.
A rare and exclusive chance to hear writer and outsider John Healy talk about his world famous memoir, The Glass Arena. John is going to be interviewed by Nell Leyshon, Artistic Director of The Outsiders Project.

John Healy was born in London in 1942. After a troubled childhood he became a boxer and according to his trainer the late great George Francis, ‘Healy at sixteen was a stylist with concussive power in both hands, he was tipped for the top but unfortunately it was drink in the end that carried the knockout blow.’
Already an alcoholic by his late teens John was pressed into the army and went awol – on recapture he was transferred to a penal battalion at a military prison. Dishonorably discharged onto the street he spent 15 years in the violent subculture of a wino jungle. During one of his prison sentences a fellow prisoner Harry Collins known as the Brighton fox taught him to play chess. Showing a remarkable aptitude for the game he won ten major tournaments. In 1986 living hand to mouth on a council estate at Kings Cross he wrote his ‘savage masterpiece’ The Grass Arena which won the Pen Ackerley Award, Europe’s top prize for literary autobiography. ‘One of the great works of the 20th century’ Mathew Sweet BBC radio 4. The book was made into a film and between them they have a clutch of major national and international awards.
The recent documentary, Barbaric Genius, about John, will also be shown at the festival.
John Healy. Image ©️ Paul Duane
Please note this is a 16+ event. Content warning: This event will contain strong language.
Please note that this performance is an alcohol-free space. We won’t be offering drinks and please do not bring your own drinks in. Our theatre in B.A.D. is part of our Safe Homes Network.
Supported by Lottery Community fund.

Tickets: PWYC Tickets: £5 / Solidarity ticket: £10 / Free tickets available. Combined ticket with film screening £8 / Solidarity ticket: £15

Ticket info: We want to keep prices to a minimum so as many people can come as possible, so we are offering a pay what you can system, as well as solidarity tickets for those who are able to pay a little more.
Free tickets are also available for those with low income, outsider artists, asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants.
BEAF Arts Co is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our ticket sales go back into supporting our work, community and artists.

Refunds: If you can no longer make this event, then please contact us a week in advance of the event to request one. Refunds after then will not be accepted and please note Eventbrite’s fee cannot be refunded.

Access info: B.A.D. is on the ground floor and has wide doors for access. We are currently fundraising to build accessible toilets, in the meantime accessible toilets are available in the sovereign centre.

Getting to us: If you are coming by foot or by bus, take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne or next to Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. Walk along the high-street and please come to the main entrance at B.A.D. directly opposite Costa.
If you are coming by car we would recommend parking in the sovereign centre car park, then come to the main entrance on the high-street.
Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk from B.A.D. along Christchurch Road.

Boscombe balms with Bones
2023-06-18 13:00 - 16:00 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
bones tan jones
In this workshop, artist bones tan jones will walk us through the process of foraging for local herbs and transforming them into healing balms for first aid, muscle relief and skin health, using a process that honours the pagan traditions of respectful foraging, planetary herbalism and sigil imbued vessels. Utilising the natural pharmacy that exists across Boscombe, we will learn with and from the herbs that know the land there better than we ever could. We will leave offerings of clay to the ground we forage from, before using alchemy to turn them into tools for healing.
bones tan jones is a London-based artist. Their practice is rooted in the desire for an alternative, queer, optimistic dystopia. Bones works through ritual and meditative craft to engage with nature, and create narratives that encourage audiences to think more sustainably and ethically. Recent commissions include the Shanghai Biennale (2021), the Athens Biennale (2021) and Serpentine (2019).
Images courtesy of bones tan jones. Images 1 (banner) ©️ bones tan jones, Fertile Souls, 19 November 2022, Queercircle. Commissioned as part of Back to Earth LIVE. Photo by Talie Rose Eigeland. Courtesy of the artist and Serpentine. Image 2 ©️ bones tan jones, Tunnel Visions, 2022. Courtesy the artist and Queercircle.
Pay what you can tickets

A Night Of Music and Stories
2023-06-17 21:00 - 22:30 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
Twisted ballads and odd pop from BBC 6 Music regular, Scott Lavene. Stories collected from a wandering life full of unpredictable humour..

Scott Lavene
A master storyteller, Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music

Think Baxter Dury’s warped younger brother, The Times
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, more funny than our own, but in whose experiences we can see our own. Laughter, tears, madness and redemption reside within his magical songs, the full spectrum of existence. You’d be a fool to miss out.
Image ©️ Scott Lavene
Please note: 16+ event. Content warning: A Night Of Music and Stories may contain strong language and reference to adult content.
Please note that this performance is an alcohol-free space. We won’t be offering drinks and please do not bring your own drinks in. Our theatre in B.A.D. is part of our Safe Homes Network.

Tickets:
PWYC Tickets: £10 / Solidarity ticket: £15 / Free tickets available

Ticket info: We want to keep prices to a minimum so as many people can come as possible, so we are offering a pay what you can system, as well as solidarity tickets for those who are able to pay a little more.
Free tickets are also available for those with low income, outsider artists, asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants.
BEAF Arts Co is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our ticket sales go back into supporting our work, community and artists.
Refunds: If you can no longer make this event, then please contact us a week in advance of the event to request one. Refunds after then will not be accepted and please note Eventbrite’s fee cannot be refunded.
Access info: B.A.D. is on the ground floor and has wide doors for access. We are currently fundraising to build accessible toilets, in the meantime accessible toilets are available in the sovereign centre.
Getting to us: If you are coming by foot or by bus, take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne or next to Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. Walk along the high-street and please come to the main entrance at B.A.D. directly opposite Costa.
If you are coming by car we would recommend parking in the sovereign centre car park, then come to the main entrance on the high-street.
Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk from B.A.D. along Christchurch Road.

kid - cancelled
2023-06-17 19:00 - 2023-06-18 20:30 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
Si Mack
We are sorry to announce that our one man show ‘kid’ from The Outsiders Project can’t go ahead for personal reasons.
The Outsiders Project is the proud leader of the Safe Homes Network, supporting unheard voices to make and perform their own work. We understand that at times projects have to be postponed, but we continue to work with our artists so they can develop their ideas in our supportive space.
In its place we are delighted to present the brilliant one woman show from Holly Spillar, Hole. Saturday 17th June at 7pm. Please book here.

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 our Lock-Ins.
A man receives a letter and opens it to find that Social Services have a 6 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.
kid is directed by Nell Leyshon, Artistic Director of The Outsiders Project, who has worked with Si Mack since 2005. Jo Billingham is the Assistant Director and Producer for kid.
Si Mack,Tattoo. Image ©️ Roz Pike
kid is a BEAF 2023 Commission. Supported by: Lottery Community fund, Henry Smith, Dorset Community Foundation, Alpine Foundation, Sovereign Centre and New River Retail.
Please note this is a 16+ event. Content warning: This performance contains strong language.
Sat 17 & Sun 18 June, 7pm-8.30pm.
Please note that this performance is an alcohol-free space. We won’t be offering drinks and please do not bring your own drinks in to respect the performer. Si Mack is part of The Outsiders Project. The Outsiders Project vision is to show that people side-lined from society can write, perform and create work at the highest level in a safe space and supportive environment. Our theatre in B.A.D. is part of our Safe Homes Network.
Tickets: Pay what you can ticket £7/12. Solidarity ticket £15. Free tickets available.
TICKETS

HOLE
2023-06-17 19:00 - 20:00 | Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D.), Bournemouth, BH1 4BP, United Kingdom
Holly Spillar
Join comedy writer/performer Holly Spillar in a muff-busting, musical mystery on sex, pain and the brain.
After a diagnosis of vaginismus (a condition preventing penetrative sex) HOLE showcases the determination of one woman to achieve the basic, beige sex life of her dreams, with only a little red loop pedal for company.
Once described as ‘Tim Minchin bumping into Kate Bush at full speed’ this tightly packed one woman show is full of unexpected advice from doctors, Joe Rogan obsessed boyfriends and a whole lot of holes.
Please note: 16+ event. Content warning: explicit sexual language and swearing.
TICKETS: PWYC Tickets: £10 / Solidarity ticket: £15 / Free tickets available
Images credit – Holly Spillar

IN TOUCH
2023-06-17 12:00 - 17:00 | Boscombe Precinct & Sovereign Centre, Christchurch Rd, Boscombe, BH1 4SX, United Kingdom
Miss High Leg Kick

In Touch celebrates the memories of three girls on the Boscombe Hippodrome dancefloor on a night out in 1959. This is a multi-sensory performance show evoking a moment from the 1950s in Boscombe via music, dance, fragrance, with a particular emphasis on 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 including classic dances of the era – “The Stroll’, “The Twist” and more…with opportunities for audiences to join in. This show draws on the memories of local girls Pat and Janet, who have shared their sensory stories from nights out at the ballroom, including the feel of petticoat netting, doing “The Twist”, and holding hands when asked to dance…
Accessible and fun, suitable for all ages.
Image ©️ Miss High Leg Kick
Francesca Baglione (Miss High Leg Kick) is an Olivier Award winning live artist whose work is characterised by humour, unusual approaches to audience engagement, a love of spectacle, and a celebration of the everyday.
In Touch is a BEAF 2023 Commission. Also supported by Colchester Arts Centre, Compagnie Nathalie Béasse, and Arts Council England.

Sat 17 June, 12pm, 2pm & 5pm (location varies) Royal Arcade, Sovereign Centre & B.A.D.
Free event

Sandra at the Boscombe Hippodrome in 1959. Image ©️ Miss High Leg Kick

For Clara
2023-06-17 11:00 - 2023-06-25 18:00 | Studio Roost, 635 Christchurch Road Boscombe Bournemouth, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH14AP, United Kingdom
Anders Birger

‘For Clara’ is shaped as a letter to the future. A travelling pop-up van exhibition, that presents a time capsule, containing stories, images, video and writing, that is addressed to Anders’ imaginary great great granddaughter. Large parts of the work 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.
The work consists of real and imagined stories, as well as documentary photography shot across Europe throughout the past ten years, from border regions but also from events as well as historical places. Anders wants to present an alternative reality, stepping away from the classic type of documentary photography and photo journalism that shows the lives of people affected at their most vulnerable. Instead by creating space and reflecting on migration and the treatment of migrants living on the borders of, as well as inside, Europe that is happening today. 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.
My hope is that by reminding people of their own migration stories there will be a greater compassion towards people living as migrants right now. Anders Birger
This is a travelling exhibition where Anders collects stories and images that will add to this on-going archive. To hear more about talks and workshops in the festival by Anders sign up to our mailing list.
Please note: The main exhibition will be at Studio Roost Sat 17-Sun 25 June.
The pop up van exhibition will be Sat 17-Sun 18 June at Boscombe Precinct.
Image ©️ Anders Birger
Supported by: Studio Roost
Tickets: Free event, no booking required.

Defenders
2023-06-17 - 2023-06-25 | Sovereign Shopping Centre, 600 Christchurch Rd, Bounemouth, BH1 4SX, United Kingdom
Julia Kochetova x Fine Acts

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 human trait there is? Along with her regular equipment, Ukrainian photographer Julia Kochetova decided to use old Russian prism lenses, making a powerful point. Instead of being broken, the country’s spirit has been multiplied.
Defenders, 2022. Image ©️ Julia Kochetova x Fine Acts
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.
Sat 17-Sun 25 June, 11am-6pm
Free public installation

The Stories We Thread
2023-06-17 - 2023-06-25 | The Old School House, Gladstone Mews Gladstone Rd, Bournemouth, BH7 6BG, United Kingdom
Seeking Refuge Collaboration
The Stories We Thread brings together all the voices of the Seeking Refuge project; the young unaccompanied refugees, asylum seekers, and all the women and men refugees who come to our weekly workshops to create a large communal artwork. Using one of the oldest photographic printing techniques, the cyanotype, a camera-less process, will act as a collage of images using plants from the UK, maps of people’s hometowns, countries and precious objects. ‘Thursday Threads’ weekly participants (an ongoing Seeking Refuge and BEAF project) have been working collaboratively to sew these stories together, embellishing them with gold embroidery, and presenting to us the stories and journeys of all those who have fled their homes and communities.
Alongside the exhibition will be a set of ‘painting with light’ postcards that you can purchase, produced by participants from Bournemouth and Poole College in photography workshops at TOSH. The words are inspired by their first thoughts of the UK when they arrived.
Thursday Threads workshop. Image ©️ Heidi Steller
Seeking Refuge is a creative, collaborative project sharing the hidden voices of people who have been forced to flee their homes. Seeking Refuge is an ongoing project that works with people seeking asylum in the UK and people that have settled in Bournemouth through ongoing creative workshops, such as textiles and photography, as well as working with locally commissioned artists.
Seeking Refuge is a BEAF Arts Co project.
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, Valentine Charitable Trust.
Facilitated by workshop leaders, Heidi Steller and Maddison Collymore.
The Stories We Thread is a BEAF 2023 Commission
Sat 17-Sun 25 June, 11am – 6pm
Free event

BEAF Group Exhibition
2023-06-17 - 2023-06-25 | Sovereign Shopping Centre, 600 Christchurch Rd, Bounemouth, BH1 4SX, United Kingdom
Corrianna Clarke, Maddison Collymore, Mark England, Sadaf Firoozi, Rose Leyshon, Mark Perry and Nicholas Teo.
Group exhibition presenting intertwining narratives and portraits from the past and present. Responding to the theme of unheard voices, some portraits shown reflect personal stories of migration and journeys, whilst others represent how we identify, relationships and how we envision mental health in contemporary society.
The artists were selected from a BEAF call out for commissions within our festival.
Image ©️ Sadaf Firoozi
BEAF group exhibition is a BEAF 2023 Commission
Free event

Images: From left to right ©️ Corrianna Clarke, Maddison Collymore, Sadaf Firoozi, Mark Perry, Rose Leyshon, Nicholas Teo
Artist Bios:
Corrianna Clarke: I’m a neurodivergent freelance visual artist and facilitator with specific experience in directing, animation and illustration. My practice is unified by my investment in local place and community spaces – how people of mixed abilities, backgrounds and needs are drawn together drives my desire to share meaningful personal and cultural narratives. Innovative art forms and sensitive, collaborative co-creation that actively elevates lesser heard voices and new talent forms the core of my work. With notions of the creative role as encompassing both tactile product and social process, I aspire to lead diverse audiences to engage with perhaps previously unfamiliar or inaccessible artworks. In raising awareness through conversations and participation connecting regional to national – whether animated, drawn, performed or curated – I hope to draw attention to what many would consider difficult, underrepresented or sensitive subjects.
Maddison Collymore: I am a Bournemouth based multidisciplinary artist with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Arts University Bournemouth, 2019. My practice is exploring dreamscapes or imaginative landscapes that are inspired by my Great Grandmother’s migration from India to the UK. I predominantly use drawing, collage and stitch to trace this narrative of changing cultures, new discovery and resettlement.The work I make is largely speculative with references to intersectional feminism, race and stories of science fiction that aid alternative ways of seeing or being in the world. Part of the creative process is playing with shadow landscapes, spilled pigment or multicoloured drawing techniques that allow the materials to begin the work. I tend to add collage and stitch to then highlight and attach my lineal references. Sometimes participation becomes a part of the work with moments for other voices to collaborate and engage with the process of making. Experimenting with control is definitely a part of my process and a looseness with materials or inviting interaction can take the work in unexpected ways.
Sadaf Firoozi: Having worked as an Art Director in advertising for almost a decade, the title of ‘artist’ does not fully encompass the practice through which Sadaf Firoozi now integrates installation, writing, performance, collage, painting, drawing, film, sculpture, and graphic design methodologies. However, it is the active, creative, traumatized, and expressive body that binds this diversity as a coherent and intelligent critique of contemporary life. The topics addressed derive from personal experience and the social issues that affect both the isolated individual and collective community. Although initiated by a negative viewpoint, the art-making process that follows produces a visualization to be analyzed and shared in positive ways. The stories being told are familiar but open-ended, raising questions in the minds of others. In this way, the audience looks to their own remembered relations and events for meaning. Although “Who are you?” can be met with a simple response, the physical, social, and cultural contexts in which the work is encountered are purposefully manipulated. Just as this artist interrogates her own cultural and geographical shift from Iran to the UK, the richly provocative outputs present shifting situations and narratives.
Rose Leyshon: Rose Leyshon is a figurative sculptor living in Boscombe. She trained in traditional casting methods in Paris and uses a variety of materials including plaster, ceramics, resins and, most recently, bronze. Through her work, she aims to represent the complexities and subtleties of womanhood and sexuality. She uses figuration to portray recognisable people and inspire empathy from the viewer. She’s influenced by artists such as Duane Hanson and Paula Rego for their use of realism and their humanist, political and feminist engagement.
For BEAF 2023, Rose has been commissioned to produce some new sculptures on the theme of “Unheard Voices”. She will portray a variety of identifiable, uncensored and compassionate portraits of the neglected, the tired and the dismissed. The work is intended for the most modest people of Boscombe: it will be amusing, touching and relatable.
Mark Perry: My creative practice is committed to exploring the signifiers of individuality/personality and the way identity is constructed, deconstructed or transformed through life experiences. Contemporary notions of the lens and its technological distortion are key to the gaze I manipulate. Images captured via communications technologies provide a starting point for sketches that are then reworked and edited in pursuit of an appropriate visual language. In this transition from mobile phone or laptop, to canvas or paper, observational representation’s evolve surpassing mimesis to become visualised interrogations of individualism. Within this I have a list of commissions that vary from Fan work to portraits, all of which are guided by the above notion of individuality and identity. To offer something that is observed beyond the representational, and as such deliver a personal reflection on the moment.
Nicholas Teo: Nicholas Teo is a Singaporean filmmaker & photographer now based in Bournemouth.
Currently pursuing Commercial Photography at Arts University Bournemouth, Nicholas’s practice revolves around fashion, fine art, and documentary work. Enjoying all kinds of image-making and describing himself as a “jack of all trades” creative, his work varies wildly in style and subject matter. But born with a curious mind and gentle heart, the common thread of exploring and advocating for social causes like mental health became more apparent in his work and he seeks to pursue this even more in the future.

Access BEAF
2023-06-17 - 2023-06-25 | Sovereign Shopping Centre, 600 Christchurch Rd, Bounemouth, BH1 4SX, United Kingdom
Access BEAF is 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 Sovereign Centre as a test space to experiment, acting as a platform to share their work with a wider audience in a shared space.
Access BEAF exhibition is a BEAF 2023 Commission
Sat 17-Sun 25 June, 11am – 6pm
Free event
Banner Image ©️ Elizabeth Walker. Images from top left to bottom right: Huda Osni, Salma Adi, Adilson Naueji, Elizabeth Walker, Lucas Militao, Prajvi Mandhani, Tracey Jane, Miles Bagarinao (animation) and Dr. Aanka Batta (performance video)

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Artist Bios
Salma Adi
Salma Adi is a conceptual artist, author, and art teacher based in Bournemouth. Her burning desire to answer the question of “Who am I? and How can I be here?” made her dive into analytical psychology to explore the depth of B E I N G, leading her to create art in different mediums that are mind-state conscious based. Art helps Salma evoke conceptuality and form a precise incarnation of complex states humans experience. Since art has significantly influenced her life, her mission has been to help people unfold their potential and create better life journeys. Salma considers her art as visual affirmations, which can be a self-discovering journey and a self-empowering tool to support people in their lives.
SALMAADIART
Miles Bagarinao
saltseashark (he/they) is an all-rounder, jack-of-all trades artist that makes silly TTRPGs, short video games, animations and illustrations for whatever medium suits at the time, recently making art about the transmasc experience. He creates heartfelt short stories of characters in extreme situations through illustration, animation and interactive media.
@saltseashark saltseashark.portfolio.site
Dr. Aanka Batta
Aanka Batta is a south asian born artist and activist residing in the UK. She explores migration, race relations and gender in her work. Aanka is a performance poet who combines theatre and poetry to deliver emotionally evocative experiences. She has performed at theatre venues nationally, and at conferences, festivals and demonstrations. Aanka is also a public speaker on political matters centered on race. She speaks at public sector meetings and also does case work in anti-racism advocacy.
Tracey Jane
Tracey Jane graduated from Exeter College of Art and Design and has painted in all media throughout her life. Now she concentrates purely on acrylics on canvas or wood. Since moving to Dorset from London in 2016, she has been inspired by the beautiful Dorset coastline and her experiences as an Argentine Tango dancer and teacher. Currently she is trying to express the energy and connection of people whilst they dance and also their relationship to others in the room.
www.bfmedia.co.uk
Prajvi Mandhani
Prajvi Mandhani works across video, sound, printmaking, and drawing. She creates multi-media installations through a blend of digital as well as material-led processes. She is interested in creating experiential works that contain multiple video screens and channels of audio.
prajvimandhanicom.wordpress.com @poetic_licence_
Lucas Militao
Lucas Militao is a Brazilian musician, digital and stencil artist. In love with arts in all forms, he was always interested in play and study different media, from visual arts to music, dancing and anything that he can use to connect to his emotions. He thinks art is necessary in human lives as it’s a way to understand your own feelings. Now a days the main medium used are digital and stencil art that he uses together to create his paintings. His stencils usually use strong contrasting colours due to the medium limitations, but it’s also a great way for evoking strong emotions. Lucas is excited about this new tools and think it will be great to inspire not only him but everyone in the world.
instagram.com/um_dia_posto_arte
Adilson Naueji
“Curiosity in from who, where from, and how they fell in and with surrounding…”
Adilson Naueji is currently based in Bournemouth, originally from Angola but more than anywhere African. He advocates that everyone has a story behind their facial features and is proud to introduce these people to the world. This is the foundation for his work: realistic portraits in acrylic or oil on canvas, this is his first exhibition experience but he has done several commissions.
Huda Osni
Huda Osni is currently pursuing a Ba (Hons) Film Production degree at Arts University Bournemouth. She is currently doing research on her own heritage and identity. She has always believed that films are a great medium of telling stories.
And spends a lot of her time watching films and analyzing them. She explains “It’s fun to watch people’s theories on the stories as well. I hope that one day I get to create a compelling and impactful story with the resources I have.”
http://hudaosni.creatorlink.net/index#HOME
Samantha Zandile Ngwenya
Samantha Zandile Ngwenya is a talented Bournemouth-based artist with a passion for shining a spotlight onto familiar, mundane and frankly “bog standard” subject matters. Born and raised in Bournemouth by her parents who emigrated from Zimbabwe, Samantha developed a non-stop work ethic that drives her artistic passion. She draws inspiration from the Renaissance work of Edward Hopper and Vilhelm Hammershoi, as well as contemporary artist George Shaw. By exploring the unorthodox, Samantha aims to inspire conversation and evoke feelings that transport you back to a moment in your own life. With relatability and community at the heart of her practice, there is no need to shroud her story with artistic jargon.
www.szngwenya.com @szngwenya
Elizabeth Walker
Elizabeth Walker was born in Zapopan Mexico and grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She now lives and works in the UK. She is a mixed media artist with her mediums including oil paint, digital collage, photograms, and photography. Her practice is concerned with combining the figurative and the natural through forms of collage that then spark compositions for oil paintings. Her oil paintings currently explore themes of memory, time passing, and diaspora. Her subjects are often family members or close friends as her work likes to explore relationships and human connection.
https://ewalkerart1706.wixsite.com/my-site-2 @ewalker.art

Postcards from Prison
2023-06-17 - 2023-06-25 | Boscombe Precinct, Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH1 4BH, United Kingdom
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 selected 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 southwest to deliver workshops and performances.
The Outsiders Project supports people with lived experience of addiction, recovery and mental health, TOP have just completed an extensive tour of prisons in the south west, delivering workshops and performances from members of the Project.
All postcard submissions will also be displayed on our website.
Boscombe Police Box. Image ©️ Ian Rathbone
Developed in partnership with Koestler Arts. Supported by Dorset Police.
Postcards from Prison is a BEAF 2023 Commission
Sat 17-Sun 25 June, 11am-6pm
Free public installation
