Our 2024 Recap!

From public art to AI, we have had a creativity-packed 2024. Here are some of our highlights across the seasons.

Winter – Spring

We started the year off strong, continuing our collaboration with Pride of Place (POP) Bedford to deliver various POP Art exhibits of art from local artists in vacant shop windows across Bedford. Artists included: Amanda Silk, Egle Khan, Charlotte Aldred, Conor Chesterman, Aiden Donnellan, Chloe George, Daryl Gilliam, Robyn Cayley, and The Circus of Illustration.

Then, in February, we supported the launch of Tastes Like Home, an audio food trail project exploring the cultural food and drink heritage of Bedford, a concept developed by Alex Levene and Radhika Aggarwal.

We also continued on our series of free online webinars, Creative Exchange events and our creative development sessions with our 2023-2024 Producer Hub cohort, in partnership with 1Degree East. The webinar topics covered in spring were: Budgeting & Fundraising and Equality & Diversity.

March saw the running of our Community Portrait photography workshops with photographer Catherine O’Donnell and various community groups, using state-of-the-art cameras provided by FujiFilm UK. In March, we also collaborated with LegalAliens Theatre to run theatre-making workshops for migrants.

In April, we commenced the Our Natural Blue Spaces project, in which we explored blue spaces in Central Bedfordshire with 4 different schools, and wrapped up our The Vault project, which invited locals to engage with an immersive mural game teaching participants about the history of Bedford. We also worked with Bedford Borough Council’s Family Hubs to brighten up one of their hub sites by commissioning artist Emma Barnie to co-design and paint vibrant murals with the families who use the Hub.

BCA was honoured to win Bedford Independent’s Everyday Heroes Award in the Raising the Profile of the Town – Team Category, as well being a Finalist for the Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce SME Business Awards in the Not-For-Profit category!

Spring – Summer

Summer was eventful for us at BCA. From running our Marketing & Communications Producer Hub webinar and Creative Exchange events, to producing more POP Art exhibits with artists Amy Ashton, Paul Kennet and Wai Chine Regine Ling, and running more Community Portrait photography and glass plate workshops.

Bedford company Aircraft Research Association Limited (ARA) commissioned us to develop interactive ARA merchandise to take to their May 2024 ‘International Symposium of Strain Gauge Balances”. We produced an interactive Lego aircraft that linked to our Reimagine the Sky mural and the wind tunnel in Bedford.Also in May, we commenced the Our Natural Blue Spaces workshops with Southcott Lower School, Edward Peake Middle School, Parkfields School and Thornhill Primary school. Pupils had the chance to visit a natural blue space local to them, before working with artist Kremena Dimitrova to create a map connecting the blue spaces, and a charter to help locals protect and enjoy their blue spaces. We showcased the map and charter designed by artist Kremena and the 4 schools across Central Bedfordshire in the Linslade Canal Festival in August.

We also participated in the Bedford River Festival, running clay workshops with artist Janet Reddy in the Arts and Culture area for our River/ Flow/ Connect project, as a continuation from the public picnic and art consultation we ran in July. River/ Flow/ Connect is a project that aims to develop resident engagement in Kempston, Queen’s Park, Kingsbrook & Cauldwell and Great Denham with the River Great Ouse on their doorstep through artistic installations and creative activity.

That wasn’t all we got up to this Summer! We also continued collaborating with LegalAliens Theatre to deliver more theatre-making workshops for a production called Tugging at the Sea, which was performed in Jacksons Lane theatre, London. We also commissioned artist Bern O’Donoghue to bring her DeadReckoning project to Bedford for Refugee Week, which a project dedicated to migrants and refugees who lose their life attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea in search of a better, safer life.

August also saw the launch of our The Book of Bedford project, for which we have invited artists Andy Field and Beckie Darlington to give children in Bedford the opportunity to tell us about Bedford as they see it, and create a guidebook of the town.

Summer – Autumn

We kickstarted Autumn with the showing of Tugging at the Sea, at The Place Theatre, Bedford. Not long after, we launched our Community Portrait exhibition to the public, at The Higgins Bedford. The exhibition explores the history of photography from 1840s glass-plate techniques, through to current digital techniques, and onwards towards to a potential future involving AI. It featuring images taken by local school-age children, Bedford College students, community groups and professional photographers, in the workshops we ran earlier in the year.

POP Art exhibits continued to roll out, with new artists including Alice Hibbert, Diana Gaglio, VIA, Karen Mangold, Laura Dove, Mo Rahman and Daniel Rayner. River/ Flow/ Connect workshops also kept going, delivered to different groups in Bedford and Kempston.

We ended Autumn on a high note – showcasing our AI exhibit J.E.S.S. at the BEYOND Conference in Salford, with AI artists Fergus Laidlaw and Arnab Chakravarty. J.E.S.S. is a part projector, part scanner Al model. Participants can select photographs taken by human photographers and feed them into the machine. An image-to-text model then translates the visuals into words. It displays them on a monitor for visitors to read. This collection of disconnected phrases and isolated terms then serves as a prompt for an Al text-to-image model to try to recreate the photograph.

This step-by-step conversion process – image to text to image – reveals stark contrasts between human and machine perception. It invites participants to examine the Al’s interpretation closely, exposing biases and stereotypes in its language. As viewers observe this process across various photographs, they begin to see how Al describes images and how its language choice shape the look and expression of its creations.

J.E.S.S. usually resides at our Community Portrait exhibition at The Higgins Bedford, if you are interested in interacting with her.

We were also grateful for our Programme Producer Ami to be the first to be featured in BEYOND’S Community Case Studies series. Read the article here.

Winter

Winter is a quite time of year for Bedford Creative Arts as our offices close for Christmas until the New Year. But, that doesn’t stop us from our mission of creating art with, for, and inspired by communities.

Our Book of Bedford project is steadily developing through the school workshops, in which children have been drawing to map out their local areas, and highlighting their likes and dislikes of the town.

Our Producer Hub cohort for 2024-25 was selected so we were able to commence the mentorship process for the 10 new cohort members. Our first online webinar took place this December, covering Project Management – the first in a series of upcoming workshops.

A Big Thank You…

We would like to give a big thank you to all of our funders, supporters and to the partners who have helped us make this year of art possible.

Thank you:
1Degree East
ARA Prototypes
Ashley Family Foundation
Arts Council England
Bedford Bid
Bedford Borough Council
Bedford College
Bedford Educational Association
Bedford Family Hub
BMK Waterways
Canal and River Trust
Central Bedfordshire Council
Cllr Caroline White
Cllr Mohammed Nawaz
Echo Chamber Audio
FujiFilm UK
Greensand Trust
Harnan Real Estate
Harpur Trust
Historic England
John Bunyan Community Boat
Kirkby Diamond
LegalAliens Theatre
Linslade Canal Festival
National Lottery
Overhear
Pride of Place Bedford
The Gale Family Trust
The Higgins Bedford
The Place Bedford
The Steel Charitable Trust
The Wildlife Trust
The Wixamtree Trust
UK Government
WordSetFree Ltd

As a registered charity, we appreciate the contributions of our funders abundantly, and the input of our partners to our projects and collaborations.

Support Us

As a registered charity we really do appreciate all the support you can give us. We often work with disadvantaged communities and therefore nearly all our activity is free at the point of access.

Your donation will help us continue to create art for, with and inspired by communities.