Ashburton Arts Centre

Spend a celebratory evening with York's best-established a capella group, The Barberellas, to mark the 75th anniversary of Dartmoor National Park. From folk to jazz, Eva Cassidy to Mama Cass, and their own songs telling the stories of their own connections to nature and community. Five women, five voices - nothing more is needed....

"Great battles of love and life all sung from the deep heart's core" (Mike Harding Folk Show). "Daria Kulesh and Marina Osman took it to another level. One of the best sets I have ever seen" Forty Tenth Promotions

“The very best of the best included an amazing set from Daria Kulesh and Marina Osman" FATEA Magazine

Daria Kulesh — "the voice of fairytales" — has been described by Mike Harding as “one of the finest voices and one of the most intriguing and interesting songwriters on the present folk scene”....

"Sarah Harris is a professional singer currently living in South Devon. She carved out a successful, full-time, performing career in Brighton over the last 14 years, singing at private events, recording sessions and being a firm resident on the Brighton Jazz scene. Sarah has worked with nationally recognised groups such as, Urban Voices Collective and The Dap Kings (backing band for Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones) She has also received vocal training with renowned vocalists, Kim Chandler, Dane Chalfin and Mobo award-winning Artist Claire Martin....

You might have been captivated by Miller's cover of The Masterplan in the latest series of Traitors UK (which saw the song Shazammed 2750 times in one week) or perhaps discovered her viral version of Nothing Compares 2 U or Wild Mountain Thyme which have a collective view count of over half a million views, but undoubtedly it’s her own beautifully crafted and confessional songwriting that will make you stick around for more. Watch her here on YouTube. Artifacts: A Live Performance Film

Long touted for her spellbinding voice and poignant lyricism, Emma’s music is relational, real and deeply layered....

Nine of Devon’s finest musicians present an evening of jazz heritage. This band has been put together by Exeter-based saxophonist Will Paley, who writes:

“Birth of the Cool: Live. Join us on Sunday 21st June to hear this seminal and rarely performed music, originally recorded by trumpeter Miles Davis and his jazz nonet, in the 100th year since his birth....

Award-winning multi instrumentalist/composer Charlotte Glasson brings her new jazz/world music project ‘Yellow Moon,’ to Ashburton Arts Centre. Charlotte Glasson, saxophones, flute and violin
Robin (William) Jones, guitar
Sam Dorrell, trombone and bass
Sudhi Ponyi, tabla and percussion

With influences from across the globe, Yellow Moon weaves melodies of silk and gossamer that spin and float on breezes as warm and smooth as a summers morning. Playing gently with the tones of flute, saxophone and violin of Charlotte Glasson and the nylon string guitar phrases of Robin Jones, this is music that seeks to transport the listener away to a landscape of endless indigo skies and burnishing sunsets....

In light of the current disconnect in the world, Amelia has created a programme to take the listener on a global journey to experience music that has a powerful way of connecting countries, continents and cultures. With her is one of the UK's finest accordion players, Mirek Salmon, who's played here before with Moscow Drug Club. Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/riviera-music-space/responso-troilo-for-bristol

The first set starts with folk tunes from the British Isles and then to Scandinavian tunes, where Amelia will play on a Hardanger fiddle....

Artists & their Relationships to Trees

Joe Webster is known for his fine art graffiti landscapes - and the monumental mural in Newton Abbot Town Centre. He is actively seeking to put voices of communities in artworks. Gordon Field is known for his Manifesto for the Trees....

Low Wave brings together an eclectic range of influences unified through a love of powerful rhythms and a collective melodic sensibility for songwriting that is both reflective and anthemic. The group picks up on a thread left hanging by the Seattle grunge pioneers and carried forward by the alternative desert rock scene to deliver a unique soundscape blending riff-based rock with a modern voice. Their debut EP ‘State of Mine’ was released to acclaim in 2024 attracting listeners around the world....

Zaid Hilal vocals/baglama,
David Mowat, trumpet

Zaid Hilal performed here at Ashburton Arts Centre in July 2025, and was superb. A very powerful performer – the audience loved it! – book early for this one

"Zaid is the musical ambassador for Palestine" Husam Zomlot Palestine UK Ambassador
Watch him here: https://youtu.be/MpiXMXQyzU0?si=4LFENYUww15yQlfh"

Zaid Hilal is a Palestinian singer, composer, and music producer from Bethlehem....

Trish Calnan, violin
George Roberson, viola
Jeremy Capey, cello

Mozart, Divertimento in Eb Major K 563
Beethoven, Trio in C minor Opus 9 no 3


Trish Calnan started to play the violin at the age of eleven and studied at the Royal Academy of Music with David Martin. She won many scholarships and prizes and continued her post graduate studies first in Freiburg, Germany with Wolfgang Marschner, and later with Helen Airoff-Dowling in Switzerland and London. Helen remains the formative influence on Patricia’s philosophy of teaching....

Songs you know played like you never heard them before, inspired by the global phenomenon that is Scott Bradley’s Post Modern Jukebox (PMJ). Well known modern pop and rock songs are reinvented and reimagined in unexpected ways to create something completely fresh. It'll include classics like ‘Careless Whisper’, and ‘Sweet Child O’Mine’ alongside more recent hits by the likes of Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa, Shindig plays songs you know but not as you know them!...

Arts-led Social Change

Catherine West, one of two UK artists in “The Creative Instigators Handbook” is the founder of Significant Seams, and has led numerous community-engaged art projects. She has worked at two international arts festivals and as a researcher on an Erasmus project called “Art & Social Change.” She is coordinating the Devon “If Trees Could Talk” programme. Clare Coghill was leader of Waltham Forest Council when they bid for and won the first-ever ‘‘London Borough of Culture” as part of an arts-led regeneration strategy....

Moor Poets is “a community of friendly poets based in and around Dartmoor in Devon” – for more, see moorpoets.weebly.com. This evening of poetry readings features Fiona Benson, reading and talking about her work, plus an Open Mic session. Fiona Benson PhD, FRSL, is a poet, teacher and mother....

The first Monday of each month starting at 7.30pm. Each session will open with a couple numbers from the house rhythm section before they invite guests to join them, and the jam session begins. Admission is £8 or £5 or £3 (or free if you need it to be)....

Swell Music Agency is so excited to bring the SLO County Stumblers to Ashburton Arts Centre in Devon. Abby from Swell writes “you won't want to miss their groovy fiddle tunes and stonking songs!”

“Old Time is alive and well in the hands of SLO County Stumblers who bring the drive and grit stringband music deserves. They strike the perfect balance of taking the music seriously without taking themselves too seriously....

Trees Within Us and the MicroBiome

Artist Andrew Carnie partners in research in neuroscience, biology, technology and visual arts. His "Winter Tree" project explores how the dendrite form in our bodies. The neurons in our brain mirror dendrite forms in nature; the tree in the landscape....

A new generation of young activists awakens to a powerful, forgotten chapter of women's history. As they navigate the complexities of teenage life and social activism, three young women - Poppy (16), Xanthe (17), and Evie (19) - discover the remarkable Greenham Common Women's Peace Movement. This groundbreaking protest saw 30,000 women stand resolute against nuclear armament forty years earlier....

Entrepreneurs, Creative and Green

Rachel and Matt Hayes are the architect founders of Folia Architects, an award-winning practice focussed on sustainable design and certified Passivhaus buildings. They emphasise natural materials and timber construction in bespoke new build homes, eco-friendly barn conversions and collaborative community spaces that connect to their landscape. Tim Craven founded The Arborealists artists’ collective (40 exhibitions and 9 publications to date) in 2013....

The Future for Trees

Sir Henry Studholme BT DL manages the Perridge Forest near Exeter. The forest was the joint winner in the All-England Woodland Resilience Awards 2021 and won the Duke of Cornwall Gold Medal for Resilient Multi-Purpose Forestry in 2025. The forest has been managed for centuries and has been a microcosm of Devon forestry, ebbing and flowing with the comparative profitability of agriculture and timber markets....