We had a wonderful time at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum Lates event on Friday. The event offered an amazing chance to explore the themes of the ‘Dartmoor: A Radical Landscape’ exhibition more broadly, through storytelling, music, talks, art and dance. It has been an absolute privilege for the DPA to be lead partners in this important and inspiring exhibition.

This after-hours event celebrated the magic of Dartmoor, featuring live Dartmoor inspired folk-rock from Banned from the Moor, folklore influenced dancing from Beltane Border Morris and a contemporary performance from Swift Dance Company. Sara Hurley and Lisa Schneidau, two storytellers from Dartmoor, also shared tales of witches, mists, bogs, shapeshifting hares and, of course, Dewer – the Devil himself.

We had a go at the fantastic cyanotype workshop, led by artist Nicky Thompson, and were amazed by how chemicals and light rendered a perfect silhouette of bracken onto a previously blank page.

Exhibition curators, Lara Goodband and Kate Best, gave talks on the nuances that run though the exhibition, South West Peatland Partnership spoke about re-wetting the moor and our CEO Tom Usher gave a talk on the DPA’s current work and visions for the future.

It was magical to see Beltane Border Morris interpret the landscape through dance, and hear them explain how they draw on the legends and stories of the moor for inspiration. As a landscape very much shaped by human activity, and woven into human mythologies, the conversation between land and culture is ongoing and important. The whole ‘Dartmoor: A Radical Landscape’ exhibition is a celebration of the unique ways that people experience and retell Dartmoor, and the excellent attendance at the event is testament to the enduring pull of the landscape, stories and traditions which make up this special National Park.

Tickets to view ‘Dartmoor: A Radical Landscape’ can be booked HERE, and the exhibition runs until February.