The Burton Art Box has been on tour during the month of July as part of our Burton Futures project thanks to funding raised through our Big Give Campaign back in March.
Over the past few weeks it has visited primary schools in Hartland, Bradford, Holsworthy and Shebbear, bringing cultural activities to over 250 children in rural communities across Torridge.
The Burton Art Box is currently set up as a working camera obscura – a magical illusion which walks the fine line between art and science by projecting an image of the outside into the box. It marks the advent of photography, but was used by painters centuries before as a drawing aid, and emulates how our own eyes work.
Following visits to The Burton Art Box, classes have made their own camera obscuras with the help of artist facilitators. These specialist workshops have been a welcome addition to the visits, allowing children to actively put into practice what they have seen in action in The Burton Art Box. The relevance of this to the National Curriculum has been appreciated by schools.
“I have had some super feedback from the children, all year groups enjoyed it and there were some wonderful links between the art and science curriculum. Thank you for bringing something so special to our little corner of the countryside!” said Jade Poole, a teacher at Hartland Primary School.
Burton Futures 2025-26 is funded via the Big Give Campaign and is based on The Burton’s belief that all children in North Devon should have free access to art and creative activities. It aims to remove economic barriers to ensure that young people can engage with world-class art as part of their education.
As school budgets are tightened, we are seeing an increasing need for our art education programme, but also a significant gap between schools that can afford art and creative activities and those that can’t. While exhibitions at The Burton are free to visit, it can cost a school over £300 to hire a coach to transport one class to Bideford and back – this is prohibitive for the many rural schools in this area.
In 2025-26 we raised £10,000 to support Burton Futures and allow us to bring The Burton Art Box to more rural schools, and fund travel bursaries for classes to visit The Burton and other cultural institutions in the area.
If you would like to support the next year of Burton Futures please get in touch at info@theburton.org
