The Dartington Hall Trust is a charitable company based near Totnes in South Devon.
The Dartington Hall Trust is a pioneering charity nurturing ideas to address pressing problems and working for the advancement of the arts, social justice and sustainability.
The charity delivers its mission on three levels:
- Directly, by developing and operating new initiatives that form the basis of Dartington's charitable programmes - including Schumacher College, South West Music School, the sustainable land use project Land Scope, Transatlantic Arts Consortium (TAC) and the social justice departments research in practice (including its core partner work within the Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People's Services) and research in practice for adults, and a new project to develop a retirement community on the Dartington estate.
- Supportively, by being a host for a range of self-funded initiatives - such as Ways with Words Festival of Literature and Ideas, the Dartington Playgoers and our successful year-round conferencing business.
- Indirectly, by providing inspiration and a place of reflection for people at important points in their lives
About Dartington
Dartington Hall sits at the heart of an inspirational 1200-acre estate in Devon and has a rich heritage as home of the 'Dartington experiment'. It was founded in the 1920s by Leonard and Dorothy Whitney Elmhirst and for over 80 years Dartington has attracted creative people from around the world, encouraging them to conceive, develop and test promising ideas. Such is the power of the unique surroundings, hugely significant and visionary work has been created and drafted at Dartington, including the post war Welfare State Manifesto and the new millennium restructure for the Arts Council.
Today's Dartington is as vibrant as ever, with a local, national and global reach and 13 charitable activities. The Dartington estate is also a significant tourist and creative attraction, offering an all year round cinema and arts programme, award winning conferencing and leisure breaks in the listed medieval courtyard and food and beverages in the very popular 'White Hart' bar and restaurant. Dartington also has an extensive retail arm, with the cider press shopping centre and Totnes bookshop.
