Stream Festival Experimental Making

Tessa Gleeson – Autumn 2018

Eight years after its controversial closure ex-students had a celebratory festival – Stream – to bring the world famous Dartington College of Arts back to life.

Tessa Gleeson, a former student of the college, spent an afternoon at Arts Lab using the space to experiment with a piece she had been working on during her final year as a student.

Festival organiser Sarah Gray, Director of Soundart Radio, who was the last Student Union President at the college has said: 

‘The closure of the college was heartbreaking and caused a wound that many feels need healing. Since the college left, the local area has changed a lot. The Dartington Hall Estate and even Totnes town at first felt quiet, grey and ghost-like compared to the lively, vibrant atmosphere created by hundreds of young artists and musicians. There has been a lot of anger and sadness among people who went to the college and even those who didn’t.

Years later, after an organisational change at Dartington Hall Trust, it felt like the right time for this reunion to happen. There’s a sense that the Trust is more permissive and celebratory of its rich educational heritage.’