History of BCA
Bedford Creative Arts was originally established in 1985 as ‘Community Arts in Bedford’. It grew out of project work by Bedfordshire County Council then Bedford Borough Council's Arts Development department. Work included dance, drama, carnival, circus skills, textiles, community murals and crafts and evolved into a series of community plays, projects and arts festivals. Over the years a core team of project workers developed specialist skills in photography, film and animation. Until 2007 the core education/community work of the organisation was based at The Gatehouse in Foster Hill Road, Bedford.
The ‘Image Gallery’ was opened by the organisation in 2001, in a disused council building (which once housed the Dan Sullivan gallery), as a temporary space to show the results of a residency by artist and filmmaker Mike Stubbs, hosted as part of the Year of the Artist. A positive public response encouraged its development into a permanent gallery with new media facilities and a larger darkroom. The gallery was rebranded as BCA Gallery in 2003.
Following extensive public consultation during 2006, BCA moved both its gallery and community education programmes into new, commercial premises on Bedford's High Street in September 2007. This addressed the need for the organisation to have larger facilities, particularly for educational activities on site and to support higher quality visits with additional space for a children's area, resource area, coffee machine, etc. BCA became ‘regularly funded’ by the Arts Council in February 2008, in recognition of its growing reputation for excellent exhibitions and engagement work.