“We are overjoyed.”

The reaction of Carol Maund, Director, Bournemouth Emerging Arts Fringe (BEAF).

She was responding to the news that BEAF has received £40,000 from the second round of the government’s £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund.

It will allow the Boscombe-based organisation to run its popular independent arts festival this year and continue to support freelancers, artists and the local community.

Forty artists will be commissioned to create new work for the 2021 festival which will happen across Boscombe and online from June 26 to July 4.

Audiences can expect an exciting array of over 150 events during the festival week ranging from independent film screenings, to live performances and exhibitions alongside a full programme of workshops, talks and family friendly events, both in person and online.

This year’s BEAF festival theme is asking what it means to be human.

It is inspired in part by the work of the renowned South African artist William Kentridge, whose animated film Other Faces will be the centrepiece of the main exhibition held at the repurposed TJ Hughes store in the Sovereign Centre, now called Boscombe Arts Depot (B.A.D).

The doors open on May 29 with the first exhibition which includes a photographic project – Seeking Refuge – using images and words arising from the lives of refugees and migrants currently seeking asylum and living in Bournemouth.

Due to the pandemic, BEAF festival could not go ahead as planned last year.

However, the organisation has continued to create opportunities to encourage the next generation of artists and arts champions based in the area.

One of the community projects was delivered with partner Arts University Bournemouth.

The university is made up of staff and students from more than 60 different countries.

BEAF set a brief for Creative Events Management students to come up with an idea that would celebrate this diverse creative community.

The project resulted in an online exhibition giving recognition to the challenges that many of these students are dealing with in today’s multi-cultural world, with submissions from students across all the creative courses.

Two of the artists have been selected to be exhibited in BEAF festival this year as well as receiving a cash prize.

Supported by the Boscombe Town Forum and the Coastal BID, BEAF is also developing a series of street art commissions featuring international and local artists who will be creating large scale murals to add colour and life to buildings along Boscombe Precinct over the next few months.

Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England, said: “Investing in a thriving cultural sector at the heart of communities is a vital part of helping the whole country to recover from the pandemic.

“These grants will help to re-open theatres, concert halls and museums and will give artists and companies the opportunity to begin making new work.

“We are grateful to the government for this support and for recognising the paramount importance of culture to our sense of belonging and identity as individuals and as a society.”

Carol Maund, of BEAF, pictured left, added: “We are overjoyed to receive this much-needed funding that goes directly to continue our work in supporting our freelancers, artists and our local community.

“We are really looking forward to producing an exciting festival this year as well as working closely with our community to offer support in what has been a tough year for many.”

Visit gotbeaf.co.uk for more details.

BEAF can also be found on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.