Stapleford Granary
THE ASSOCIATION FOR CULTURAL EXCHANGE & STAPLEFORD GRANARY
The Association for Cultural Exchange is a groundbreaking charity established in 1958. Our founder, Philip Brooke Barnes, set up the charity to promote lifelong cultural education.
The spirit of change and optimism that characterised the late 1950s permeates our charity. Philip’s model of education was progressive and forward thinking. He believed in hands-on, experiential ways of learning. His study tours encouraged observation, discussion and debate, field work, curiosity, exploration and questioning. It was a model that moved away from a traditional, literature-based education towards a more socially-conscious one. For decades, ACE (as it is affectionately known) made it possible for groups of people with enquiring minds to travel throughout the UK, Europe and the world, to learn about art, architecture, literature, design, music and natural history under expert tutelage.
In 2009, the charity purchased Stapleford Granary in south Cambridgeshire as an arts centre ‘home’. At the same time, ACE Cultural Tours was restructured as a business (owned by the parent charity) and continues to operate its acclaimed expert-led tours to this day. With ACE Cultural Tours helping to provide financial support, charitable activity moved to Stapleford Granary. Now the owner of a beautiful building, the charity had exciting potential to connect with a community, build relations with regional and national partners, and establish itself as a unique, vibrant centre for the arts .
“I come here to be taken out of myself, to see from another perspective, to learn and feel inspired”
– Visitor feedback
The RIBA award-winning renovation of Stapleford Granary was masterminded by Paul Barnes, son of Philip. Today, it is a thriving, much-loved and admired regional arts venue, with an annual footfall of around 70,000. Through Stapleford Granary arts centre, we deliver the founding aims of the charity with the same spirit of progress, enquiry and innovation. Much of our programming mirrors the cultural themes of the Tours; art, music, literature, and the natural world. All of our work is underpinned by a desire to educate; to help people become and remain curious throughout their lives.
“Philip Barnes’ vision to help people become and remain curious about culture throughout life underpins all we do here at Stapleford Granary. It has shaped the way that the Granary has evolved over the past five years; it has helped us galvanise and attract wider audiences, open up the site in new ways, and punch above our weight with distinctive, creative programming. We want to give people lots of choice, to engage with the arts in the ways that suit them best, and to reach out beyond the walls of the building into schools and communities to ensure that a life-long cultural education is established from the earliest years”
– Kate Romano, CEO Stapleford Granary
Read on to find out more about our acclaimed concerts, exhibitions, discovery rooms and early years education programme: or visit the Stapleford Granary website.
