Practical Utopia

Dartington Hall Was A Social Experiment Of Kaleidoscopic Vitality Set Up In Devon In 1925 By A Fabulously Wealthy American Heiress Dorothy Elmhirst (Ne Whitney) And Her Yorkshire-Born Husband Leonard. It Quickly Achieved International Fame With Its Progressive School Craft Production And Wide-Ranging Artistic Endeavours. Dartington Was A Residential Community Of Students Teachers Farmers Artists And Craftsmen Committed To Revivifying Life In The Countryside. It Was Also A Socio-Cultural Laboratory Where Many Of The Most Brilliant Interwar Minds Came To Test Out Their Ideas About Art Society Spirituality And Rural Regeneration. To This Day Dartington Hall Remains A Symbol Of Countercultural Experimentation And A Centre For Arts Ecology And Social Justice. Practical Utopia Presents A Compelling Portrait Of A Group Of People Trying To Live Out Their Ideals Set Within An International Framework And Demonstrates Dartington''S Tangled Affinities With Other Unity-Seeking Projects Across Britain And In India And America.