About BAT

On Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th July 2022, Buxton held its sixth Art Trail as part of the ever-expanding Buxton Festival Fringe. The Trail aims to boost and promote the visual arts during the festival season and offers a rare opportunity to meet local artists and craftspeople, discuss their work and, in some cases, watch demonstrations. 

Location

The beautiful spa town of Buxton lies just outside the Peak District National Park. Situated in the north-west of Derbyshire, close to the Staffordshire and Cheshire borders, the town is also well situated for visitors coming from Manchester, Sheffield, Leek, Stoke, Bakewell and Derby. We are excited for a particularly busy post-pandemic festival season and being able to celebrate together again, this will be the first time since 2019 that many events have been able to operate. The restoration of the Georgian Crescent is also now complete confirming Buxton’s status as one of England’s most welcoming spa towns. 

History

Buxton Art Trail was founded in 2010 by a small group of local artists who felt that the visual arts had a larger role to play during the popular Buxton Festival Fringe. All their hard work paid off after successful collaboration with artists, shop owners and local venues resulted in a buzzing art trail on 10th & 11th July, 2010. Over 70 artists took part with more than 30 venues ranging from cafes and shops to artists’ studios and living rooms. In 2012 the second Art Trail was again a great success, as were the 2015 and 2017 events. Five out of six of our previous events have been awarded the Visual Arts Event prize by the Buxton Festival Fringe.

Our mission statement

BAT aims to promote Buxton as a centre of participation, innovation and excellence in the visual arts by organising the Buxton Art Trail, as the means to develop the practice and appreciation of the visual arts created by professional and non-professional artists.