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  Dorchester Festival

   

  There's no Festival in 2011 - but with Dorchester Arts' National Portfolio status, funding is confirmed for the Festival in 2012 and 2014. We'll be posting details of the 2012 Festival as they are confirmed.

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  Open2011

   

  Sat 28 May - Sun 12 June OPEN 2011 EXHIBITION Dorchester Arts Gallery Come and enjoy some of the best visual talent Wessex has to offer in this exhibition of work from the fourth Dorchester Arts Open competition in association with Evolver magazine.

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  Children's animation

   

  A team of artists and film makers from Dorchester Arts have been working with a class at Beechcroft St Paul's Primary in Weymouth to make The Sadness of King George - a race against time to save the Olympics. We now planning three follow-up films as part of the Cultural Olympiad 2012

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  Music Live

   

  Hundreds of teenagers in schools and youth centres are taking part in our two year youth music project - Music Live which runs from 2010 - 2012

Dorchester Festival Archive
Over the past ten years Dorchester ARTS has been at the heart of an extraordinary series of multicultural festivals in the county town. With the support of our funders and the wider community we have been able to bring a wonderful variety of international artists to Dorset to inspire and energise local engagement and participation. The links below offer a small taste of what we have been able to achieve.

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  2010 Festival

   

  Six extraordinary days in 2010 - 27th May - 1st June with more than 100 events attended by thousands of people.

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  2009 Fringe events

   

  Lack of funding meant no Dorchester Festival in 2009 but with support from the Town Council, community arts groups, cafes and businesses we put on a weekend of community fringe events entitled Moving On...
  
  Artist Tess Dickson worked with children in schools to create banners and headresses for Get you Skates on - a fantastic parade on wheels from the town's skatepark.

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  Inside Out

   

  Dorchester ARTS is a key partner in Dorset's festival of Extraordinary Events in Extraordinary places - Inside OUT
  
  In 2008 Inside Out launched the cultural Olympiad on the cliffs at Weymouth. It returned in 2010 with a series of amazing events in Bournemouth, Poole, Winspit and Dorchester
  
  

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  2008 Festival

   

  Arriba!
  
  Cuba was the theme in 2008, with son, salsa and samba adding magic to a high quality programme.
  
  The Festival included a great mix of popular and up-and-coming performers, many of whom played at free events in Dorchester’s Victorian pleasure park, the Borough Gardens.
  
  click the picture for more - opens in new window

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  2007 Festival

   

  The Seventh Dorchester Festival ... a stunning five days of 80 events across five venues.
  
  The Eastern European theme brought howling wolves dancing through Balkan circles, Sufi spins and Cossack kicks.
  
  Events were brought to a wider audience on the airwaves and via the internet with Dorchester Festival Radio

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  2006 Festival

   

  The Festivals “Big White Tent” became a state of the art auditorium for 500+ people for the biggest music and dance events the town had seen.
  
  Performances included the hugely popular Show of Hands, Baka Beyond and members of the Baka tribe from the Cameroon and a fantastic salsa band Duende from Honduras. We formed our own Festival Samba Band which led the procession.