Dover Arts Development to launch six-month Digital Festival
DAD awarded £42,773 of funding from Arts Council England to develop a six-month Digital Festival of sound and visual content promoting Dover to the world as a place for culture
Starting in July and running till the end of the year, the DAD Digital Festival will provide opportunities for the growing number of artists living and working in Dover, as well as opportunities for community participation. The festival will feature sound, music, writing, photography and video work including a major new commission from Anna Phoebe and Richard Bundy, both internationally renowned musicians based in the Dover region.
Artist and writer Simon Bill, who has recently come to live in Dover, will be the festival writer in residence and, as well as writing a regular project blog, he will work with Dover’s writers, poets and historians and lead exploratory walks enabling fellow walkers to engage with Dover’s hidden treasures. DAD will expand its website to host these digital projects and experiences which reach out to the community through social media platforms and regular radio broadcasts.
Richard Bundy
A key component of the project is the continuation of the DAD RADIO programme, which has been piloted thanks to funding from Dover Big Local and Kent County Council. DAD RADIO is a partnership with Dover Community Radio (broadcasting via dcrfm.co.uk), curated by Dover-born artists Louisa Love with Louise Webb, aiming to provide a platform for sound art, music, spoken word and local conversation connected to Dover and its community.
Hazel Edwards, South East Area Director, Arts Council England says: "We’re really pleased to support the development of this exciting new digital festival thanks to National Lottery funding. It’s great to see that Dover Arts Development has been working so closely with both local artists and the community to put together a festival that celebrates Dover, provides opportunity and helps uncover Dover's hidden treasures – all through music, photography, video and much more. I'm particularly looking forward to hearing more of the DAD radio programme, a fantastic initiative to connect artists and creatives to their local community."
Anna Phoebe
Joanna Jones, who co-founded DAD with Clare Smith, said "We are absolutely delighted and greatly looking forward to developing DAD’s digital offer and helping to build greater creative resilience in Dover’s community.”
Louisa Love said: “Amongst the exciting artist commissions of DAD’s Digital Festival, we are delighted to continue DAD RADIO in partnership with DCR, as a new way to connect with our community, support local discussion and activity, and showcase to the world how much high-quality creative practice exists in Dover”.
The project will support Dover’s creative community and engage with current concerns and shifts in artists’ practices towards wellbeing, ecology, community and co-operation and has only been made possible thanks to public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England.