Dover Arts Development funded for summer-long arts festival
The Festival is titled ‘You can reach the world from Dover 2023’
Dover Arts Development Ltd (DAD) has announced it has been awarded Arts Council England funding for a summer-long arts festival in Dover.
The festival will be the first of its kind in the town.
‘You can reach the world from Dover 2023’ will draw on the town’s vibrant artistic and creative community and showcase this talent around the world.
At the same time, it will explore the cultural life of the town in the widest sense, celebrating Dover’s rich history and contemporary life. It will also explore Dover’s remarkable landscape setting at the place where the Kent Downs meet the English Channel.
It will be forward-looking and progressive, building optimistically on the town’s future role within UK and international culture.
“The Festival is an enormously exciting opportunity to build on all our work since 2008,” says Joanna Jones, Director Dover Arts Development and Festival Team. “DAD has always advocated for the role artists can play in shaping the future of Dover. With ‘You can reach the World from Dover 2023’ we will be reaching out.”
You can reach the world from Dover will build on the success of DAD’s online-only digital arts festival held in 2021. Key partners of the project will be Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB) and The North Downs Way National Trail who, together, have provided additional funding for the project.
Starting in July and running until October 2023, the summer festival will include specially commissioned new artworks by internationally regarded, locally-based artists including Samara Scott, Richard Bundy and Anna Phoebe, Charles Holland Architects, Simon Bill and Joanna Jones.
Artist Nicolas Deshayes will curate two exhibitions as part of the festival which will also offer an extensive programme of events, exhibitions, workshops, talks, walks, performances and screenings.
You can reach the world from Dover 2023 will engage sites and spaces across Dover including the historic seafront, Dover Museum, the Market Square, the Citadel and Fort Burgoyne historic forts and outlying wards as well as parks, green spaces and wild places such as the River Dour and the North Downs Way National Trail.
You can reach the world from Dover 2023 will be supported by partners including Kent County Council, Dover District Council, Port of Dover, Kent Downs AONB, North Downs Way National Trail and the Land Trust. The festival will also partner with key local organisations including Future Foundry, Samphire Trust, The Citadel, Astor College, Dover smART Project, Dover Community Radio (DCR), Dover Big Local, St. Edmund of Abingdon Memorial Trust, Dover Creative Network and The Municipal Charities of Dover.
Full details of the programme and key dates will be announced in the coming weeks.
