ONE of the greatest black and white film comedies is part of the entertainment at a glittering fund-raising gala for Dorchester Arts at the town’s Corn Exchange on Friday 28th January. It may be cold outside, but inside it’s prohibition era and the mob is closing in … Billy Wilder’s 1959 film Some Like It…
SHAFTESBURY and the surrounding area will get its own community radio station, following news that the broadcasting regulator Ofcom has awarded a licence to the not-for-profit Alfred podcast. The decision means that Alfred, which has been creating online radio-style programmes or podcasts for the past couple of years, will soon be available on FM radio,…
THE Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis celebrated its 125th birthday in 2019. It was a very good year, says director Gabby Rabbits, looking back on anniversary events which included a new community play and a one-man show with Sir Ian McKellen. The year ended with a party to say thank you to everyone who donated…
SHAFTESBURY Fringe Festival 2020 is open for registration, with a repeat of last year’s early booking discount for performers. For this year’s event, from 3rd to 5th July, the organisers hope to transform the High Street into a public performance and visual art space. Co-chairman Rob Neely is urging members of Shaftesbury’s artistic community to…
BATH Festivals will be joining the worldwide celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven, staging a series of six concerts of the composer’s entire cycle of 16 string quartets. Three of the concerts will take place in March, with three more in May, during the main festival, forming part of a global…
THE 2020 series of Concerts in the West marks the 15th anniversary of the music charity that brings rising stars of the chamber music scene to venues in Dorset, Somerset and Devon, from 17th January to 7th November 2020. There are three new venues in addition to the regular performance spaces, Bridport and Ilminster Arts…
ARTSREACH, Dorset’s rural touring arts charity, is 30 in 2020 and will be celebrating the anniversary with a varied programme, including the first visit to Dorset by Shakespeare’s Globe theatre company, bringing three of the most popular comedies. The special birthday events begin with a barn dance at Ashton Barn near Martinstown on Friday 20th…
JACK Thacker, who teaches English at Bristol University, is the new writer-in-residence at Poole’s Lighthouse centre for the arts. Over the course of the next year Jack will absorb all aspects of life at the arts centre and respond to what he hears and sees before publishing his work through the writer development agency, Artfulscribe,…
DORCHESTER Community Play Association has received a grant of £14,000 from Arts Council England towards the cost of staging next year’s seventh community play, Spinning the Moon. The grant will go a long way to financing the play, although the fundraising effort doesn’t stop here – DCPA will still need to raise a lot more…
POOLE’s Lighthouse arts centre has launched a Friends scheme to enable loyal audiences to play a greater role in its work as a charity. The new organisation will raise funds to help the UK’s largest regional arts centre to run its rich and exciting artistic programme, and will provide greater opportunities for all sections of…