Arts by the Sea Festival

2020 has been a strange and difficult year for many of us, and while we’re certainly not bringing you the 10th Anniversary celebration for Arts by the Sea we anticipated, I’m delighted we can present you with an exciting and safe offer of digital and live experiences delivered by an enormously talented cohort of artists and creatives.

It seems fitting that this year our theme is ’Journeys’. Most of us have been unable to physically travel far during lockdown and yet are still going though very difficult mental and emotional journeys. For me, lockdown has emphasised the value of the arts and I would guess that many of us turned to art, music and creativity to help us through these challenging times.

I’m immensely proud of the festival team who have worked tirelessly to design a new, safe festival format for you. The programme this year provides opportunities to reflect, and time to come together after months of isolation and experience something truly magical, hopefully with members of your friends and family.

I’m also immensely thankful to BCP Council and Arts Council England who continue to support the festival. Through them we are able to reanimate our town centres, bring residents of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole together, we are supporting our cultural sector with commissions to local artists, we are working with community participants towards an even bigger and better celebration in 2021 and we are bringing cultural experiences to our most hard to reach communities.

Lockdown has also taught us the value of you – our audience, and how important it is to be able to bring people together through shared experiences. I hope you find something in this year’s programme to bring you joy.