Melbourne Festival is a creative and performing arts festival in Melbourne, Derbyshire (not Australia sadly) which runs for two weeks starting this year on the 15th September. The festival starts with the Art and Architecture Trail 2012, in which over 100 artists exhibit work in houses, halls and churches around the area. They then have a series of performances and concerts over the following two weeks. The website says the Trail costs only £5 for a pass to enter all the exhibitions and says there is more information coming soon about what is on over the two week period. I would definitely be interested in looking what other things are going to be on offer when the information becomes available on the website, and it sounds like a very interesting event.
Access Creativity Theatre Arts (ACTA) are a group which hope to make the arts more accessible, and to encourage community and personal development through participation. There projects include not only theatre but also carnival, music, video, art and visual arts. They are based in Bristol, and offer a number of services to young people, neighbourhood arts projects and more. They have an event on between 26th March and 29th March 2012 which is called Coast. Coast is an international festival of Community Theatre which welcomes companies from Poland, Germany, Holland and more, to celebrate and explore the power of Community Theatre. They offer workshops, seminars and four shows with post-show discussions. The workshops include practical sessions with the international theatre companies, as well as discussions about how to get started in Community Theatre, why it is important, and who it benefits. This is the kind of thing that would be extremely beneficial to the work I am interested in. The cost is £55 for a one day pass, £100 for a two day pass, or £150 for all days, and £350 for all days plus accommodation. This is something I have to way up, as been as the festival is in a month, I don't think it would be possible this year, I also have to think about transport-so this might be something to save up for next year!
There is also B-ARTS based in Newcastle-under-Lyme who produce many create arts projects in the local are, not just theatre.
