Activate Performing Arts is delighted to announce that it has been awarded £899,000 over 3 years from The Arts Council’s National Portfolio funding programme.  We are pleased that this settlement draws together the funding the organisation has been receiving over the past five years through the Arts Council’s various funding streams.  The increase enables Activate to produce ‘Inside Out Dorset’ a major biennial outdoor arts festival for the region that will be part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

 Activate is the strategic organisation in Dorset focussing on producing and developing contemporary theatre, dance and outdoor celebrations/festivals. We work with artists, venues, programmers, and the education sector, social services, environment, economic development, among others, who all play a part in the ecology, sharing and delivering our aspirations with us.

 With Arts Council core funding now secured for the next four years, Activate will

1. promote the presentation of a wide range of high quality dance, theatre and outdoor celebrations at existing venues and in other locations, and to develop audiences for them;
   
2. establish Inside Out Dorset, the extraordinary festival of outdoor performance, as a beacon of excellence nationally;
   
3. produce and support the production of new work in the county, especially by artists based in the region;
   offer information, advice, networking, publicity and advocacy services to the dance, theatre and celebratory arts sector and the general public.;
   
4. increase participation and engagement in theatre, dance and outdoor arts, especially for young people and under-represented groups and individuals.;
   
5. arts professionals and our own staff through training  and continued professional development programmes;
   
6. work collaboratively  with other organisations to help develop the performing arts across the county;
   
7. create a distinctive sense of place and build on the unique attributes of the geographic location in which Activate is based – the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games sailing location in Weymouth and Portland and the development of the performing arts at major venues in the conurbation of Bournemouth and Poole.

Director, Kate Wood says: ‘We are very pleased that the Arts Council has recognised our work and has granted us this level of funding from 2012.  We are particularly pleased that the Inside Out Dorset Festival has been recognised and we are looking forward to working with our partners to deliver this programme over the next few years and we want to thank everyone for their support.’