Artsreach Dorset

23/06/2026

📣 Celebrating !

Each year, this week spotlights the big difference small charities make in communities up and down the country.

🌟 At Artsreach, we understand first-hand the challenges charities face in sustaining momentum whilst working with limited resources and rising demand. Despite this, we remain committed to our mission of enriching the lives of people in Dorset through arts and culture, working closely with volunteers and partners to bring inspiring events to places that might otherwise go without.

🌟 Small Charity Week gives us a chance to highlight our work and celebrate the incredible community volunteers who help bring our programme to life across Dorset - proving that the impact of small charities reaches far beyond their size.

A huge thank you to our volunteers, staff and trustees, whose passion and dedication keeps creativity thriving in communities and help make Dorset a wonderful place to live and work! 🙌

Thinking about volunteering or getting involved in your local community? Why not reach out to your village hall or local venue and see how you can get involved...

23/06/2026

☎ Contact our brilliant volunteer team at Lytchett Matravers Village Hall if you'd like to join the waiting list for the performance there by Opera in a Box next Saturday, 4 July: 07795 467666

22/06/2026

🌺 Ha Hum Ah bring The Scarlet Pimpernel to Dorset next week!

Ahead of their visit, Lady Marguerite Blakeney has a public service announcement to share...

"My husband? The Scarlet Pimpernel? Please. Have you met him And if the French authorities are investigating, I would like to formally distance myself from the situation."

Expect quick-fire gags and high-octane multi-rolling in this sharply modern, joyously theatrical open-air retelling of Baroness Orczy's swashbuckling classic. Gather your friends and family and join us in the great outdoors!

📍 Touring to Winterborne Stickland & Halstock, 3-4 July
https://artsreach.co.uk/event/the-scarlet-pimpernel

19/06/2026

🎉 Friday fanfare for our fabulous colleague Yvonne Gallimore!

We were absolutely thrilled that Yvonne's significant contribution to Artsreach, rural touring, visual arts, community participation and the wider cultural sector, both in Dorset and the South West, over the last thirty years were recognised at the National Rural Touring Forum conference last week... with a Lifetime Achievement Award!

Congratulations Yvonne, thoroughly well deserved🏆

Dorset Council | Arts Council England | Dorset Echo

18/06/2026

✨ Celebrating 10 years of the Rural Touring Dance Initiative✨

Pagrav Dance Company visited Dorset back in March 2025, as part of a national RTDI tour. Ahead of performing their show Aunusthan in Broadmayne Hall, dancer Astha Desai lead a classical Indian Dance workshop with members of local dance group, Movers & Shakers. The company also created beautiful Rangoli Art with children at Broadmayne First School.

Their visit combined community participation and professional performance in one local space - a brilliant example of how RTDI has created opportunities for people to take part, connect and experience dance up close.

📸 Photos by Jayne Jackson Photography

Arts Council England Dorset Council

17/06/2026

🌟 A Rural Touring story - research by the University of Warwick

The last time the infrastructure of rural touring nationally was researched was before the pandemic and a lot has changed since then. At the recent National Rural Touring Forum conference, the University of Warwick’s Vishalakshi Roy and Melanie Stavrou share the preliminary findings of their new research.

"Initial findings strongly demonstrate how engagement in rural touring ensures a higher quality of life for residents which goes far beyond access to culture. For individual volunteers, involvement in rural touring is associated with improved well-being and a stronger sense of belonging in the local community. It also plays a key role in combating loneliness and contributes to place-making for both those facilitating rural arts touring and those attending events."

Read the full article in Arts Professional here:
https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/feature/a-rural-touring-story

Dorset Council | Arts Council England

The last time the infrastructure of rural touring was researched was before the pandemic and a lot has changed since then. The University of Warwick’s V Roy and Melanie Stavrou share the preliminary findings of their new research.

16/06/2026

⚔️ The Three Inch Fools Summer 2026 Quest has begun - their hilarious new production, King Arthur and the Holy Fail, is on the road, promising medieval mayhem and adventure for all ages! ⚔️

⚔️ When Camelot is rocked to its core by a tragic - and frankly improbable - incident involving a large table of an undisclosed shape, Arthur is thrust into the quest of a lifetime. Will he save Camelot or crumble as fate refuses to cooperate?

📍 Gather your finest knights and join the quest-to-end-all-quests as the show pops up at Kimmeridge Bay on Thursday 20 August

🎟 https://artsreach.co.uk/event/tif-king-arthur

📸 Credit Jane Herbert photo

15/06/2026

🤩 TONIGHT! 7pm at Red Lion Inn Sturminster Marshall
📍 Free tickets - booking essential: 01258 857319

Fun and filthy poems from someone who knows what they’re doing... acclaimed poet Luke Wright is back with a sticky-floored celebration of the ordinary! Tonight Luke conjures up a world of Tuesday lunchtimes and small town boozers in poems that burst with inventive language. His poems are full of audacious rhymes, insane sonic trickery, and big-hearted storytelling that’ll leave you feeling a little lightheaded. Expect loads of laughs, a few more coins in the swear jar, and a sore head in the morning...

“A streetwise panache and a sardonic comic verve to rival Stewart Lee.” ★★★★★ Telegraph

Suitable 14+ (some swearing)
Touring with Artsreach, as part of the national INN CROWD project, supported by Pub is The Hub and Applause Touring.

15/06/2026

⌛ Deadline this Friday 19 June: Projects & Community Engagement Lead

🌟 Artsreach is seeking a highly motivated, creative and strategically minded individual to lead on the development and delivery of new creative, community and participatory projects; and play a pivotal role in strengthening the organisation's engagement with its volunteers and audiences in communities across Dorset.

🕖 Contract: Part-time, Permanent (22.5hrs across 3 days min.)
⬇️ Is this you? Find out more and apply here:
https://artsreach.co.uk/about/jobs