Festival at the art of the community

More than 1,600 people attend 46th edition of the rural showcase

- SHARON LIPTROTT

Scotland’s largest rural performing arts festival celebrated its 46th edition recently with high audience attendance and ambitious and exciting programme of events.

More than 1,600 people attended the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival events which included world-class theatre, music, dance and spoken word brought to the heart of communities.

It has also been hailed as a celebration of local and national artists and the thriving arts scene in the region.

The festival team brought 34 events to 24 venues all over Dumfries and Galloway.

Simon Hart, CEO of the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival, said: "We are very pleased with the success of this year’s festival and that 94 per cent of the audiences who completed our feedback forms -17 per cent of our festival total - said they enjoyed the event that they attended, very much.

"With events from Port Logan to Lockerbie and so many places in between, we presented brilliant, high quality performing arts events for communities throughout Dumfries and Galloway which were received so enthusiastically.

"With our half-century on the horizon, we're already preparing and looking forward to next year's festival."

It also earned praise from chairperson of the council’s education, skills and community wellbeing committee, Maureen Johnstone, who said: “The Arts Festival has been a beacon of cultural development not only in Dumfries and Galloway but across rural Scotland over the past 40 years. The many trustees and officers who have guided the festival in this time have shown complete commitment to the arts and serving as many rural communities of south-west Scotland as possible.