ARTISTS, performers and businesses who want to showcase their talents to the public have been urged to sign up to the Darlington Arts Festival.

The third annual event will take place around Darlington in May next year and organisers are looking for participants and venues to take part.

The month-long event was founded by Darlington for Culture (DfC), an umbrella organisation representing the arts scene in the town, to help keep performing arts and culture thriving following the closure of the former arts centre.

The festival embraces all aspects of culture and will involve a film festival run the Darlington Film Club, an arts showcase and a series of live music events.

Early planning for the festival also includes a series of events to celebrate the 190th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

Festival sponsors include Creative Darlington and Cleveland College of Art and Design.

John Dean, chairman of Darlington for Culture, said: “The festival has become a fixture in Darlington’s arts calendar and we are excited about some of the ideas already being developed for 2015.”

Organisers are looking for people with ideas for events, artists and performers but would also like to hear from groups or businesses that could offer a space for performances or events in the hope of making the festival reach across Darlington.

DfC secretary Matt Roche said: “We want people from across the community to be involved in next year's arts festival.

“If people have an idea they want to develop or include we’d love to hear from them.”

The 2014 arts festival was hailed a huge success by organisers, who said it showed how resilient Darlington’s arts and cultural scene was in the face of budget restraints and the loss of a key venue.

A month-long Literary Festival, organised in conjunction with the arts festival, but with its own independent itinerary is also looking for people to get involved in writing workshops and readings.

Literary festival organiser Joanne Land said: “The Literary Festival is shaping up to be better than ever next year with the support of Crown Street Library and new events in the pipeline that cross over between literature and other art forms.”

Anyone who would like to get involved with the Darlington Arts Festival is asked to contact the festival organisers for more information by emailing darlo4culture@gmail.com

The deadline for inclusion in the festival events brochure is January 31 next year.