ORGANISERS of a month-long festival which starts in Darlington this week hope it will bring creative people together in the same way as the town’s much-missed arts centre did.

About 80 different events – ranging from films, dance and drama to music, exhibitions and workshops – will make up the first-ever Darlington Arts Festival, which runs throughout May.

The festival is being run under the banner of Darlington for Culture (DfC), the group which fought so hard, but ultimately unsuccessfully, to save Darlington Arts Centre, which succumbed to council cuts in July last year.

Although a three-person DfC committee – comprising writer John Dean, visual artist Yvonne Preston and singer Jo Land – are the festival’s main organisers, the trio say countless people will help make it memorable.

These include performers, venue managers, technicians, tutors, sponsors and, of course, audience members and participants.

Central to the programme of events will be a markets showcase, which is being planned in partnership with Darlington Borough Council, in the Market Place, on Sunday, May 19.

It will include an ‘upcycling’ workshop and a project exploring the story behind hit musical West Side Story, both in the Dolphin Centre, as well as performances by a string of musicians.

Mr Dean said: “The model for the festival is that the various different venues and organisations can do their own thing.

“It is not about DfC, it is the venues like The Forum Music Centre and Cafe Create, it is a collaboration of everyone.

“We want the festival to be a celebration of everything creative that goes on in this town.

“When the Arts Centre was open, a lot of creative people were in the same place, so artists would bump into writers and photographers would bump into dancers and so on and a lot of projects came out of that.

“We hope the festival will help rebuild that sense of community, which was fragmented when the arts centre closed.”

The committee hopes a successful festival this year will see the event grow in the future.

Miss Land added: “Given the fact that the council is having to make so many cuts, it is important to send the message that the arts is not just a ‘nice to have’ – it is good for the economy.”

The Northern Echo will be publishing a weekly round-up of events being held as part of Darlington Arts Festival.