Given the challenging times we are currently facing, we have made the difficult decision to postpone Inside Out Dorset 2020. Please read our full statement about our decision.
We’ve listed some questions and answers below that demonstrate our thinking in reaching this decision.
Why has Inside Out Dorset 2020 been postponed?
As it stands, due to the continued threat of coronavirus, large events are not able to take place as social distancing restrictions have been brought in by the government. We do not know whether this will still be in place in September 2020 (when the festival was originally planned) so had to weigh up many factors and came to the difficult decision to postpone. These factors included the safety of our staff, volunteers, artists and audiences, as well as our funding and the ability to honour contracts and financial commitments with artists and freelancers. We would normally be conducting our outreach work with local schools at the moment and this cannot currently take place. This is an important part of our work and so by postponing we aim to be able to carry this out next year as well.
When will Inside Out Dorset happen?
We plan to postpone the festival until September 2021. The dates will be 17 – 26 September 2021.
What about the artists that were due to take part in the festival this year?
We are working closely with all our artists to ensure they can still take part in 2021. We are committed to supporting them through this uncertain time and will honour contracts and payments that have already been agreed. Many have lost work through this crisis and we are determined to support them as best we can.
Will the Inside Out Dorset team be affected?
Inside Out Dorset is produced by Activate Performing Arts and whilst the staff team are disappointed with having to postpone we are excited to create an amazing festival experience next year. We also work with a number of freelancers who we are committed to supporting and will be working with to produce the festival in 2021. Our volunteers are also really important to us and we can’t wait to work with them again, too.
Will the festival programme be the same?
Whilst our planning was well underway there were still elements of the programme to confirm for this year. We really hope to be able to deliver the festival we had planned but will need to consider some contingencies including availability of artists and the security of some funding in order to ensure the festival is the quality and standard we want it to be in 2021.
When and where can I find out more about the festival in 2021?
We’ll be keeping the Activate and Inside Out Dorset websites up to date with news and announcements about the 2021 festival as soon as they are ready to share. You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.