We are delighted to have won silver in the 2024/25 Dorset Tourism Awards. Our 2023 Inside Out Dorset festival saw tough competition in the Tourism Event / Festival of the Year category with the other shortlisted entries: Arts By the Sea Festival and Bournemouth Writing Festival (who both took home a gold award) and Swanage Regatta & Carnival (who were awarded bronze). Rang Barse: Colours over Corfe Castle 2024 was also Commended in this category. Huge congratulations to all the entries in this year’s awards.
Activate’s Youth, Dance and Diversity Producer, Ki Shaw, and Inside Out Dorset’s Head of Production, Mat Ort, collected the award at the dazzling awards ceremony at the Marsham Court Hotel in Bournemouth on 6 February. The award, designed by Alycatglass, now has a place alongside our other awards on our dedicated shelf in the Activate office!
33,000 visits were made to Inside Out Dorset events in September 2023, at 5 stunning outdoor locations across Dorset – Moors Valley Country Park and Forest, Bere Regis, Wimborne, Poole and Weymouth. Audiences were wowed by international dance companies, family friendly shows, Dorset artists commissioned to perform in their home county, and huge dolls parading the streets!
An audience member at Inside Out Dorset 2023 said, “My son is neurodiverse, ASC, and this is the first festival he has been fully engaged in since lockdown. Very positive festival for families, and has had a positive effect on his mental wellbeing.”
Kate Wood, Activate’s Executive and Artistic Director said, “We believe great art should be accessible to all, and our Inside Out Dorset festival is all about extraordinary events in extraordinary places that tourists and locals can experience for free. It’s wonderful for that to be recognised at the Dorset Tourism Awards again this year. We’re looking forward to welcoming even more people to Inside Out Dorset 2025, and to showcase great art in amazing places.”
A big thank you to Dorset Tourism Awards and our category sponsor Tomorrows Travel.
Save the date for this year’s Inside Out Dorset: 12-21 September 2025
Image courtesy of Nick Williams at Keynote Photography.