FUNDING from Arts Council England and corporate supporter Superior Seals has provided £112,000 for groups in Dorset to mark the Platinum Jubilee with arts events to create lasting memories and a creative legacy.
Music, dance, artwork, theatre and poetry will bring communities together all through the month to make lasting memories and provide a creative legacy to mark the 70th year of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.
Dorset Community Foundation has used Arts Council England funding, bolstered by a donation from manufacturing company Superior Seals, to fund the projects. The foundation is one of the network of UK community foundations supporting the Lets Create Jubilee Fund, a £5 million programme to develop creative and cultural activities as part of the celebrations.
Here are the 16 projects taking place across the county.
Bournemouth
BPC Indian Association and Music Lovers Bollywood is organising a day of dance, food and music for members of the county’s South Asian population – and the wider community.
Ramesh Lal, chairman of Music Lovers Bollywood, said the event will be the first chance since the pandemic to bring the community together. “We consider it a good omen and an honour to be able to participate in the jubilee celebrations,” he said. “The toast will be to the Queen but with the added colour and splendour of Bollywood.” The event, at the Bournemouth Hilton on June 25, will feature workshops, poetry and traditional and Bollywood-style dancing.
Townsend Community Association partnered with dance company Dance For All and the Arts by the Sea Festival so young people in Townsend could create and rehearse a dance performance for a Jubilee celebration event in Townsend.
Boscombe
Recreate Dorset, partnering with BEAF Arts Company, created a temporary hub structure t in the pedestrianised shopping area in Boscombe. Artists worked with local community groups including a refugee group, Polish group and mental health support group.
Partnering with Dance For All and other local artists, Vita Nova members and other community groups will prepare dance and music performances to be presented at the Jubilee Grand Garden Party in Churchill Gardnes, Boscombe, which will include a proceession from Boscombe Pier, music and dance created for the event.
Bridport
Friends of The Lyric Theatre CIC is organising artists representing a range of Bridport arts organisations towork with a group of emerging young artists to create street art, music, dance and spoken word to be performed at a Jubilee celebration event.
Borough Harmony Centre, which provides support for adults with mental health difficulties, is working with Bridport Arts Centre and run a series of writing and story-telling workshops with artists to allow members to tell their stories through drama, poetry and artwork. The project will culminate in a performance on a specially constructed sensory stage at the arts centre as part of its jubilee celebrations. Trustee Ali Cliffe said: “We want to give members and staff an opportunity to celebrate this event by highlighting people struggling with their mental health, their creativity, their perspective on life and raising their profile in the community.”
Broadwindsor
Broadwindsor Fun Group is organising a Jubilee celebration involving community participants. They have been creating bunting at local workshops and will be involvd in performances from local music groups and community groups, a poetry competition and the creation of an audio library of coronation memories.
Christchurch
Coda Music Trust is founding a band made up of community members to perform Jubilee-themed music performances to residential care homes and day care centres for adults with learning disabilities.
Poole
ARCH (Association of Residents of Canford Heath) has organised a Jubilee street party in Canford Health involving multiple local groups and including mixed arts elements.
The Power House is working with CoCreate and involving participants from schools and other community groups to produce artwork and performances for a Jubilee street party, exhibition at Poole Lighthouse and Jubilee ‘pop-up’ in Poole town.
Portland
Island Community Action on Portland is running, with arts group b-side, a community project involving residents decorating hundreds of ceramic cups, plates, jugs and bowls with photographs that mean something to them – lost loved ones, the homes they grew up in or the landscape of the island. The pictures will be digitally transferred to the ceramics, which will then form part of displays around the community over the course of the jubilee.
ICA chief executive Kim Wilcocks said: “Souvenirs of Place and Love will not only provide a stepping-stone for enabling islanders to get to know more about each other through participatory and visual workshops and exhibitions, it will also add to the incredible sense of community pride that has been powerfully put into practice during the pandemic.”
Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust is partnering with James Wilton Dance and professional artists, and involing various Portland community groups to create two dance performances led by young graduate dancers, with visual arts and soundscape created by community participants. A video of the two events to reach online audiences and visitors to Quarry Park.
Stalbridge
Stalbridge History Society has been given £5,000 to bring the whole town together for a celebration that will include a community jubilee lunch on June 12. It will be preceded by a procession featuring town groups to the church for a celebration service and then on the playing fields for a lunch. The day before the high street will host a street festival with music, family entertainment and food. Community workshops have made decorations and floral displays to add colour to the high street.
“The whole event is aimed at the widest possible group of Stalbridge residents, to be fully inclusive. Involving all generations – older people, families, pre-school and primary, as well as teenagers and young people,” said history society committee member Judith Ralph.
Sturminster Newton
The Arts Development Company is working with Dorset History Centre, Emerald Ant and Paper Cinema to deliver workshops at Yew Tree Day Centre for learning disabled adults and Hayes residential home, to share stories about the Queen and her visits to Dorset and create drawings/collages/spoken word as the inspiration for a live show including live music, singing and animation.
Swanage
Purbeck Art Weeks Festival will create a Jubilee mural made from ceramic tile and mosaic for permanent display in Swanage, with a grand opening Jubilee celbration event. The project is being led by professional artists and involving young people from local schools.
The Mowlem Institute Charity will work with Diverse City and Swanage Library and Museum to create a theatre performance event led by a movement of local female sea swimmers, themed to celebrate the Jubilee, empower women and involving young people. There will also be a display about the event in the town library and museum.
Weymouth
AsOne Theatre Company is working in Broadmayne and Weymouth on an intergenerational project working with local schools, care homes and dementia friendly groups to share stories about the Queen and what she means to local people in drawings, photos, writing poetry and songs – to inspire a new film to be premiered as Jubilee public event.
Dorset Community Foundation director Grant Robson said: “We have been blown away by the variety and creativity of the projects that have come forward. Not only will they showcase the fantastic depth of artistic talent in Dorset but they will bring together communities for celebrations that will make memories that last.
“We are very proud to have brought this money into Dorset from Arts Council England, which has used its National Lottery funding for this programme. It is very gratifying that we are seen as the most effective way of bringing this money into the community because of our close relationship with the grass roots groups here.
“And of course we are incredibly thankful to Superior Seals for its wonderful support in enabling us to find as many projects as possible.”