THE largest rural arts festival in Scotland begins its 40th anniversary programme this week with Lost At Sea, Morna Young’s lyrical tribute to the country’s fishing communities. Inspired by the loss of her fisherman father, Young’s multi award- nominated production kicks off the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival, which is hosting art events and production in almost every postcode area in the region. Further highlights of the 10-day festival include:
The North, the darkly humorous dance piece by Joan Cleville, new artistic director of Scottish Dance Theatre (Dumfries May 29); James Rowland’s heart-warming Team Viking (Gatehouse of Fleet May 27, Moffat May 28 and Stranraer May 29); and the only Scottish date of comedian Lucy Porter’s tour of her new show Pass It On (Lockerbie May 29).
At Logan Botanic Garden (May 31) and Crawick Multiverse (June 1), a team from Scottish Opera will perform excerpts from hit productions Iolanthe, The Magic Flute and children’s opera Puffy McPuffer and The Crabbit Canals.
“There’s ownership of the festival over quite a large region,” says Dani Rae, the festival’s new director. “We’re covering 14 out of the 15 postcodes, 15 if you include our collaboration Spring Fling, which happens across our opening weekend.”
Originally from Kirkpatrick-Fleming near Annan, Rae returned to her home region after 15 years working across the creative industries as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society and as an independent arts producer who toured the world.
Rae says this year’s Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival programme remains true to the founding aspirations of the festival, which began in 1979.
“The original names of the festival were to bring excellent work to the people of Dumfries and Galloway without them having to go to the cities,” Rae says. “I’ve remained with that, bringing the best work that I get to see and platforming it across the region – the biggest region in Scotland. This year in particular we’re the most spread around Dumfries and Galloway than we have ever been.”
READ MORE: Artists to open up their doors in Dumfries and Galloway
The festival’s three performances of the multi- award-winning Electrolyte, Wildcard Theatre’s upbeat gig theatre piece about friendship, grief and rave culture, will properly feel like a homecoming celebration for Rae.
Presented in Annan (May 30), Castle Douglas (May 31) and Stranraer (June 1), places where the new festival director went to school, Electrolyte will see local venues transformed into hip nightclubs, she says.
“I’m hoping for a bit of a party,” Rae says. “Our team transform these spaces. It’s taking that little bit of the city and having it in these beautiful surroundings. And as under-26s get tickets to all our core shows for half price, that makes something like Electrolyte £7.”
Next Saturday, May 25, the festival’s young promoters group – aged 14 to 25 – host Picnic at the Plainstanes, a takeover of Dumfries High Street featuring live bands and street acts.
Rae says: “They have programmed some brilliant local musicians, emerging talents and some acrobatic troupes. It’s a programme of what they would like to see in the region and it’s completely free.”
Young people will only have to pay a tenner to see Home and Horizon, the festival’s closing 40th birthday concert on June 2.
An extravaganza led by Scottish Ensemble in collaboration with local artists and musicians such as singer-songwriters Emily Smith, Robyn Stapleton and poet Tom Pow, the suite of music, song and spoken word is inspired by “the bittersweet paradox of rural living where the lure of travel goes hand in hand with the ache of returning home”.
Rae says there’s a strong community aspect to the festival, which is run by a tiny core staff and relies on the efforts of volunteer board members, stewards and locals. She says: “That’s another thing that makes it specific to Dumfires and Galloway. We’re not parachuting in things, we’re making it part of the community and everyone gets involved to make it happen.”
Coinciding with their 40th birthday, the festival has established Arts Live, a year-round rural touring programme, and Support for Ambition, a scheme to help local people host productions and events themselves.
“Part of the essence and original focus of those who pioneered the very first arts festival in 1979 was to enable local communities to be able to see the highest quality shows without having to travel to the cities,” says Rae. “I very much want Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival and Arts Live to build on this legacy going forward.”
Rae adds: “It’s empowering the communities to really take hold of their events programme and bring things they might not otherwise see here, make it so you don’t have to travel, so you can live and breathe and work in this glorious part of the world without having to travel to see great shows.”
May 24 to June 2, venues across Dumfries and Galloway.
See www.dgartsfestival.org.uk for full programme and tickets
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