Arts Showcase Event
Sunday 10th May @ Borough Road
It’s a shame that Tumblr restricts me to 10 photos per post, as there is so much more I would like to share with you of the Arts Showcase event, however if you want to take a peak at some more photos, please visit the Darlington Arts Festival page on Facebook (Click here) to view more!
I was part of the team who helped the showcase come together and it was brilliant experiencing watching it develop from a plan on paper to the event actually taking place. It’s being a week now since the event took place and in that time I have has chance to reflect what a success the showcase was and how much hard work everyone had put in.
At the start of the day, when the stalls were getting erected, I feared we may face opposition for the event; the food festival was going on in the town centre and I sometimes think visitors find the road between the town and Civic as some sort of ‘barrier’ even though its just 5 minutes up the road. The weather also had me concerned, it was raining, not just spitting, but full on raining when everything was getting set up. I was concerned that the event may not make it through the duration of the day, but luckily the rain kept a bay and we could get on with the event.
The first few people made their way through the various stalls on offer and the event was official opened by The Mayor at 10am. Being a bit of a Darlington obsessive (slight understatement), I found it an honor to meet the mayor, he was a lovely bloke and spent a lot of time engaging with everyone at the event.
Through out the day, there was live theatre, dance and music performances, which made the event feel like a ‘mini festival.’ I personally found that it had a relaxed atmosphere as people were freely able to wander about as they wished. The showcase also offered local artists space to display their work and conduct live art demonstrations. From my observations, it was great to see so many members of the public getting involved with the art demonstrations and taking inspiration from them, to go home and create a piece themselves.
Overall, I think the Arts Showcase was a massive success, it was down to hard work of many individuals who got together to use their skills and to do something positive for the town and the arts. The event was also a great chance for the community to get together and for individuals and groups to network; to make the Darlington Arts Scene even stronger! Also, I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who visited and made the event what it was, here’s to next year, lets make it bigger and better!
