A great opportunity to bring something unique to your local outdoor summer celebrations!

Arts & community charity Applause Rural Touring works with artists and communities to bring exceptional arts performances to local places. For Summer 2023 the charity is offering 12 fantastic street style performances especially made for community fetes and festivals. Financial subsidies are available for volunteer hosts and organisers, whilst offering support to ensure the events are a success.

All the shows on offer this season will entertain, delight and stimulate imaginations young and old including: It's Classic Connee, a lavish, larger than life, wheel about performance from disabled-led theatre company Daryl and Co; Puppetry show Laika the Space Dog, featuring a beautifully crafted puppet, riveting soundtrack and a few surprises; Let's go Clubbing combines juggling and music to bring the club experience to a rural audience; Michaela Cisarikova Dance Company with Fish Out of Water uses hip hop dance, sculptures & live responsive music to explore themes of belonging, otherness, displacement & migrancy with humour & charm; returning favourites The Dustbusters, is a comical walkabout act for family audiences of all ages and communities and Poems Made from Words Found in the Bin is part performance, part creative workshop, part digital art intervention.

Sally Lampitt, Deputy Director said:

“I am delighted that we can bring these fabulous shows to tour across the southeast region this summer – all the performances are interactive, family-friendly and suitable for all ages, and above all great fun. We can offer these shows to local fetes and festivals at affordable costs allowing local promoters to offer exciting, unexpected arts performances for everyone to enjoy.” 

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Applause works with professional companies and performers with a wide range of experience performing at festivals and events nationally and internationally. These companies have created their performances specifically for village fetes, fairs and festivals and enjoy performing at local outdoor events because of the friendly, community atmosphere and audience interaction. 

'Thank you! We cannot rate Applause Outdoors highly enough. We have been lucky to have several performances over the years, all of which have been fantastic. Without your support we would not be able to bring performances such as this to our community, many of whom would not experience it otherwise.' Jubilee Weekend host Oving

Any fete or festival interested in hosting one of these fantastic performances at their event, helping to make it stand out from the rest this spring and summer, should get in touch to find out more. Full details are on the Applause website https://www.applause.org.uk/outdoors/  

As part of village halls week, we interviewed longstanding host Mike Fitzgerald and Rosalind Riley who has been instrumental in the fundraising for the newly refurbished Frittenden Village Hall. We spoke to them amongst other things about fundraising, the benefits of bringing performance to their community and how rural touring schemes help village halls to secure top-quality acts whilst ensuring finance isn’t a barrier to the audience or hall itself. This video will be of interest to anyone thinking of hosting a show in a village hall.

To find out more or to book a show get in touch via [email protected]

Applause are members of the Rural Services Network.  You can find out more about them here.