WELCOME TO DIDSBURY ARTS FESTIVAL
SATURDAY 24 JUNE – to – SUNDAY 02 JULY 2023
Didsbury Arts Festival (DAF) is an exciting contemporary festival of art and creativity, where everyone is welcome.
Join us for a rich programme of Music, Film, Theatre, Visual Art, Exhibitions, Spoken Word and more - delivered through Events, Performances, Workshops, Immersive Experiences and Community Engagement - whilst also having the opportunity to become an artist yourself and learn about creative careers.
For our 2023 festival we celebrate the theme Your Festival : Your Voice, and we have used the public feedback from our community consultation process to influence our programming and ensure that the next festival will truly be 'a people's festival'.
We want all ages to find something inspiring and enjoyable, and events will take place over 9-days, in the daytime and evenings, with both indoor and outdoor events throughout our partner venues in and around Didsbury.
Furthermore, we have reimagined the festival to be a diverse and artistically challenging event, relevant to audiences of all cultures, ages, and backgrounds, in Greater Manchester and beyond.
All of this is made possible thanks to the support and collaboration of our partners, sponsors, funders, donors, volunteers, artists and of course YOU - our audience and our inspiration!
DAF 2023 : YOUR FESTIVAL : YOUR VOICE
The Festival Team
Festival Director – Rodney Adams
Festival Coordinator – Daisy Lee
Volunteer Coordinator – Siobhan Donnelly
Marketing & PR Coordinator – Maria Loray
Visual Arts Coordinator – Hayley Watkinson
Festival Assistant – Louis Barclay
Live Music Consultant – Mike Healey
Tech and Production Consultant – Matt Lee
Press & PR Consultant – Deborah Grace
Website Support – Light Bulb Web Design
History & Benefits
A message from our Chair: Welcome to Didsbury Arts Festival (DAF)! As I look ahead to our next festival and year-round events, it seems only moments ago that I founded DAF in 2009. In the blink of an eye, here we are, going from strength to strength.
As a Board, we’ve challenged ourselves, and our new Director, Rodney Adams, to think how we can evolve to be even better, reaching a broader audience, delivering more Innovative and creative events, while continuing to support and bring together the community and artists, in this special place, Didsbury.
In 2019, over half of our audience were attending DAF for the first time which is more than 5000 newcomers. There were over 100 events, 500 artists, many workshops, guided tours, and over 30 volunteers helped to make it happen. Over 9 days, DAF successfully brought together people and place through theatre, music, visual arts, comedy and much more.
Notwithstanding the unique challenges we face as we plan for future festivals, now more than ever arts and culture has a critical role to play in the life of our community; that is why myself and the DAF team will do our best to ensure that once again the DAF programme excites, connects, challenges and enriches all of our lives.
María Stripling, Chair of the Board
THE DAF BOARD
Amanda Webb (Treasurer)
Penny Early
Lorraine Gower
Deborah Grace
Kate Jacobson
Neil Mackenzie
Hannah Mahaptara
Charlotte McAlinden
Ravinder Shawe
Jill Taylor
Our Patrons
Thank you to our Patrons. Your donations directly contribute to making the festival happen and support subsidised ticket prices for those needing a little help in attending. Our 2023 DAF Festival Patrons are:
John and Penny Early
Debs and Jonathan Grace
Sue and Dave Kaberry
Dr Vikas Shah
Terry Sheldon and Carole Isis
Neil and Sue Smith
Maria and Robert Stripling
Access & Equality Statement
DAF is committed to Equality and we want to make your time with us as enjoyable as possible. As part of this we will not tolerate any form of harassment, discrimination or victimisation.
We encourage performance and events of all kinds but will not allow discrimination, either verbally or by action, that is discriminatory and contrary to our Equality Policy. This enables us to act in advance, at the time and retrospectively in our commitment to equality. It applies to current and historical examples of discrimination, and to all of our venue, external activity and online spaces.
An individual or organisation is identified as discriminating against another by treating them less favourably than they would treat others. Individuals or organisations includes our visitors, suppliers, staff, clients, contractors, sub-contractors and volunteers.
The 2010 Equalities Act ‘protected characteristics’ that we recognise include, but not limited to;
Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation including LBGTQ+.
We hope you enjoy your time with us.
