Transient Roots was a poetic audio trail commisioned for DAF 2017 tracing the artists experience of growing up in care around Didsbury. 10 poems could be experienced in the location they reference.  

Louise Wallwein wrote a new cycle of poetry honouring the houses that were once her homes. The audience were able to follow the trail, listen to the poetry and reflect on the care experience and history, while taking a journey into the artist's childhood. The audio poems were discovered by the audience who received a map and a route to follow where they encountered temporary plaques placed outside each house, like a digital blue plaque with a QR code. These could then be scanned with a phone to reveal a poem in audio or text form that reveals a hidden narrative reflecting some aspect of the artists experience of that location. During the 10 days of the festival these were only able to be accessed in the site specific locations, but they are available online by clicking the links below. 

390 Parrswood Road

58 Parrswood Road

Didsbury Library

DAF 2017 Music Promo Competition
Submit Your Entry Now!
Entry to the competition is FREE

DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL 5 JUNE!

Didsbury Arts Festival and Manchester Film School have teamed up this year to create a Music Video Promo competition. Budding film makers can have their film shown as part of the festival programme in a real cinema and win £100 prize money. There are two categories to take part in, one for 16-19 year olds and one for 19's and over. Any style of music video film style will be considered, shot on any camera and any format (so long as it can be hosted on line). Films must be no more than 2 years old and no longer than 5 mins in total. For full details on how to apply and terms and conditions,  click here

Didsbury Lantern Parade will be back on Saturday 12 November 2016 - 6pm 

We have a new venue, Please meet at the Pavillion Cafe in Didsbury Park

Join us again for the fantastic DAF Lantern Parade, taking place this year in Didsbury Park. Bring your lantern, join the parade and enjoy the spectacle.  With contributions from local artists and musicians.  All welcome! 
£2 donation per adult on the gates.

We are delighted to be working with professional lantern maker Sean Braithwaite to make this years event the best ever. We are also proud to be working with Friends of Didsbury Park to help run this years event.

Thanks to everyone in the community who supports this much loved event!

We are currenly recruiting a Festival Co-ordinator at Didsbury Arts Festival to assist in developing the 2017 festival, see below for more details.

Festival Coordinator (Freelance)

About Didsbury Arts Festival: Didsbury Arts Festival is a volunteer-led, multi-arts festival, celebrating creative culture in Didsbury, through working with local, national and international artists. DAF is a biennial event and the next festival will take place on the following dates: 24th June - 2nd July 2017. Since 2009 this community-led festival has been bringing the town to life with a rich programme spanning two weekends of visual art, music, theatre and fun. Since 2015 a small paid team have been brought on board to support the work of the volunteers.

Suitability: This role would suit a recent graduate with a passion for the arts and with experience of organising events who wants to gain further experience of arts management.

Responsible for: To assist the Festival Director with the coordination of the festival programme, ensuring that logistics and requirements are managed effectively in the lead up to the festival and that all events run smoothly.

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Didsbury Arts Festival 2017

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Didsbury Arts Festival 2015

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Past Festivals

The Mic Bytes poetry slam at The Art of Tea was one of the highlights of the Festival this year. Those taking part were asked to come up with a poem that responded to the Festival's theme Inbetween Places. Liv Barnes, a 19 year old spoken word artist, beat out some stiff competition to be crowned the champion on the night, walking away with a £50 cash prize. Her winning poem, Escape Artist, is included below.

Escape Artist by Liv Barnes

Manchester-based writer Sarah Butler invited festival-goers to experience the festival theme, In-between places, with her on walks that followed the boundaries of East and West Didsbury. In addition to two public walks where Sarah engaged in a conversation with participants, she also invited along another commissioned artist, Phil Griffin. After each walk, Sarah posted her writings and photos to the festival website as a creative response to the walks.

The pieces produced from each of the four walks can viewed by following the links below:

Walking the Edge: Monday, Walk #1

All events are free and run Sat 20 June- Sun 28 June, unless otherwise stated

This year’s Visual Arts Trail encompasses exhibitions right across Didsbury. Explore works by local artists in local venues and look out for works by local school children in shops and businesses too.

Anne Catherine Miller

On the Edge of Town | Bourbon and Black

A series of paintings by local artist Anne Catherine Miller

The new Metrolink service to Didsbury is now up and running, providing quick and easy access to Manchester city centre, and a range of other Greater Manchester destinations.

Trams run every 12 minutes’ from the new East Didsbury tram stop to Didsbury Village, West Didsbury, Burton Road and Withington.

Metrolink offers great value Travelcards which give passengers unlimited travel across the tram network. At weekends you can travel for just £5.50 from Friday at 6pm until end of service Sunday and with the family its only £7.50 for 2 adults and up to 3 kids! So why not take the tram to the Didsbury Art Festival this year it’s the brighter way to travel.

For more information please visit www.metrolink.co.uk.

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This Privacy Policy explains what happens to any personal data that you provide to us, or that we collect from you whilst you visit our site.

We do update this Policy from time to time so please do review this Policy regularly.

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DAF's ability to deliver the variety and number of festival events is made possible through the help of generous local businesses and individuals.

DAF sponsors and advertisers enjoy reaching engaged local audiences through more than 35,000 printed programmes and posters, over 5000 Facebook and Twitter followers, over 20,000 visits to the DAF website, and through dedicated press exposure in both local and national newspapers, television, radio and online.

Whether a business or an individual, you too can support a great local charity through donations of time, goods or money as well as through sponsorship or advertising. Get in touch to find out how you can benefit from the reach, innovation and excitement of thi great local festival - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Didsbury Arts Festival is a registered charity (no. 1158370). You can support us online at didsburyartsfestival.org or collections at festival events.