Arundel Festival hails outstanding success of virtual showcase

This year, the Arundel Festival became the Arundel Festival of the Arts – but was then forced off the streets by the COVID pandemic.

Instead, organisers launched an online daily showcase throughout what should have been the 2020 festival.

They were rewarded with viewers from all over the world from Australia to India tuning in to watch a varied and diverse range of performances, some pre-recorded, some live.

Sharon Blaikie, chairman of Arundel Festival of the Arts, said: “So far the festival has had nearly 25,000 views of its video content with thousands more looking at content across all its social media.”

She said it showcased “just a glimmer of what this incredible town has to offer.”

“Behind the scenes, a tremendous amount of time and expertise has been invested in producing, arranging and filming this year’s-new style festival.”

The hope is that it will “further promote and grow our unique town’s offering” into a “sustainable and progressive event within the community for many years to come.”

“This event supports putting Arundel on the map as a top destination brimming with vibrant creativity, cultural heritage and community spirit. Thank you to everyone including the artists, performers, event organisers, businesses, traders, venues, partners, photographers and experts from Akin.

“And special thanks to the fabulous team from beechtobeach without whom this virtual festival would not have been possible, the AFOTA’s committee, Simplified Ideas, the Mayor, the Town Crier and Arundel Town Council. The festival continues to evolve and complement Arundel’s history, culture and location and make a positive difference for Arundel town as a whole.

“We are looking forward already to the cultural extravaganza that awaits us in 2021 and to supporting our chosen charity partner the Trussell Trust. Well done to everyone!”

“The virtual festival reached audiences globally in 2020 and it was more important than ever to be proactive, invest in and grow the new brand, ensure the resilience and reputation of the festival, and we will continue to support the event in the months leading up to the next festival by inspiring new pre-festival marketing campaigns, concepts and mini events.

“We want to continue to create excitement and momentum and grow Arundel’s reputation. The virtual festival has been a brilliant launching pad for this, generating huge social media which lasts all year round. It has achieved a collaborative approach bringing the community, partners and stakeholders together as well as providing a safe event.”

Mayor of Arundel Councillor Tony Hunt, whose opening ceremony video received 1.5k views over the first few days, said: “Driven off the streets by Covid-19, the 42nd Arundel Festival of the Arts refused to be suppressed and simply took to YouTube, Facebook and other media platforms.

“We are deeply grateful to Sharon Blaikie and her team, to the many people who enabled a town with 3,500 residents to stage such a spectacular 11-days of virtual entertainment. People all over the UK and around the world have seen our festival and our town, and we hope that when COVID-19 is behind us, they will visit our beautiful town and come to our annual festival.”

Jane Mote, director at Arundel film production company beechtobeach who filmed, edited and produced all the programmes, said: “It is crazy what we achieved in such a short space of time, but the whole town rallied round to ensure this year was a festival to remember. With the amazing range of talent, engagement with audiences and business it felt like, we’d kindled the festival spirit and the films we’ve created will ensure people can enjoy watching until 2021. The iconic scene for me was seeing Harry and Hounds playing from the Black and White bus in the meadows as the sun set over the historic castle. Music, natural beauty and culture in one hit – that’s Arundel!”