News
“Rural touring is a wonderful patchwork of magical moments!” – 35 years of Artsreach
14 October 2025
It launched with a handful of venues and has now grown to host 130 events each year in 40 communities. We speak to Kerry Bartlett – from the wonderful world of Artsreach.
Many rural touring schemes are celebrating signifiant anniversaries this autumn. The NRTF is spotlighting schemes which have gone the distance and continue to provide amazing cultural experiences for communities. First up – Artsreach.
Tell us about Artsreach
Kerry: Artsreach is a charity which aims to enrich the lives of people of all ages living in Dorset by providing access to high-quality, professional creative and cultural experiences, in turn, connecting and empowering the rural communities we work with.
The very first Artsreach programme was launched back in March 1990 and featured just nine venues. Now, as we celebrate our 35th anniversary we’re proud to partner with an incredible network of volunteers in over 40 communities.
Together we host a programme of more than 130 events each year and in turn, reach over 10,000 people.
This programme includes a diverse range of local, national, and international artists and spans everything from music, theatre and dance, to storytelling, circus and work for children and families.
Outside of our core programme, additional project funding enables us to reach out to communities and offer more opportunities for participatory creative engagement. Each summer we co-ordinate a series of creative workshops for children to enjoy in the holidays, and we are currently developing a variety of daytime workshops and events for older people, including a Dance to Health programme and a series of concerts for members of our communities living with dementia and their carers.
What is the impact of your work to rural audiences?
Kerry: It’s rewarding to hear what Artsreach means to communities and audiences we reach. For many, Artsreach is so special simply for the fact it brings performances of outstanding quality to people’s doorsteps.
For those living in rural areas, travelling to Bristol, Southampton or London for entertainment can be challenging, whether it be cost, availability of transport or simply feeling confident enough to make that journey.
By transforming community spaces such as village halls into the most magical of performance venues, we reach audiences who can, by the very nature of their unwavering support for community activity, become the consumers of the most eclectic range of culture – whether it be theatre one month and dance the next.
Your rural audiences are very loyal aren’t they?
Kerry: Many people attend because of Artsreach’s reputation; most attend because they want to support their community volunteer and whatever is happening locally. This audience loyalty enables us to entertain, stimulate and challenge our rural audiences, offering experiences from around world and insights into a wide variety of other cultures.
Asked why they volunteer for Artsreach, 90% of our network reported that it increased their sense of belonging to their community
And 88% felt that they were making a positive contribution to the quality of local life. 89% of audiences surveyed in 2024-25 also agreed that Artsreach events help to reduce loneliness and isolation in rural communities.
When in the audience at Artsreach events, you cannot fail to feel the connection those in the room have with each other – it’s like sitting in a community living room.
But rather than the TV being on, there’s an outstanding live performer on a stage so close you could almost reach out and touch them – this close proximity and convivial environment creates an unrivalled atmosphere that simply could not be replicated in a traditional theatre space.
Why is rural touring so important?
Kerry: We’re proud to be part of the National Rural Touring Forum and one of an incredible network of touring schemes doing exactly what we do here in Dorset in towns and villages all over England.
Collectively, rural touring schemes reach over a quarter of a million audience members in over 1,400 venues each year.
Yet, due to its inherent ‘grassroots feel’, the significance of rural touring to the UK’s cultural tapestry can often be overlooked.
By the very nature of the local venue model, rural touring events also contribute to a smaller carbon footprint compared to traditional touring.
The rural touring network also invests significantly in its artistic programme, supporting a diverse range of artists, companies, and creative practitioners with a guaranteed income.
Rural touring not only provides opportunities for creative development, but it also places work directly in front of a culture-hungry audience in an environment where the relationship that is built between artists and audience, and therefore the immediacy of the feedback, is like no other.
Rural touring events stimulate community development, support volunteer growth, invest in vital community infrastructure, employ thousands of artists and creative practitioners, and entertain thousands of people every year. Without a network as significant as this, the UK’s cultural landscape would surely be much poorer.
What are the challenges?
Kerry: Curating, planning, and delivering a rural touring programme isn’t without its challenges! We are thrilled by our audience’s appetite to see a diverse range of events but constantly feel the pressure of maintaining the level of programming quality for which Artsreach has become known for.
Coupled with our desire to uphold this reputation comes the problem of overcoming the perception that ‘performances in village halls must, therefore, be amateur’. Using community venues is the lynchpin of the rural touring model but getting the message across that many of the artists taking to our community stages have graduated from leading arts institutions and garnered acclaimed reviews from theatres, concert halls and festivals both nationally and internationally is a challenge.
Meanwhile, standstill core funding and rising costs makes the challenge of keeping our tickets affordable and reaching the vast number of communities wanting to be part of our network a very real issue.
We also regularly discuss with colleagues around the UK how we can better fund and support work of varying scale to tour on our network, and this is where projects such as Create, Tour, Connect can potentially have a positive impact on the work being programmed by rural touring schemes.
One of the other unique things about rural touring is that it’s driven by an incredible community volunteer network, but we must keep in mind the need to closely support, nurture and, when the time is right, recruit to our community teams to ensure continuity.
Any stand out moments for you at Artsreach?
Kerry: It’s quite hard to pick stand-out moments, as pockets of magic really are happening week-in-week-out as volunteers transform village halls into brilliant performance spaces for their audience.
It’s always particularly special seeing physical theatre, dance and circus performed in such close proximity though – Aakash Odedra blew audiences away with their stunningly visual and hugely moving show, Little Murmur, in Broadmayne whilst Nikki & JD gave heart-in-mouth, breath-taking performances of Knot in Child Okeford and Halstock last year, spinning, lifting and dropping each other so close to the audience that you could have heard a pin-drop.
In the early days of Artsreach, the acclaimed Cornish company Kneehigh Theatre would attract droves of people with their picnic blankets and camp chairs to the stunning clifftop at Kimmeridge bay for their annual open-air tour.
In 2024, Artsreach commissioned folk band The Longest Johns to write a new song, capturing the history and traditions of quarrying around the Jurassic Coast. ‘Drop The Hammer’ was then learnt by several Dorset choirs who were filmed performing with The Longest Johns, and the final film was premiered as part of The Longest Johns album launch concert in Swanage – it was quite emotional when the big screen dropped and our community choirs appeared; as a team.
We’ll never forget the first time we saw Living Spit’s The Six Wives of Henry V111 (if you know, you know!), and being able to spend five nights on the road with Stu Mcloughlin and the late, great Howard Coggins gave a fascinating insight into the creative process for this talented duo, writing one show by day then performing One Man and his Cow in pubs and bars by night!
Stand-out for many reasons, the 2020 pandemic threw a whole host of new challenges at our charity and the creative sector as a whole.
Looking back, I’m proud of how the whole Artsreach family were able to pull together and support each other.
We had weekly coffee chats on zoom to keep our volunteers connected, to supporting artists who were able to offer alternative performances in order to reach audiences – from digital adaptations and zoom performances, to theatre performed over the telephone!
Throughout it all, we found a way to keep going, and stay connected with our volunteers, artists and audiences, hopefully providing small moments of escape in what was such an unprecedented time for all.
Most recently, we were absolutely thrilled to have won the Muddy Stilettos award for Best Arts, Culture & Theatre in Dorset, Somerset, and Bristol, having been shortlisted alongside some fantastic organisations – a wonderful way to mark our 35th anniversary.
How does it feel to make it to 35 years?
Kerry: Obviously, we are incredibly proud that Artsreach has reached such a significant milestone.
This is testament to the energy and efforts of our volunteers, the appetite and support of our audiences, and the constant drive of creative excellence and ingenuity from the artistic community around us.
Rural touring is a wonderful patchwork of magical moments created by talented people being shared in the heart of community living rooms, and we are excited to keep doing it again and again for the next 35 years and beyond.
