Inside Out Dorset, the biennial international outdoor arts festival, is set to return this autumn with a series of free-to-see installations and performances in five extraordinary locations.

Hosted by Dorchester-based outdoor arts producers Activate, over two weeks in September each of these special and distinctive landscapes will be transformed by magical art and dramatic interventions connected by themes of Nature, Landscape and Climate.

Producers are able to announce a diverse and inventive programme that includes a new Giant for the Dorset landscape, the county’s response to the international River of Hope arts-based learning project, a remarkable new sound trail in a working forest, four astonishing performance pieces from the Catalan region in one of Dorset’s most iconic villages, and an amazing, site specific promenade performance against the backdrop of a Georgian seafront.

“It is always a wonderful moment after the two years of work to see the whole programme come together,” say Inside Out Dorset co-artistic directors Kate Wood and Bill Gee. “We are so looking forward to welcoming excellent artists from the UK, Europe and India to the festival in September and meeting thousands of appreciative audiences in the extraordinary places.

“This festival, more than any other, has been made creatively with the active collaboration of hundreds of people from Dorset, Hampshire and South Somerset engaging with the landscapes and issues. Extraordinary events in extraordinary places has been our focus, distinctive to this county, we believe anything’s possible and everyone’s invited.”

A huge temporary artwork Giant that lives on local hillsides, Consequences is part of Nature Calling, a landmark new arts project encouraging audiences to better understand and connect with their local natural landscapes. Created by artist Becca Gill’s Radical Ritual company, after its unveiling at Cerne Abbas, the Giant will be on show at Summerhouse Hill, in Yeovil, on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 September and again at Corfe Castle on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 September as part of Inside Out Dorset.

“New reflections on Dorset’s iconic landscape were what we had hoped for when we set out the brief for writers and artists to respond to,” say Kate and Bill. “It’s been so important for the project to involve a whole range of people and see the impact of artists creating joy and moving people with this creative invitation to be in their local National Landscape and connect to nature. For Activate, we have found a warm welcome from the organisations and people of Yeovil, and this is a project that will leave an imprint in our minds for many years to come.”

Inspired by the surrealist creative drawing game of Consequences, Radical Ritual artist Grace Emily Manning is making the Consequences Giant with drawings from a series of fun, collaborative community workshops. Its presentation also incorporates music, poetry and ritual based on local lore and folk tales as well as indigenous flora and fauna. Louisa Adjoa Parker was selected as the writer for Dorset National Landscape and her poem ‘This Patch of Land’, inspired by the Dorset landscape, will form part of a composed soundtrack by Bridport-born musician Douglas Dare with readings by local people.

Consequences is a Radical Ritual Production, commissioned and produced by Dorset National Landscape and Activate for Nature Calling. Executive producers are the National Landscapes Association and Activate Performing Arts. It is supported by Arts Council England, DEFRA and Imaginators.

Inside Out Dorset also includes the culmination of a national project that uses environmental learning and creative arts practice to help young people express their concerns about the climate crisis. River of Hope will see an installation of up to 80 flags and sails on the Town Quay in Christchurch from 12 to 15 September.

Featuring the music of Dorset-based rapper/producer Isaiah Dreads, the designs created by students from Gillingham School, QE School in Wimborne, Twynham and The Grange Schools in Christchurch, The Burgate School in Fordingbridge and Ringwood School, working with artist Heidi Steller and poet Matt West, will be shown alongside works made for the Totally Thames festival in partnership with young people from Ethiopia from schools in Addis Ababa and Arbia Minch.

Following its premiere at the National Memorial Arboretum, Dorset artist Lorna Rees’ sound installation Canopy will create a new sound world beneath the trees of Moors Valley Country Park and Forest at Ashley Heath from Saturday 13 September for the duration of Inside Out Dorset. Comprising 24 new sound listening pods inspired by Nature, visitors will literally listen to the trees and hear stories told by local people in response to the woodland.

As well as the second appearance of Consequences, the instantly familiar outline of Corfe Castle provides the spectacular backdrop for Inside Out Dorset’s Catalan showcase in the village on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 September at the National Trust-managed Castle, where admission is free as part of national Heritage Open Days, as well as Sandy Hill Arts and the village hall.

Idiòfona is artist Joan Català’s invitation to spectators to create an idiophone, a large sound installation/musical instrument that plays by vibration in an ode to the pleasure of shared experience. An examination of our approach to fear, We Fear by Eva Marichalar-Freixa and Jordi Duran i Roldós, in collaboration with Dorsetborn, is a site-specific promenade piece for Sandy Hill Arts created by the artists inspired by time spent in the area.

In Poi by Cie D’es Tro, the incredible world champion spinning top juggler Guillem Vizcaíno explores different types of wood, shapes and support points that have allowed him to create personal and special baldufas (tops). Finally, Arrels by Toc de Fusta is a family-friendly participatory installation, a playful experience with 16 interactive games and structures that serve as creative reinterpretations of specific cultural traditions from around the world, sharing not only their essence but also their history and character.

The spectacular finale of Inside Out Dorset 2025, Sonnet of Samsara is a breathtaking performance by Jayachandran Palazhy of Attakalari Dance in Bengalaru, Charlene Low, and Ali Pretty of Kinetika, sponsored by We Are Weymouth, and part of Portland and Weymouth Towns of Culture. Blending movement, storytelling, and visual art to explore cycles of existence, displacement, and the climate emergency, this evolving, immersive experience will weave its way through Weymouth from the town centre to the beach and audiences, incorporating Kinetika’s The Beach of Dreams Silks and Threads for Tomorrow installations to create a living artwork in motion.

The performance also marks the conclusion of Beach of Dreams, a UK-wide coastal arts festival, presented by UK arts charity Kinetika, activating and exploring the unique heritage, cultures and climate futures of our coastlines. As the festival’s final moment, it offers space for reflection, connection, and a collective reimagining of our coastal future, for while the live events conclude; the stories, climate pledges, and creative works will continue.

A spokesperson for Arts Council England said: “We’re proud to invest in Activate Performing Arts’ work to create live experiences shaped by people and place. It’s fantastic to see Inside Out Dorset go from strength to strength, attracting national and international talent to the area. It’s thanks to public funding we’re able to support community-led festivals and events all across England — because everyone, everywhere deserves to access high-quality creativity and culture on their doorstep.”

INSIDE OUT DORSET
Friday 12 – Sunday 21 September

Moors Valley Country Park and Forest
Town Quay, Christchurch
Summerhouse Hill, Yeovil
Corfe Castle
Weymouth

FREE