A high-profile circus and street arts festival celebrating 10 years in Great Yarmouth has received an £80,000 cash boost.
The Out There International Festival of Circus and Street Arts is set to benefit after the Greater Yarmouth Tourism and Business Improvement Area (GYTABIA) secured a grant from the Arts Council England.
The festival returns to the streets, parks and open spaces of Great Yarmouth for its 10th anniversary year on September 16 and 17.
The funding will directly support the festival's international programme, which will include the UK premieres of Spain's Jessica Arpin and French act Carnage Productions, as well as a new interactive family zone.
It will also support the traditional Saturday evening spectacular, which this year takes a new twist.
UK percussion ensemble Worldbeaters are collaborating with German puppet masters Dundu in a giant processional show which will wind through the cultural quarter rather than along the seafront as in previous years.
This is the second year GYTABIA and the festival's producers SeaChange Arts have worked in partnership.
Joe Mackintosh of SeaChange Arts said: 'The imaginative support of GYTABIA has been crucial in putting together this year's festival.
'In the current climate, it's increasingly hard to fund a festival which remains almost entirely free to the public.
'Local partnerships and joined-up thinking are key, and both organisations share the ambition of bringing new and greater visitor numbers to the town.'
Ken Sims, chair of the GYTABIA marketing group, said: 'It's been exciting to see how the festival has developed over the last 10 years.
'SeaChange's ambitions of making Out There the nation's leading circus and street arts event, will help cement Great Yarmouth's heritage and cultural offer, vitally important to extending the shoulder season for visitors to the area.'
For further information on the festival visit www.great-yarmouth.co.uk/whats-on/out-there-festival.aspx
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