With artists� open house alongside open-air Shakespeare, and Bill Drummond�s mydeath.net project alongside The Big Worthing Open, the annual Artists & Makers Festivals brings together contemporary arts and crafts, live performance and web-based artwork.

And from Warnham to West Worthing, from Steyning to Shipley and from Pulborough to Plummers Plain - the Festival has a secure future thanks to a Sussex business�s sponsorship.

In an exciting new deal, accountancy practice Spofforths will sponsor the annual arts festival, which has expanded from the Worthing Arts Festival to become a countywide event. �We found the �Spofforths� name in every town where we staged events,� explains RAG spokesman Dan Thompson, �and as a truly Sussex business they are the ideal partner for the Artists & Makers Festival.�

Additional support from Horsham District Council has helped to develop the open houses and studios which take place during the festival, and which feature everything from contemporary textiles to painting, photography and sculpture. Other visual arts events include �The Big Worthing Open� exhibition at Worthing Museum & Art Gallery, and a one-day exhibition of RAG artists, which is being organised by able and gifted pupils attending a summer school at Littlehampton Community School.

The Artists & Makers Festival also includes a programme of music, poetry, performance and literature. Highlights include a talk by Bill Drummond, former frontman with the KLF, about his web-based mydeath.net project. And Rainbow�s open-air Shakespeare will see the company present �Hamlet� and �As You Like It� in the historic Highdown Gardens, at the edge of the South Downs.

More events are still being confirmed, and a full guide will be available in early June. All events will also be announced at www.artistsandmakers.com

The Artists & Makers Festival open houses & studios have their own guide, which will be launched at events at The Capitol, Horsham and Spofforths Worthing offices on Monday 23rd May.

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You are cordially invited to join us at the Artists & Makers Festival launch events: Monday 23rd May

Spofforths, Richmond Road, Worthing: 11am

The Capitol, Horsham: 2pm