AN international cavalcade of contemporary music, theatre and dance entitled Black / North SEAS is due to arrive on the East Lindsey coast in September 2009, attracting national attention and visitors from across the world.

The result of a successful major funding bid by East Lindsey District Council, this project has achieved £275,000 investment from Arts Council England and the European Culture Programme with support from East Lindsey District Council, Skegness Town Council, Lincolnshire County Council, the University of Lincoln and Lincolnshire Tourism.

Skegness and the coast is the only UK venue for this initiative, which launches from Odessa in the Ukraine in May this year and then travels through 10 countries until the end of 2009. Participating countries also include: Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

The Council’s Portfolio Holder for Culture, Councillor Adam Grist, said: "The SEAS Project offers us a fantastic opportunity to re-discover our unique coast. The area is thriving with creative people and we made sure that our funding enables us to provide a platform to celebrate local arts as well as hosting international artists. The world-class companies coming to Skegness will expand our horizons but they will also attract lots of people to re-discover our coastline as they travel to take experience this once-in-a-lifetime event."

The Council has recently been running information sessions for locally-based artists, and over the next few months will be talking to people across the arts, tourism and education sectors in the district. If you would like to know more please phone Nicki Gardner on 01507 329437 or email nicki.gardner@e-lindsey.gov.uk