Robertsbridge Arts Partnership was formed in the early months of the millennium year – a significant year for the village with the devastating floods in 2000. The founding members were passionate about the importance of the arts in the widest sense to enhance our lives and community spirit.
Our aim is to continue to educate, entertain and amuse all ages in the local community and to offer an increasingly wide variety of events covering the cultural spectrum.
Several of the original committee continue to work for RAP, and the ethos of RAP has stayed the same: to bring high quality affordable arts events to our local area. Over the years we have had so very many different memorable performances and events. Two groups, which started in 2000, were the Reading Group and the Community Choir, and we are delighted to report that both are still going strong as independent organisations. You can read about past productions on our PAST EVENTS page.
As well as professional theatre performances there have been dance, music and literature festivals, a youth theatre, as well as support for commissions such as the Noah sculpture in the Jubilee Gardens. And of course RAP started the village Christmas Capers evening, now a firm festive favourite to kick off the Christmas season. The popular annual Arts Quiz is also a fixture in our calendar, with many local teams competing for great prizes.
We will be taking on the running of the Arts & Crafts Festival weekend from 2023 which has long been organised by local artist and musician Roger Hill, and we hope this will continue to provide a showcase for local artists to exhibit and sell their wonderful works.
Through growth in membership and a wide variety of well-attended events RAP continues to thrive as a self-sufficient organisation.
Our Facebook page offers publicity for partner organisations such as the BlackShed Gallery. Kenton Lowe, the owner of the gallery, has worked with RAP on a number of projects over the years. We are grateful for and benefit from the use of The Ostrich as a free venue for events and for our meetings.
Link to Facebook: https://facebook.com/RobertsbridgeArtsPartnership
Living in the village are an extraordinary number of professional artists, musicians and singers. Many of them give their talents freely to perform or support RAP events. Appreciation should also go to those volunteers on the RAP Committee who give their time and efforts so generously to keep the ‘show on the road’!
We look forward to seeing you at our next event!