LUDLOW’S three Summer arts festivals have joined forces to produce an exciting brochure to encourage more arts tourism to the town. Rooftop Theatre’s Shakespeare at The Brewery, the Summer Arts Festival at St Laurence and Ludlow Fringe Festival have combined their programmes into a single brochure called 3 Weeks in Ludlow, which is out this week.

The organisers realised that by combining their programmes into one 36 page brochure with selective advertising opportunities, they would be able to meet the expense of producing 30,000 copies to promote the town as an arts tourism destination and secure each festival’s future. It will be widely circulated locally but will also have a targeted distribution in Manchester, Chester, Birmingham, Hereford, The Hay Festival, Evesham, Bristol, Cheltenham and Cardiff.

Ludlow Fringe Festival’s marketing director, Samantha Cole said: “It made sense for us all to work together to promote the town’s exciting arts offerings and as my other job is managing a contract publishing company, I was able to make it possible to produce a high quality publication in the numbers we require to bring arts lovers into Ludlow this summer.”

One of the organisers of the Summer Arts Festival at St Laurence, the church’s director of music, Shaun Ward said “This is the fourth year that we have hosted the event and want it to grow; being part of 3 Weeks in Ludlow will enable us to promote the inspirational music and musicians we have performing in one of England’s finest medieval churches to a very much wider audience.”

Simon Boulton from Rooftop theatre stated “it’s been great being part of team collaborating to make something bigger and fresher to fill the gap left by the folding of the previous two Ludlow arts festivals. The brochure looks great and should hopefully be picked up by many more people than our individual brochures would have been”.

“As Ludlow Fringe is now gaining both a national and international reputation, it’s been important for us to spread the word to a wider audience about the amazing performances we have this year – many of which you would generally have to go to much larger festivals to see,” said Ludlow Fringe Festival Director, Anita Bigsby. “We’re delighted to be a part of 3 Weeks in Ludlow as it gives us a greater opportunity to reach a bigger audience and to deliver a wider-ranging programme.”

3 Weeks in Ludlow can be picked up at most businesses in town and tickets to any of the events bought from Ludlow Assembly Rooms either at the box office, by telephoning 01584 878141 or online at www.ludlowassemblyrooms.co.uk.