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Young Cultural Changemakers Dover

Dover at Night

Learn more about Dover at Night – an event designed to amplify youth voice, celebrate Dover’s history and heritage, and bring the whole community together.

2024

Back in 2024, we partnered with the Maison Dieu and over 20 community partners to inaugurate Dover at Night. The event aimed to amplify youth voice through creativity, celebrate Dover’s rich history and heritage, and encourage community participation.

It featured more than 30 creative activities across 12 venues and showcased the work of over 1,500 local schoolchildren from Samphire Academy Trust. Their artwork, projected both inside and outside buildings, reflected the values they believe are important to Dover.

  • A young girl drawing using acrylic paint pens alongside her grandmother
  • Two people laughing and talking at a creative event in Dover
  • A young person sat at a table next to an adult, participating in a creative workshop using acrylic paint pens

Throughout the night, I saw families engaging in creativity, some who regularly pick up their art supplies, some rekindling their love for art, and others trying it out for the first time. It was clear that everyone, young and old, was having fun creating something with their community.

2025

Building on the momentum of its 2024 debut and in partnership with the Reawakening the Maison Dieu project, Dover at Night 2025 once again transformed the town centre into a vibrant hub of creativity, attracting 5,000 visitors who came together to enjoy a celebration of art, music, and community spirit. A highlight of the 2025 event was an animation project inspired by the River Dour, created by Dover’s primary school pupils.

  • A building that has been illuminated with multicoloured projections of young people's artworks, a bright red light is shining on a statue in the foreground
  • Two dancers performing in front of a stage waving light-up purple Isis wings
  • A building that has been illuminated with multicoloured projections of young people's artworks
  • Seven Artswork staff wearing our branded T-shirts and smiling as they attend Dover at Night

These animations, projected throughout the town, explored the river’s ecological and historical significance through a stained glass-inspired theme. They were brought to life through a series of free creative workshops, held in partnership with the White Cliffs Countryside Partnership, as a tribute to the Maison Dieu’s historic stained-glass windows.

The creativity, enthusiasm, and community spirit on display were truly inspiring. It’s a testament to the power of the arts to bring people together and celebrate local heritage in meaningful ways.

Car Mural

As part of a Creative Careers event co-organised by the ​‘Reawakening the Maison Dieu’ project and EKC Dover College, young people created a mural on a car to highlight that creativity plays a crucial role in all areas of learning. The finished mural was showcased at Dover at Night.

  • A young college student drawing directly onto a donated silver car using acrylic paint pens that is being transformed into a colourful 3D mural
  • A crowd gather around a silver car that has been completely covered in various colourful drawings, doodles, and text by young people.
  • A silver car that has been completely covered in various colourful drawings, doodles, and text by young people. The car is illuminated by a purple light, shining through the windows and highlighting the drawings on the windscreen
A pile of instruments made from recycled materials as part of a 'Junk Band'. The surfaces of drums, shakers, and cymbals have been covered in colourful doodles by young people.

EKC Dover College Junk Band

Read more about how students from EKC Dover College transformed found materials into instruments for their Junk Band, and how this helped encourage community participation during Dover at Night.

Read more

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