In advance celebration of the VENTNOR 2010 Arts Festival, a design a poster competition has been launched to provide valuable advertising for artists and this new Island festival.

Island artists are about to get a chance to win a cash prize and benefit from the sale of their work. Up-and-coming graphic artists are being invited to design a limited edition poster to be used for the launch of a new arts extravaganza in Ventnor.

The three-day arts festival is to run across the early May bank holiday in Ventnor next year. The competition is the first of several initiatives to be launched by the organisers that will showcase Island talent.

Ventnor 2010 aims to encompass the entire town, but will be focused around the Winter Gardens and will be used as a platform for a wide range of arts, including music, literature, film and drama, with performances, workshops, competitions and interactive events.

A prize of £200 cash, plus royalties, is currently on offer to the artist who can design a stylish and cutting-edge poster for VENTNOR 2010, which dubs itself “the arts festival by the sea”. The poster will be used to promote the event and will also be available from outlets around the town as a limited edition souvenir print.

In the coming months other initiatives will be launched to involve schools and Islanders of all ages in artistic endeavours to keep VENTNOR 2010 in the spotlight, ensuring it will become a firm fixture in the diaries of Islanders, as well as visitors from the UK and further afield.

The festival is the brainchild of four Ventnorians – Philip Oxley, Janneke Oxley, Chris Bonney and Gillian Jenner. Not only are they passionate about giving Ventnor and Island residents a chance to enjoy artists and entertainment of national and even international calibre, they are determined that Ventnor 2010 will be a net benefit for the Ventnor community.

“Our aim is to create economic opportunities for Ventnor and to have a positive impact on Ventnor’s communities young and old,” they say. “We want this to be an inspirational festival that is inclusive and brilliantly entertaining.”

Anyone who is interested in entering the VENTNOR 2010 poster competition or finding out more about the plans for next year’s arts festival should go to www.ventnorfestival.org