TICKETS have gone on sale for interactive gaming, film, comedy and music events at the ICCI 360 festival arena.

Organisers are promising audiences a ‘totally unbelievable experience’ when they enter the 21-metre dome, situated on the Weymouth Pavilion forecourt throughout the London 2012 Games.

The Innovation for Creative and Cultural Industries (ICCI) 360 arena will open to the public from July 27 to September 9.

It will be a key ‘focal point’ for the 80-plus Maritime Mix events in the borough and can accommodate 750 people standing or 350 seated.

Around 40 events are being hosted, ranging from free workshops to £10 per person ticketed evening shows.

The diverse line-up includes 360 degree films and animations from regional, national and international artists, mini festivals and a fundraiser for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) on July 31 from 7.30pm with a specially-commissioned film.

Plus live music, theatrical performances, poetry, a choral workshop, comedy acts, participatory events such as a children’s 360 disco, a Zumba Fitness dance class, quiz and DJ nights, silent discos and interactive gaming.

Centre manager Dave Hotchkiss said: “It’s going to be a fantastic summer.

“We’ve got ticketed events, free workshops, performances and interactive gaming that will include a sailing event where people can sail around the Olympic courses.

“In the evenings we’ll be using the arena as a performance space for comedy, 360 degree film and dance nights.

“We’ll be open from 10am each day – it will be a totally unbelievable experience because we’re effectively recreating reality in a 360 dome.

“When you’re in there, there’s no front or back, all the walls are the screen and we’re bringing some stunning productions to Weymouth.”

Last July, the resort got a taste of the action when a smaller, 12.5-metre, dome popped up on Weymouth Beach to mark the one-year-to-go countdown.

This summer, the double-the-size dome will be based in the borough during the Olympic and Paralympic sailing competitions when hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected.

It will be situated close to the free beach Live Site for spectators and the ticketed Weymouth Bayside Festival behind the Pavilion.

The ICCI mini-festivals will include a free two-day programme of artists’ animation and moving images on August 10 and 11 from 10am to 11pm and a two-day dance and movement event on August 4 and 5.

A series of ‘In Motion’ films will compliment the London 2012 sailing and windsurfing events.

Other productions will reveal a remote submarine’s journey to the bottom of the ocean and the tiny microscopic creatures that inhabit our homes, clothes and bodies.

Tickets can be purchased from the Weymouth Pavilion Theatre Box Office unless otherwise stated.

Call 01305 783225 or visit plymouth. ac.uk/icci360

OFFICIAL LIVE SITE FOR CHANNEL 4

DURING the Paralympic sailing events the ICCI 360 arena will become the official Live Site for Channel 4, the official broadcaster of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Celebrations will begin on the evening of August 29 when the dome will host an event to mark the start of the Paralympic Games and to coincide with the official London Organising Committee’s Opening Ceremony in London.

Free tickets will be available but must be booked in advance.

Centre manager Dave Hotchkiss said: “We’re the C4 Live Site for the Paralympics in Weymouth.

“It will be free and we’ll broadcast the C4 feed at various times throughout the day.”