Dan Thompson is an artist, writer and founder of RAG - the Revolutionary Arts Groop, formed in 2000 and based in West_Sussex, England.
Dan’s arts career started in 1988, when he joined the community arts team at The Connaught Theatre, Worthing. While there he was involved in the transformation of the Ritz, an Edwardian theatre then used as a rehearsal room, scenery store and workshops, into a working venue; it still operates today, as a cinema.
In 1993, Dan founded Exit, a multimedia arts collective who fused art, DJs, live bands, artists and a psychedelic lightshow and brought diverse bands like 70 Gwen Party, Big_Country, Tribute To Nothing and Orange Deluxe to Worthing. NME scribe John Robinson described Exit’s debut event as “sufficiently apocalyptic”.
Also in 1993, Dan started work with Rainbow Theatre; a relationship which continues to this day. Dan has worked as a designer on many shows touring schools, and is a founder member of Rainbow Shakespeare, Rainbow Theatre’s sister company who produce open-air productions each summer and have performed at the Glastonbury Festival.
From 1994, Exit were based at The Factory in Worthing, a nightclub designed by Deadline artists Jamie_Hewlett (Tank_Girl & Gorillaz), Phil Bond and Glynn Dillon.
After Exit, Dan spent time working in Brighton clubs and touring with bands. He went on to work with influential Britpop club and record label Blow Up, as a DJ on a tour of arts centres, universities and colleges, to promote the Blow Up A-Go-Go single when it was used on a GAP ad campaign.
Dan started working with maverick musician Richard Durrant, after meeting him during a production of African Sanctus in 1995, and became involved in Richard’s label LongMan Records in 1998. Dan was also involved in The Adur Festival from 1995 - 2000, and in founding the successful Beach Dreams events.
Between 1998 - 1999, Dan returned to his interest in historic theatre and cinema buildings, as a founder of the Trust that now own and manage the Dome Cinema, Worthing.
In 1999, Dan became a member of Karin Paish’s Alchemic Resource Centre, based on a Shoreham houseboat. Dan’s collaborations with Karin and performance artist Harry Palmer saw him on GM-TV
During the Adur Festival 2000, Dan held his first solo exhibition, which led to him joining Worthing studios group 12 Miles West. It was while resident here that he formed the Revolutionary Arts Group, with his wife Tracey Thompson who he met when they shared space at the studio. In 2008, Dan bought a Worthing CD and record shop, Random Rules, and relaunched it as Revolutionary Music, adding art, books and fanzines to the CDs and records.
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