The winner of a MacArthur Fellowship, Shen creates dances that incorporate visual and storytelling elements from the theatre, Chinese opera, Eastern philosophy and traditional and contemporary visual art and sculpture.

BBC: Celebrating movement amid sculpture

Its free roster of dance, theatre, music and visual art performances includes the Garden, a gravity-defying piece of outdoor theatre from the British disabled theatre company Graeae and the Australia-based company Strange Fruit.

BBC: London for the Paralympic Games

Beyond the records themselves, Bowie's restless eye for new stimuli, drawn from the worlds of cinema, theatre, fashion and visual art, made him pop's most imaginative stylist.

CNN: Bowie: Why we're just glad to have him back

"East Kent has always had a strong reputation for cultural excellence, be it in the field of theatre or literature, the visual arts or dance and developments over the last few years have only served to cement that relationship, " he said.

BBC: Orlando Bloom backs East Kent City of Culture bid

The program for the festival's landmark 20th year includes film, dance, theatre, opera, music, fashion and visual art events, all with a French slant.

BBC: Asia gets a dose of Cubism

The festival, which runs from 9 August to 1 September, showcases global talent in theatre, dance, music, opera and the visual arts.

BBC: Leonardo's da Vinci's anatomical work

The six groups with reduced funding are Southampton's Turner Sims Concert Hall, John Hansard Gallery and Nuffield Theatre, The Anvil in Basingstoke, Southampton-based Art Asia and the Aspex Visual Arts Trust, based in Portsmouth.

BBC: Southampton City Council gets ?300,000 arts funding