Coastival 2009 Bringing Yorkshire to the Seaside is a three-day celebration of music, dance, theatre, visual arts, spoken word and comedy.

The event will be held from February 13 to 15 next year at a range of traditional and unusual venues.

A full list of acts for the festival has yet to be confirmed – a programme will be released later this summer.

Confirmed highlights include a large-scale outdoor event on the beach to launch the festival with a lantern parade for children.

There will be a Festival of Light, which is a show featuring dance choreographed with light, and a programme of music in the hotels.

Creative talents from Scarborough and the rest of Yorkshire are due to appear at the festival while there will be ways for schools, youth groups and community groups to get involved.

Organisers hope the event will provide an out-of-season boost to the town’s economy as it is expected to attract visitors from across the region and the rest of the country.

A team will travel around Yorkshire to promote the event.

The festival is being organised by Scarborough-based arts development agency Create and will be supported by the local arts scene including Beached, Musicport, Scarborough Jazz, Scarborough Literature Festival, Acoustic Gathering, Sun Court Film Festival as well as a host of local venues.

Wendy Clews, director of Create, said: “This is going to be something new and really special for Scarborough. For three days the town will be the place to be if you want to enjoy a fantastic variety of events and entertainment.

“Coastival will bring together artists and organisations to showcase Scarborough and put the town on the national and international festival map. We hope it will draw in visitors from far and wide and give Scarborough’s economy a boost for the start of the year.”