BOURNEMOUTH is to bring together five of its big autumn events and promote them as a month-long programme under the brand name BOMO.

The season, running from September 27 to October 29, will celebrate the town’s animation, digital and arts scenes.

It will unite the BFX animation and gaming festival; the careers conference Digital Wave; the Silicon Beach digital festival; the Arts by the Sea Festival; and the One World by the Sea Festival celebrating international education.

The decision to unite the events echoes Silicon Beach founder Matt Desmier’s ambition for Bournemouth to hold its own answer to the South by Southwest (SXSW) creative and media festival in Austin, Texas, as reported in the Daily Echo recently.

Bournemouth council leader Cllr John Beesley said: “Bournemouth council has played an important role in the past in nurturing the town’s digital festivals. Bringing these festivals together with our own festival, Arts by the Sea, under the BOMO brand aims to build on Bournemouth’s reputation as a creative and digital hub.

“We are committed to developing the cultural offer locally to build a great place for people to live, work and visit.”

The events are:

* BFX Festival, a celebration of animation in films and video games, which will be run by Bournemouth University from October 2-8. It has attracted speakers from Disney, Pixar, Industrial Light and Magic, Framestore and more, with delegates treated to behind he scenes footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Interstellar, The Lego Movie and Moana.

Animated Women, an organisation launched in 2013 to support women in animation and visual effects, will be at the festival, which ends with a family weekend.

* Digital Wave – the UK’s largest digital youth careers conference – on October 2. It was set up by Andrew Henning, founder of digital agency Redweb, in 2014, to inspire young people about opportunities in the sector.

* Silicon Beach, a conference for brand, agencies and other businesses, attracting high quality keynote speakers from September 27-29. This year’s delegates will include those from Ted Baker, Graze and Booking.com.

* Arts by the Sea, from October 14-21, which features performances, exhibitions and installations across the town. This year’s theme is Plastic Beach, with artists invited to explore the tension between ecology and industry.

* One World by the Sea Festival, which will celebrate the diversity and internationalism of education in Bournemouth and Poole. Events will take place in both boroughs from October 26-29.