This year's Coastal Currents contemporary arts festival promises to be even bigger as it reaches its fourth year. Street theatre, stunning outdoor sound and light spectaculars, local artists at work and a film festival which is aiming to go national are just part of this year's offerings!
The festival, which runs from September right the way through to the end of October, now encompasses the coastline from Bexhill as far as Dungeness. It is a celebration of art in all its mediums, allowing the visitor access to artists in their studios and working environments, and to tickle everyone's tastebuds.
Councillor Trevor Webb, Cabinet Member responsible for Culture, Leisure and Amenities, said:
"Coastal Currents is now developing into a festival which encourages culture, invites participation and celebrates the arts. This year, it has even attracted attention from Europe and really is an event which has something for everyone."
Programmes will shortly be available from Hastings Information Centre, Queens Square.
For more information about Coastal Currents or the workshops taking place you can contact Tracey Johnson, Project Co-ordinator on 781072 email tjohnson@hastings.gov.uk or Arts Development Officer Penny Precious on 781154 email pprecious@hastings.gov.uk
These projects are being supported by Southern and South East Arts as well as Hastings Borough Council.
Imagine this...
Darkness falls. Thousands of watching people fall silent. Then a distant noise gently rips the air, like a million insect wings. It is hundreds of feet of sticky tape pulled and twisted from the shadows, drawing lines of light that quiver in the air.
High above, a winged figure treads the sky, falters, and then falls into a heaving carcass of translucent spidery limbs. A huge structure of fire, machinery and smoke rises out of the darkness; a tower of filigree pinnacles shimmering with fireworks against the backdrop of the night sky.
And this is just the beginning of STICKY, Improbable Theatre's first outdoor site specific event at Alexandra Park. Part ritual, part pyrotechnic extravaganza and part performance engineering, it is lyrical, dynamic, simple and spectacular. Visit this performance and expect to see a 100ft tower, a crane, a giant sticky tape spider, a live mixed soundtrack and a breathtaking pyrotechnic display.
Hastings Borough Council will be employing approximately 16 local people as part of its New Audience Development Programme, which aims to encourage new people into the arts - particularly young people. These 16 will become part of the STICKY team. They will be creating and animating images, play a vital role in the sticky tape tower construction and make some of the props being used in the show.
Improbable Theatre is a London-based theatre company who have become known for creating the unexpected. They have toured all over the world during the last five years and have won major awards in places as diverse as New York, Cairo and Manchester. The World Famous are one of the UK's most innovative and groundbreaking companies working with fire and fireworks.
The event is due to take place in Alexandra Park on September 7th. More information will be available from Hastings Information Centre nearer the time.
Shot by the Sea, the digital film festival which is part of Coastal Currents, is this year planning to go national!
The film festival last year showcased on the pier and at The Odeon but this year hopes to use venues such as Smugglers Adventure, Alexandra Park and the Castle.
There will be video workshops, new feature films, short films, installations and presentations by internationally renowned directors, film makers and artists.
There are also plans to stage a whole range of digital video workshops in a solar panelled marquee and run by the world famous 'Groovy Movie Company'.
Shot by the Sea will take place over the course of a week from October 28th to November 3rd.
Entries up to 10 minutes long on DVD, miniDV, S-VHS or VHS are invited by 1 September.
For full details contact Tracey Johnson, Project Co-ordinator on 781072 or email shotbythesea@hotmail.com
Young people are being invited to take part in music, theatre, art workshops and events that are being planned for the Summer.
A programme is being put together which will run throughout the Summer and will give young people the chance to take part in percussion, scratch DJ and other experimental music forms which will be led by a range of music groups and musicians. Local community arts group DAB will be running a series of drama workshops and working on street theatre and a video to form Hastings & St Leonards very own Youth Theatre.
Experience a dynamic array of artistic talents to feast your senses on as Hastings & St Leonards is transformed by a street festival in September.
National arts groups and local arts groups, including Radiator, will fill the streets with sound, music and light as they transform our environment. The festival will bring you circus, comedy, politics, theatre, dance and installations as part of the Council's ongoing commitment to making the arts open and accessible to all.
The Street Festival will take place on September 14th and 15th.
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This page last updated: 25/06/2002