A message from the Director Of Coastal Currents 2004
I keep on telling everyone I meet who hasn’t moved here yet, that the truly great thing about Hastings is that this is a place where individuals really do make a difference. I guess I am about to find out just how true that is. As the new manager for the Hastings Borough Council supported Coastal Currents, I have just taken over the responsibility of running, promoting and developing the festival and ultimately preparing it to be launched as an independent entity in two years time.
Some of you will know me already as the co-director of last years Word About Town Festival and one of the partners behind Don’t Feed the Poets and the Divine Church of Comedy. I’ve been involved in the arts and creative media pretty much all of my life and have designed and managed events from small scale touring shows right up to the epic Millennium Dome Zones of Work and Learning. Along the way I’ve created theme park rides, waxwork exhibitions, giant inflatable tongues, handled budgets from four hundred to four million and even tried being a stand up comedian.
I know this is what you’re supposed to say, but I really am excited about this opportunity. I love festivals and I love art so what better place to make a difference than right here in the heart of both. Hastings has a long tradition of self-made festivals and it is something that impressed me from the first off as a new resident. Jack in the Green, The Bonfire Procession, The Hastings Carnival and now Shot by The Sea and Word About Town. All started by local people for local people. A celebration of this unique, feisty and fiercely independent part of the South Coast. It’s no surprise then that this festival is unlike almost any other festival in England. A truly inclusive event, which relies for its success not on the big events that are brought in, but on the commitment of individual artists and local arts groups. This years tag line “It’s what you make it” is a real reflection of the difference that individuals make to the success of Coastal Currents. And here I am not just talking about the artists but the many people behind the scenes, the hundreds who attend the DO IT workshops and not least the audiences who flocked to Jour de Fete, Hastings Street Arts Theatre and the many Open Studios in Rye, Hastings and Bexhill.
This year we will be canvassing your opinions more than ever before to find out what you think about Coastal Currents and how we should be developing the festival into the future. In order to become an independent festival and raise our own capital, we have to show that the festival really does make an impact, not just in terms of the revenue brought in by tourists and visitors, but also on the perception of Hastings as a centre for cultural excellence. So if someone sticks a clipboard in your face, or you’re asked to fill in a questionnaire at an Open Studios event please give them a few minutes of your time and help us to show the people with the money that this festival, our festival, really does matter to the local population and does impact on the future regeneration of Hastings.
Coastal Currents Arts Festival 2004 website
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This page last updated: 24/08/2004