Press Releases week beginning 09 September 2019

Hastings Museum & Art Gallery partners with the British Museum on their National Lottery funded Museum Futures programme

Hastings Museum & Art Gallery has a year-long paid trainee post for a local young person. Hastings Museum & Art Gallery is looking for someone aged 18-24 who may not have thought about a career in museums before but who wants to develop their digital skills.

Museum Futures is a partnership of museums across the UK that supports new entrants into the museum sector.
 
Kim Forward, lead councillor for culture at Hastings Borough Council said,
"The trainee will complete an accredited Level 3 diploma in Cultural Heritage. They will get in-work skills training and experiences to further their career as well as monthly training sessions at partner museums across the UK.

"There will be a £13,350 (tax free) allowance. Part of the trainee's work will be photographing the museum's collections and sharing information about them through social media and the museum's website. 

"This is an exciting opportunity for a local young person who does not have a degree or more than 6 months paid experience working in a museum."

Hastings Museum & Art Gallery wants to receive applications from people who are under-represented in the museum sector, including black and minority ethnic people, those from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, and people with a disability.

Hastings Museum & Art Gallery will be having a trainee open day on Monday 21 October 2019. The open day is a chance to explore what it is like working at a museum, try some typical tasks and activities, and to meet the staff.  You can sign up for the open day at https://hastingsmuseum.eventbrite.co.uk.

To apply for the traineeship or to find out more about the programme go to https://www.museumfutures.co.uk/hastings. The closing date to apply for this opportunity is Sunday 27th November 2019.

Do you want to help improve opportunities for deprived communities in Hastings and Bexhill?

CHART (Connecting Hastings and Rother Together) need new board members to join our Local Action Group for 2020

CHART is a Community Led Local Development Programme with access to £2.8m of European Structural Investment Funds (ESIF) to support new projects that tackle deep-rooted problems in deprived communities within Hastings and Bexhill. Local groups will run projects to support people. They will help them to find and keep work, start businesses and create jobs.

The Role of the Local Action Group (LAG)

The LAG is made up of 12-15 local people. Members are from the public sector, voluntary groups and local businesses. The group want a grass roots approach for investing in the community. The LAG also looks after the completion of the programme and the impact on the community.

Kim Forward, lead councillor for regeneration at Hastings Borough Council said, "To be a board member you need an interest in improving your communities in Hastings and Bexhill. This is an unpaid role and involves a regular commitment of time to support the work of CHART. Training will be given.

"If you have the interest, and time to attend regular meetings we would like to hear from you. The role is not paid, but you will be making a big difference to people's lives."

If you are interested please fill in the application on the CHART website and return to CHART@hastings.gov.uk by Friday 01 November 2019 at 5pm.

• We particularly want to hear from underrepresented groups to make sure we have a wide variety of views. 

Hastings to celebrate its first-ever Car Free Day

Seafront road closure planned for community street party, marking the start of Sustainability on Sea 2019

A stretch of Hastings seafront from Warrior Square gardens to the pier will be closed to traffic on Sunday 22nd September to mark World Car Free Day.

The road will be turned into a pedestrianised community space with entertainment and activities devised to encourage local people to reimagine the town without the pollution, noise and stress of car traffic, and promote sustainable transport alternatives.

Traffic will be diverted away from the seafront from ten o'clock in the morning until eight in the evening between Warrior Square gardens in the west and the pier in the east, although access will be maintained for emergency vehicles.

Car Free Day is observed annually around the world to encourage communities to enjoy their environment in new ways and promote changes in behaviour needed to tackle the dangers of air pollution and climate change. It is the first time Car Free Day will be officially recognised in Hastings and St Leonards and marks the beginning of the week-long Sustainability on Sea festival.

Organised by Transition Town Hastings in partnership with Hastings Borough Council, the Car Free Day celebrations will include guerrilla gardening, mini park zones, racing modified bikes, music from local performers, craft workshops, discussion groups, dance troupes, retro games, skate skills demonstrations and a community picnic.

World Car Free Day is recognised by the UN for highlighting the long-term impact of road traffic on the environment as well as the immediate health and wellbeing of communities, and this year falls on the eve of the UN Climate Action Summit.

Transport is responsible for more than a fifth of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, believed to be the largest contributor of long-term climate change. Diesel transport is one of the world's largest producers of black carbon particulate pollution, the second highest contributor towards climate change after CO2, and the air pollutant most closely associated with increased air-pollution related mortality and morbidity.

While concerns about climate change and air pollution are ever-present, Car Free Day's organisers are keen to highlight the benefits and enjoyment the day will bring:

Sarah Macbeth of Transition Town said:

"Car Free Day is a way to imagine how different urban environments would be if we were all a bit less reliant on our cars; what the town would look like, smell like and sound like with fewer vehicles on the road, and how differently we could use our spaces. By closing roads to traffic we are creating more clean, safe and healthy areas for play, interaction and creativity. And while we can't expect people to give up their cars altogether the day acts as a prompt for us all to reconsider non-essential car journeys."

She adds:

"Our community is already very engaged with environmental issues and Hastings has a great reputation for getting together for various celebrations so we are thrilled the council has agreed to join prominent cities all around the world in marking Car Free Day, and it's a fantastic kick-off for the Sustainability on Sea festival."

Cllr Maya Evans, Hastings Borough Council's lead councillor for climate change, added: "I am delighted that the council is supporting Car Free Day 2019, for the first time ever. We declared a climate emergency this year, and know how important the environment is. Closing just a small part of our seafront is symbolic, and I do hope it will make people think again about the impact their own cars have on the environment."