We aim to foster the development, awareness, understanding and appreciation of the arts in Hastings and across the South East. Initially we collaborated on a local weekly arts e-bulletin, a resource for the local creative community, providing a platform to profile and develop local practitioners’ work.
We managed the Coastal Currents arts festival in 2009 and 2010, and are currently working towards 2011. Through the festival we have programmed talks, seminars, workshops, CPD events, tours, activity trails and commissioned live performance events, exhibitions, experimental theatre, public artworks and artists' interventions.
We have also coordinated projects in empty shops in Hastings town centre, and have recently been invited to run Project at the newly built Stade Hall, part of the new development in the historic fishing quarter. This will be our base until October 2011.
Hastings is a creative and eccentric town brimming with artists, poets, writers and musicians, and with a nationally recognised tradition of festival and celebration. Current cultural re-developments at the Stade include the Jerwood Gallery, Stade Hall and Open Space for performances and events, which will bring quality contemporary art works to Hastings, and provide opportunities for local artists to showcase their practice.
Creative Coast is well-placed to actively contribute to these developments; commissioning, developing and promoting new work through Project Space, and Coastal Currents.
Lorna Crabbe graduated in Fine Art in 2000, and the Graduate Certificate in Book Arts in 2007. She regularly exhibits locally and nationally, writes, runs workshops, gives talks, and coordinates and contributes to artists projects.
She moved to Hastings in 2007, having formerly lived in London working at the Photography & the Archive Research Centre at London College of Communication, where she coordinated exhibitions, publications, events and research projects in collaboration with a wide range of artists, curators, writers, archivists, publishers and researchers, and with institutions including Tate Modern, the Photographers' Gallery, NPG, London College of Fashion, Photoworks and University of Sussex.
www.lornacrabbe.co.uk
Sarah Yates graduated in Fine Art in 2007 from Kingston University. She specialises in digital installation and has exhibited locally, nationally and internationally in recent years. Sarah enjoys forming collaborations, developing projects and curating exhibitions.
Over recent years she has worked specifically in programme development and arts administation at a number of festivals and arts institutions locally and nationally. Including Vauxhall Art Car Boot Fair (Brick Lane, London), Home Live Arts- The Art of Protest May Day Festival, (Battersea, London) in 2007, St Leonards Festival in 2007, Folkestone Triennial in 2008, Marketing Assistant at Aspex Visual Arts Trust in 2009, Brighton Festival Fringe 2010 & 2011, and administrating the international productions of Dreamthinkspeak 2011.
Through her community and engagement work Sarah has a strong connections with De La Warr Pavilion, Towner, Stanley Picker Gallery, Public Works, and delivered projects with Creative Partnerships.
http://sarahyates85.blogspot.com/