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First weekend of Coastal Currents creates suspense dance and art all over town!
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| Credit: Director, Tina Morris |
What an opening weekend filled with so much young talent, five murals covering the town, plus events and open studios. Hastings' Coastal Currents Arts Festival, now in its 25th year, focused on young people with a force. Its opening weekend covered the whole town with colour and art, from the acid yellow posters bringing the sunshine around town, to the opening party at the White Rock Theatre and the perambulatory exhibition on bus stops and shop windows.
Alongside this, five new murals appeared across town from a conscious effort to put some love into the Old Bathing Pool site, leave a legacy on the White Rock Theatre, and refresh and rejuvenate the basement outdoor corridor left unused for years.
“Coastal Currents like to always leave things better than when they found them,” says Director Tina Morris. "We're driven by a love of this town and want to ensure that everywhere we host a party, we leave a little gift of creativity that can brighten the lives of everyone who frequents the space. We don’t just use a venue for our party, we bring a whole new life to it, showcasing what can be done by bringing new concepts to a space using local creatives and ensuring that the Arts Council money we receive benefits the whole community.”
Last year Coastal Currents paint-bombed the Pig venue on the seafront in Hastings, by entering the venue after closing time with full trust of the business owner and surprising a whole community by sunrise with a whole different creative interior of murals, curated to fit the venue. This year, Coastal Currents took on one of their most beloved venues, the White Rock Theatre, under new management and with a whole new spring in its step.
“We saw the basement tunnel, which runs along the front of the venue and we just wanted to help make it somewhere special for everyone to enjoy. We like a challenge and especially one that benefits many and leaves a legacy driven by creatives to make their surroundings better."
Coastal Currents applied for funding with young people firmly at the core, half for Coastal Currents and half for its sister organisation Audiotrope. One focuses on the creative economy and the other on the music economy. Tina says, “My passion lies in being able to bridge the gap between art and music while understanding how important it is to our visitor economy and to providing opportunities for young people.
“Don’t sit complaining about tagging or grimy streets, unloved spaces, go do something about it. I'd feel a hypocrite moaning about tagging, unloved spaces or opportunities for young people without trying to do something about it, so I go and change it. That's actually what the young people need to see: action. Also, that change is possible and they can make their own opportunities - the fact that we can have an idea and act on it."
During the evenings, Ben Browton stepped in as the host and compere, warming up the audience with his unique style.
“Ben is a genius! We're so lucky to have him in this town and he really is one of my greatest formative influences (The Shapes & Sister Bendy - look them up), he describes his identity through his artwork as 'whitefluid lefthaired, redhanded genderartist.' and this performance saw him at his best!” Tina shares.
The showcase on Friday night at the White Rock Theatre, included young poet Betsie Tingle mentored by Debra Watson who wowed the crowds with her confidence and lyricism. Dhona, a female projection mapping artist whose visuals made the whole event an interactive space, tracked the feed from the desk and aligned the graphics live. Poppy Rockett, an amazing young band from Hastings, showed such poise and are tipped for the top. Zoe the Trumpeter, most used to band performances, braved a solo that received supportive praise from the audience. Meanwhile, Lily Kim, a previous Audiotrope musician, took to the stage to show the audience how it's done with support on stage from her newlywed husband and fellow musician Tom Fryer. All looked otherworldly with the changing graphics, from organic shapes to digital wizardry.
The evening finished with three female DJ’s curated by William Bunch giving them an opportunity to create their own vibe to a crowd of very appreciative onlookers. Evezy was first on stage DJing solo to warm up the crowds followed by Eida and Soy, a DJ duo who clearly just had so much fun. The pictures say it all thanks to festival photographer Alexander Brattel.
Alexander Brattell is also the centrepiece of a new publicly accessible free exhibition on the walkover bridge at Hastings Station thanks to Southeastern Railways. Printed on vinyls and covering the station windows in a delicate and sensitive way, this exhibition lays out the legacy Coastal Currents has had on the town and usefully tells you where to go to find some of the pieces.
One of the weekend's highlights was the West Street Weekender curated by artist Megan Donfrancesco Reddy, celebrating the unique quirky industrial vibe of this special artist-filled street in Hastings Old Town.
On Saturday a troupe of community dancers who'd volunteered to take part in festival organised dance classes for seven days intensively, performed the final dance together on the Stade Open Space. The age ranges of the dancers spanned from 16 - 60+ but the enjoyment was clear to see. The dancers even performed a second time to the delight of passers-by for the sheer pleasure of performing together. The workshops were the genius of Sam from Bristol based contemporary dancer Trash Dollys.
Sunday night saw West Street full for an acrobatic inverted performance by artist Daria Fisher, a Russian virtuoso violinist and musician new to the town, who played live and sung her original tracks whilst hung upside down by one ankle above West Street. Named Selsyn Flow this performance explored innovative intersections within music, including the connection between the gravity of the body and music. Kids below were in awe at such a spectacle and the whole street including residents and businesses came out for the show.
“We couldn’t have done these more complicated and high quality performances without the support and funding from the Arts Council England," Tina continues. "They take so much intricate planning, risk assessments, professional riggers, equipment and street closures, nevermind a million other things. You couldn’t take on supporting the more adventurous or unique performances never done before without some sort of decent budget. It wouldn’t be safe.”
Tina Morris likes to take well managed risks, she knows it is essential to create new, unseen work and allow artists to fulfill their full potential. A qualified IOSH risk assessor and experienced in running farms and visitor attractions in her previous roles she knows that risk is essential when working on brave new projects and has a vital lesson rooted in fun. "Without being able to take calculated risks and provide a cushion for artists to experiment we would just end up taking the same old touring projects and not create from the grassroots up,” she says. "Rollercaosters might not be so fun without an element of risk and the festival definitely is a kind of rollercoaster, however we work with professionals at every level.
Coastal Currents now has a firm reputation hand in hand with placemaking specialist Sweet and Dandy aka Tina Morris of creating not just murals but pieces that leave a positive legacy across the town. From the Morrison’s swimming lady in 2018 to the West Hill Shelter or the Bexhill Butterfly, even the BT Box trail, all are in the spirit of local reinvention of space that creates a permanent and ongoing change of perspective resulting in a better level of care for surroundings, sense of place and a definite increase in civic pride.
This year, Tina has taken on the electric box at the Old Bathing Pool site in St Leonards. A beloved space which often looks a little desolate at times, yet a vital piece of green space where locals walk their dogs, sunbathe, jog, cycle and generally do healthy activities. It's already impossible to remember how it was and the rubbish around it is already starting to disappear.
Tina explains, “The local cafe The Dugout and the staff there looked after us and said such positive things and the passing public were so impressed with the artists work and happy we were making the place look a bit better. We wanted to paint something from the sea-side that represented the history of the bathing site and REQ’s swimming Smudge is the perfect dreamy choice. Painted with his new CMY process practice the transparent paints give it a light touch. In contract on the side of the box we wanted something bold that you could see from far away, marking the electric box as a “place” rather than an ugly eyesore. Hero32 visited to paint his version of Mennelaus, husband of Helen of Troy who famously tried to murder her but when he saw her irresistible beauty dropped his sword. On the road-side and arguably the most imposing side when you turn off the main road is a piece created by well-known street artist David Speed who we luckily could attract to this town with the weather, seaside and aligned community values. David has painted a pink neon Peregrine Falcon due to its connection with the area. I am so proud we had these internationally famous artists contributing to the town and making public free art accessible to all.”
Check out https://coastalcurrents.org.uk
