Supporting documents for Black2hastings
BLACK2HASTINGS PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES
Freedom Bus
2 Trips to cultural institutions- TBD with community
Freedom Buses began in the 1960s as a peaceful protest to highlight the inequalities that Black and People of Colour faced in America and England.​ Today Afri-Co-Lab invites Black and People of Colour from St Leonards, Rother & Hastings to come with their friends and families to take a ride on the BLACK 2 HASTINGS Freedom Bus.
We meet in the mornings at a central location in St Leonards, where a coach will take the community to our destination cultural institution, pilots have seen us visit Fashion Africa at the V&A, Sonya Boyce at The Turner Contemporary and The Turner Prize at The Towner Gallery. Community members are given a creative pack- with activities they can do on the coach or throughout the day. Traveling by coach encourages folks to chat and get to know each other on the trip, there are snacks provided for the journey and plenty of comfort breaks. We work with the Institution to provide care and and deeply held experience for our group. They have a space within the institution which works as base for the day. Workshops and activities are curated to link to the institution and the exhibition/work we are seeing. The group are also met by a senior creative from the Institution or connected to work to give in-depth and behind the scenes information to the work.
A collective picnic is shared and the community are encouraged to bring food to share if possible, however Afri-Co-Lab always brings enough for everyone covering all dietary needs. Then there is free or curated guides to the work or exhibition we are visiting. There is also time to explore the local area- weather dependent. Then we travel back home on the bus together- allowing space and time for reflections, processing and a communal sharing of the work.
Shop Front Gallery
4 Artists take over the shop front turning it into a 24 hour community street gallery.
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Through an open callout, 4 local artists will be selected to exhibit a piece of work in our shopfront window for 4-6 weeks, with the opportunity to sell work with low commission costs. We will support the artist with a fee and installation support with the work being able to be seen 24 hours a day on a busy seafront walking route.
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We Piloted this project over 2021-2022 with local artists, and artist received sales, commissions and further exhibiting opportunities.
Network Nights
7 events taking place at Afri-Co-Lab, Eggtooth, The Towner, Stelladore, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery
Taking place at Afri-Co-Lab and other local arts galleries and community spaces. We will collate a cohort of 7 artists from an open call to show and present an already created work or a work in progress. It will be a chance for the artist to present their practice, speak about their work and also network with their peers and other arts professionals. It will be a paid opportunity and also an opportunity for the wider community to meet and discover local BPoC artists and creatives.
What Sarah Read Next - Literary Events
5 events taking place at Afri-Co-Lab with Black and People of Colour Writers
Sarah Gwonyoma from @WhatSarahReadNext will be invited to curate a series of author talks. Inviting BPoB authors from across the country to share their latest work and their journey as authors. These conversations will be lead by Sarah and then opened out to the room to create space for community conversations about the themes within the work and how they affect the lives within our community. In our piloting & creating of this offer we have spoke with Claire Ratinon, Claire Amuah, Kate Sawyer and Uju Asika.
Pop-Up Artist Shop
To take place over Easter & Summer busy periods.
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Taking advantage of our location and the increased footfall over the Easter holidays and Summer months, we will set up an artist pop-up shop. Through an open call and working with artists, crafters and creatives we have supported in our first years we will support this group to create a dynamic Pop-up shop for them to sell their products and creations. This will also allow locals and visitors sample the creative talents of locals- often only found selling online. It is a chance for makers to see the reactions to their products, test our new ideas, find new audiences and also create an independent and diverse shopping experience, whilst supporting local economy and building on the offer of St Leonards being a creative and hip destination.