Accentuate

The Hastings and St Leonards Revealed Residency was part of the Creative Landscapes project: working with Deaf and disabled people in Hastings and Gosport to explore accessible and creative approaches to heritage. In 2009/10, the project focussed on developing new programmes of events for Heritage Open Days, a national annual event, and commissioning disabled artists to deliver participatory residencies that took local heritage as their inspiration.

The residency had three main aims:

• To offer a paid creative opportunity for disabled artists as part of their career development.
• To enable disabled people to explore their local heritage through participatory workshops.
• To create new and accessible events for Heritage Open Days. 

Over the three month residency, artist Lynn Weddle worked around The Stade in Hastings, using photography to explore the area, the people who work there and the changes it is currently experiencing. She:

• Ran a series of photography workshops for participants from Autism Sussex. The group created a film of their work that was shown at The Shipwreck Centre as part of Heritage Open Days.
• Took her own photographs focussing on the fishing community working on The Stade.
• Created a Photo Trail around The Stade for Heritage Open Days.

The following year, 2011, The Stade Education Project hosted an exhibition of Lynn’s photographs of the people of The Stade for Heritage Open Days. The exhibition at the new community hall attracted over 700 visitors.

• Over 100 people visited the residency events on The Stade for Heritage Open Days 2010 and a further 700 attended the exhibition in 2011.
• Six participants from Autism Sussex attended the workshops and created a film that was shown over the HODs weekend.
• The residency encouraged Lynn Weddle to submit a successful A4E grant application to the Arts Council to develop her own project.

For more information on Creative Landscapes contact the Project Manager: Esther Gill esther@ourhistories.co.uk