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Town Council to Support New Community Art Project

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Hailsham Festival's artwork for Eastwell Place Bridge community art project 

Hailsham Town Council is pleased to announce that it will be part-funding a new community art project, set to be carried out soon.

Town councillors agreed to provide £1,200 from its Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) fund, towards a project being carried out by Hailsham Festival to tackle graffiti and install pieces of community art on the inside panels of Eastwell Place Bridge, located near the town centre.

Eastwell Place bridge, an old railway line single-level linear footbridge completed in 1913 and spanning the Cuckoo Trail, is a well-used route linking the town centre with the western and southern wards of the town. Having been subject to graffiti over the years, the bridge has since been cleared of the graffiti and, in order to prevent cases from happening again, the proposal from the Hailsham Festival Committee is for a community arts project involving all of the panels on the inside of the bridge being painted with designs submitted by the public at large.

The bridge consists of 66 separate flat steel panels which at present are painted a plain cream colour with a blue/green painted steel framework. The last maintenance painting was carried out approximately eight years ago, and it is proposed that only the surfaces of the inner side faces are to be painted/decorated.

The proposal is to incorporate the artwork for the bridge in the 2023 Hailsham Festival of Arts and Culture, taking place in September. All community groups, artist groups, schools, local organisations, businesses and individuals will thus be invited to take part in a Hailsham-wide community arts project and will be asked to submit a design that could be reproduced on to the panels. The submissions will be initially reviewed and selected by a small group of committee members, local artists and councillors.

It is the intention of project organisers to have the chosen artwork electronically scanned and developed onto coloured boards, trimmed to the size of each panel of the bridge. These boards will then be screw-fixed to the bridge with tamper-proof screws and have anti-graffiti laminate as part of the production to enable easy cleaning and can be replaced in the future. The artwork will identify the artist/group and there will be a QR code for each piece of work that will identify the artist(s) and provide more information on what the artwork represents.

Local businesses are invited to take part in the project by sponsoring one of the 66 panels. In return, sponsor’s company names, contact details and an optional QR code will be included on the foot of the panel(s) sponsored.

“Firstly, East Sussex County Council has been supportive throughout the various stages of the project, offering advice and information regarding external funding – and project organisers are grateful for this,” said Deputy Town Clerk & Business Enterprise Manager Mickey Caira. “The Town Council is delighted to work alongside Hailsham Festival organisers by contributing towards the funding required to deliver this project. This project is yet another collaboration between the Town Council, Hailsham Festival and other partners to support and improve the town centre for residents, businesses, local organisations and visitors.”

“We are very much looking forward to realising Hailsham Festival’s community vision in delivering this piece of public art, and it is hoped that the artwork will promote Hailsham’s heritage and identity to people – and draw on the unique local history and culture of our town.”

“I would encourage as many local businesses as possible to offer their support by sponsoring one or more of the bridge panels. Community participation, including support from businesses, is a fundamental part of the project.”

Hailsham Festival Chair Tony Biggin commented: “We are delighted to be facilitating this exciting initiative and we are grateful to Hailsham Town Council for providing a significant proportion of the necessary funding.”

“We look forward to working with local artists and businesses as the project gathers momentum.”

The installation is set to be in place for 10 years. For further details or if you are interested in sponsoring one or more of the panels, contact Hailsham Festival on 01323 844020 or info@hailshamfestival.co.uk.


Enquiries relating to this media release

Terry Hall, Communications Officer
Hailsham Town Council, Market Street, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 2AE
Telephone: 01323 841702 | Email: terry.hall@hailsham-tc.gov.uk