Billed as an arts festival for Hastings, St Leonards and beyond, Coastal Currents Arts Festival runs from August 29 to September 13, with exhibitions, live art pieces and special performances alongside its open studio programme. For those not venturing to travel far from Rye, there are four very varied local events:
- A new form of avant-garde Japanese dance theatre, combining dance, music and light, will be performed at Rye Studio School, on August 29 at 1:30 pm. This Arts Council funded project, entitled Manjusaka, is a cultural fusion of East and West, combining contemporary and traditional art forms.
- Caravan B30 at Rye Harbour Holiday Park features life-size historical costume wall-hangings, paintings, quilts and driftwood wands: open September 12/13, 11 am-5pm.
- Young artists at Rye Studio School, will be exhibiting, discussing and selling their work, including painting, print-making photography, film, performing arts and fashion: open September 5/6 and 12/13, 11am -4pm.
- These same weekends, September 5/6 and 12/13 between 11am and 4pm, the White Crow Studio opens at Rye Community Centre, on the Dance Hall’s first floor. Here artist Anna Brice Cockland juggles colliding languages and colour, reflecting the sheer pleasure of painting. Here too you can experience Simon Spare’s abstract paintings and collages on canvas or board, with an eye to geometric form.
(Source: Coastal Currents Arts Festival)