Archives for Arts - Page 2
Two Faces of Fagin
ELIZABETH ALLEN Most of the audience for Steve Furst’s show at the Stables admitted that they had never read Dickens’ Oliver Twist, but they did know Fagin, one of those…
Escape from Oppression: Book Launch
You Can Go Now…But Leave The Butter is a powerful account of the life of Elzbeth Hoeger, a woman whose experiences spanned some of the most turbulent decades in German…
Art for Carers and Cared-for
Drawing Life will be able to continue delivering art classes for carers and those they care for until mid 2027 thanks to funding from The National Lottery Community Fund. Judy…
Unconventional…but Still Music
TOBY BULA-EDGE Shifting in style and sound over a two hour performance, Sonics’ Spin Cycle returned on Sunday 7 June for its fifth edition. The experimental brainchild of James Weaver…
Liberty In Sound
HARRY HAWKINS The Henry Ward Hall on Robertson Street is bringing a massive musical landmark to town, and in the process raising money for local charity The Refugee Buddy Project.…
Matt Ridley’s Antidote at Jazz Hastings
VICTORIA KINGHAM Watching this highly co-ordinated jazz performance, it’s difficult to imagine that the musicians don’t spend all their time together writing, playing, and living the tunes. But the members…
Pizza and Plays
Spun Glass Theatre launches Pizza and Plays, an incredible new writing project backed by Arts Council England, and in partnership with Hastings Museum, set to open at home venue Stade…
Sort Out Your Death – Live Your Life
Get Ahead of Being Dead: Your Handy Planner for the End of Life is the second book by Evie King, local author, humanist, and former stand-up comedian. It’s an appropriate…
Project Art Works Returns to Comic Con
Comic Con is returning to Hastings, and this year you will also meet there Daniel Wells, Ellen Prebble, and Lucy Walker. Daniel and Lucy will be presenting works in progress…
To Improvise A Mountain: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Curates
De La Warr Pavilion have secured To Improvise A Mountain: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Curates, as part of the Hayward Gallery’s touring programme. Yiadom-Boakye is one of the UK’s foremost contemporary painters.…
Cage Fighting
An interview with local actor and Mixed Martial Arts specialist Francis Saunders Q: Francis, you’ve had a remarkable journey. How would you describe your life in one sentence? A: A…
Amici Studio Summer Celebration
Over the past six months, Amici Studio has quietly established itself as a new community-focused arts organisation in the town, delivering free exhibitions, artist talks, workshops, school visits, peer learning…
Bottle Alley Art Market – Call for Stallholders
Application is free for a stall at the most atmospheric summer art event of the year. This year’s guest selector is Becky Beasley, Professor of Fine Arts at Goldsmith’s College,…
Anthropop Art
DAVID MILTON Having comprehensively plumbed the theme with Seaside Modern (2021), Seafaring (2022), Undersea (2025), and this year’s C-list celebrity co-curated The Open: Odyssey, Hastings Contemporary now presents two more…
Short Film from Rickshawpix
A short film by Lindsay Jayne suggests we accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative
Art for Carers Funded till 2027
Drawing Life will be able to continue delivering art classes for carers and those they care for until mid 2027, thanks to funding from The National Lottery Community Fund. Judy…
John Donaldson New Release Preview
John Donaldson, pianist, composer, and founder of Jazz Hastings, will launch an exceptional CD in September, featuring Donaldson, Rob Luft, Rebecka Edlund, Tom Wilson, Norma Winstone, and the amazing Jeff…
Good Grief Festival:Joy in Sorrow
VICTORIA KINGHAM Over the bank holiday weekend an unusual festival took place. Curated and arranged by the development education centre (DEC) 18 Hours, and called Good Grief: A Festival of…
A Song as Lovely as a Tree
Bev Lee Harling is a disarmingly innocent-looking singer, songwriter, musician and actor with a lightness and naturalness to her performances which belie the care, originality, and thought with which they…
Grief Encounter
HELEN MURPHY AND NICK PELLING The artist Georgie Wheeler wanted to make one thing very clear: “This is not a misery show.” What she was articulating is that her new…
Visual Responses to Grief
The aim of this special exhibition, shown for the duration of the festival at Electro Studios, was to showcase local artists’ reactions to their own personal grief. These were depicted…
The Poetry of Grief
Alan Durant, poet, is also a widely published and award-winning author of books for children of all ages, including a picture book about grief, Always and Forever, which he has…
Doom And Gloom? No
For two weekends in June, All Saints Church in Hastings Old Town transforms into an atmospheric art gallery as The Two Ians (Skelton and Shillito) curate their next group show.…
Piano Picnic
Outstanding young pianists perform in a summer garden Hastings International Piano is delighted to present its annual Summer Picnic Concert at the stunning Fairlight Hall, just outside Hastings, on Sunday…
Portraits of a Musical Town
VICTORIA KINGHAM Dave Boutwood is pretty fully occupied, if not to say consumed, by his love of music and musicians. His vinyl collection amounts to 3,000 items and his CD…
“Being a rock musician in 2026 is hard, but places like Hastings make it worthwhile”
Ahead of her show at The Carlisle on Friday 5 June, award-winning guitarist, singer and songwriter Chantel McGregor spoke to JOSHUA GEER about music, touring, grief, guitar playing, and why…
Fear of Last Orders go Live
Fear of Last Orders Go Live Hastings-based punk skiffle bar band Fear of Last Orders will be recording a new live LP on Friday 12 June, publicly, at 1200 Postcards…
Powerful Antidote at Jazz Hastings
Hasting’s vibrant jazz scene is set for a powerful dose of energy as Matt Ridley’s Antidote take the stage for a special live performance. Led by acclaimed bassist and composer…
Cosmopolitan Jazz at The Stade
VICTORIA KINGHAM Rob Luft and Elina Duni have been making music together for about nine years, resulting in a near-perfect harmonic rapport. Their choice of numbers is truly universal –…
Time Travellers
DAVE MILTON Tawfik Naas, whose Manifestations For An Eternal Spring occupies the main gallery at Flatland, is described as a researcher rather than an artist. Neat arrangements of enigmatic objects…
Measuring A Unit of One Year
HELEN MURPHY AND NICK PELLING For one precise year, a young artist, Bee Nicholls, initiated, set-up and ran the ‘Unit 2’ Art Space at the sea-end of London Road. It…
The Special Effects of Ben Wheatley
Toby Bula-Edge A full house came out in force to see Ben Wheatley’s new film Bulk at the Electric Palace on Thursday 14. The screening was accompanied by a Q&A…
Andrew Kötting at the Electric Palace
This weekend, Electric Palace present an Andrew Kötting weekend, a celebration of films by the Hastings-based, internationally recognised filmmaker and artist. Andrew shares a studio with his daughter Eden on…
Departure Lounge: A Double Elle Theatre Production
Writer/performers Lucy Pappas and Lisa Harmer have both worked professionally with the bereaved and experienced their own personal grief, inspiring them to write this one-act drama. They are delighted to…
Comedy Festival
Hastings Comedy Festival returns on 1 June for its 11th year. The week-long celebration of live comedy kicks off at The Printworks and The St Leonard, with shows from Lara Ricote, Tez…
Hot Tap Flows Creatively On
There are now more details on Dean Stalham’s progress from the Hot Tap Theatre to his new venture, Pen to Paper Productions. This new project connects creative talent with real…
Let’s Get It Together 2026 Introduces Special Ticket Deal For Local Residents
The Let’s Get It Together Festival have announced a special deal on tickets for local people wanting to join their three day celebration of dance music culture, which is taking…
Open Doors: Fine Music for Free
VICTORIA KINGHAM Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, under the redoubtable leadership of Marcio Da Silva, have deservedly secured funds to enable them to perform no less than seven free concerts…
Adventures in Pop
JUDE MONTAGUE Adventures in Pop has been running original creative rock and pop nights at the Jenny Lind for over a year. The scene has built up, and the First…
Utopian Dreams
HARRY HAWKINS It’s a Tuesday evening, and someone can’t quite get the Zoom camera working.”I like it when you’re visible!” says one. “I like it when you’re risible,” replies another.…