Crawley Centre BID and Crawley Creative presents new three month season of visual art, poetry and classical music

Taking place in County Mall, the former ASK restaurant on the High Street, and on the streets of Crawley town centre, this season, which launches on Saturday, November 20 and ends on January 31, 2022, will bring some colourful creativity to Crawley town centre from Sussex based artists including Bafta award winning poet Woodzy.

From classical music in a shopping centre to giant flower murals, to manga art and poetry workshops, this season of art in unexpected places offers curious audiences the chance to stumble across and take part in a range of high quality art activities for free.

Curated and produced by Creative Crawley in partnership with Crawley Town Centre BID, the season is split into three types of events:

Graphic Rewilding: Crawley town centre: The backbone of the season is a large scale, specially commissioned mural made by Baker & Borowski, a Sussex based artist-curator partnership between sculptor and placemaking specialist Catherine Borowski and painter and music producer Lee Baker.

The duo are on a mission to bring unexpected eruptions of art into the everyday urban landscape.

The Give it a Go workshop series: Once a month in the town centre, people can explore new creative activities completely for free in a series of drop in workshops for all ages.

This season includes Papercutting with Silvina De Vita, Manga Art with Inko and Poetry with Bafta award winning spoken word artist, Woodzy.

Ensemble Reza winter concert: Ensemble Reza are a classical music ensemble (two violins, two violas and two cellos), based in Mid Sussex.

The group are known for their friendly concerts and will perform a repeated 20 minute winter concert on the hour and half hour in County Mall, featuring well known favourites such as The Snowman and Winter from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons plus much more.

Speaking about the season, producer and curator and creative director of Creative Crawley, Louise Blackwell said: "Through our partnership with Crawley Town Centre BID, it’s an honour to bring the town centre to life through arts and culture.

"We started in the summer with the Stories of Strength season, celebrating the strength of people in Crawley and now I can’t wait for local people to experience some art in unexpected places."

Wendy Bell, BID manager, Crawley Town Centre BID added: "We are delighted to bring colour and life to the town centre through this innovative fun concept, lightening and brightening up dull days in the winter will make businesses and residents feel optimistic and uplifted, just watching the team putting it up; there were so many smiling faces and positivity; we are grateful to Creative Crawley for making this vision into a reality."

Lee Baker, artist, Baker & Borowski said: "When we started Graphic Rewilding, we dreamed of doing whole street giant flower takeovers, and now in Crawley we've been given the opportunity.

"Our intention has always been to bring the explosive colour and joy of nature into urban environments and we wanted to imbue the street with sumptuous seasonal atmosphere."

Creative Crawley is a brand new charity whose Trustees represent a range of local stakeholders who aim to place creativity at the heart of Crawley and support, develop and produce high quality arts and culture in the town.

Crawley Town Centre BID is the dedicated Business Improvement District for Crawley Town Centre working with and for the businesses collaborating to deliver a thriving town centre where people want to be.

The Enliven programme is a year round series of artworks, performances, workshops and creative experiences which aims to bring Crawley town centre to life through arts and culture. Funded by Crawley Town Centre BID and produced by Creative Crawley.

Listings information

1st November – 31st January 2022

FREE

Various venues

www.creativecrawley.com

Graphic Rewilding: Crawley Town Centre

November 1 – January 31, 2022 (launch November 20) Various locations town centre

With Crawley Town Centre BID we have commissioned Sussex based artists Baker & Borowski to create a unique mural in Crawley town centre. The aim of the project is to bring some colour and joy to Crawley town centre in the often gloomy winter months of Nov – January. Baker & Borowski is a Sussex based artist-curator partnership between sculptor and placemaking specialist Catherine Borowski and painter and music producer Lee Baker.

Give it a Go: Papercutting with Silvina De Vita 49-51 High St, Crawley November 27 11am – 1pm & 2pm – 4pm

This workshop is ideal for beginners who are interested in learning the basics of paper cutting. It’s run by Sussex based artist Silvina De Vita. During this workshop you will learn various techniques which Silvina will talk you through step by step, and you will create your own artwork which you can then take home with you.

Ensemble Reza Winter Concert County Mall, Crawley December 11 12 noon – 4pm

Ensemble Reza are a classical music ensemble (two violins, two violas and two cellos), based in Mid Sussex. The group are known for their friendly concerts and will perform a repeated 20 minute winter concert on the hour and half hour, featuring well known favourites such as The Snowman and Winter from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons plus much more.

Give it a Go: Manga Art with Inko 49- 51 High St, Crawley December 11 11am – 1pm & 2pm – 4pm

Join Inko and you can create some special winter Manga characters and produce your very own greeting cards to take home. Inko Ai Takita is a Sussex based manga artist. She was born in Kyoto, Japan, and she grew up with manga comics, loving both reading and drawing them.

Give it a Go: Poetry with Woodzy 49- 51 High St, Crawley January 29 2pm – 5pm

This poetry workshop for beginners will be themed around well-being to launch us into 2022 with positivity and care. Woodzy is a rapper and spoken word artist who has recently featured on the Bafta Award winning Sky Arts TV show, Life & Rhymes, hosted by Benjamin Zephaniah as well as performing at Wembley Arena in partnership with Sky Sports.