Commoning the Programme OBX

by Jess Kinch (a young person who took part in the programme)

What is Commoning the Programme and how did you get involved?

Commoning The Programme was an opportunity that I and other young students were given where we commissioned an artist for the Coastal Currents Art Festival. I got involved when people from OBX at Hastings Commons came into East Sussex Hastings College to speak to those who partake in a creative subject, and sked whether we wanted to be a part of this career opening opportunity. They explained that the work is about the future of Hastings, and we came up with the question: what does it mean to be alive, past and present for artists to respond to.

What were the key things that you learnt from the people who came to speak to you about curating work?

This was a 12 week programme, which further included the team at OBX giving us the chance to be guided by local organisations, such as Project Art Works, where we were able to get an insight on what this piece of work needed to consider to successfully curate artwork. The key aspects I learnt from these sessions was the importance of inclusivity, as this creates successful and accessible work, which will attract a wider audience, as long as the artwork is appropriate and relevant to the area it is being located in (Hastings). 

What type of work and/or themes were your group particularly keen to see in the applications for the commission?

Due to inclusivity being something we all wanted to ensure was prominent when curating the work, we wanted everyone in the community to feel included, which is why we chose Mark. We also wanted the work to be unique and something the community hasn’t seen before, as some artwork can become repetitive. As inclusivity and accessibility were important aspects to us, we further wanted the artwork to be multi sensory, for those who may be visually impaired or hard of hearing, as well as neurodivergent. This may include textures, sound or smell. 

What interested you about Mark’s work?

As I spoke about  previously, we wanted to ensure the artwork was relevant to Hastings, so when Mark had the great idea to include the community, young and old generation, we knew he was the one. He was also open to the idea of involving ambient sound into his work, another aspect that was important to us, as sound can really evoke emotions. Overall, Mark seemed the most interested in the project and our ideas, as were we with his, as he wanted people to come away from this experience feeling positively impacted by the sentimentality of it , and hopefully making them feel motivated to create. 

Who will the work be for/What do you hope visitors will take away from seeing Mark’s new artwork?

The audience of this project can be anyone, of any age or background, as each experience will be different for every individual, taking them back to a memorable time or creating memories with family and friends after being exposed to Mark’s work, which is what I believe Mark wants and has the power to do. The feeling of wanting to create is also what we want visitors to take away, as we want this piece of work to be transparent and evoke as many emotions as possible, as being able to have emotions is powerful. 

How might the experiences / knowledge gained through commissioning this work feed into the type of work you would like to do in the future?

Speaking to my peers who also worked on this project, we have gained knowledge on certain job opportunities we didn’t even know existed, and the wide range of career paths we may want to take. Another opportunity we were given is to have multiple mentoring sessions with an artist of our choice, where we could speak to them about their experiences, as well as advice on how to start out in the arts. My mentoring sessions were with Glen Travis from NWSPK, where we spoke about my interest in photography and whether I wanted this hobby to eventually become a career, which I found massively beneficial and feel very fortunate that OBX offered this to us. 

Overall this has been a very valuable experience that I and my peers are very grateful and thankful that we were able to be apart off, as it has opened up ideas for different career paths. 

Dream/Time by Mark Lawson Bell will be on show in the Priory Meadow Atrium on Saturday 7th 9am – 5.30pm and Sunday 8th 10am – 4pm.

Commoning the Programme participants in a workshop at Afri-Co-Lab