WE ARE A SEA: A new headline for Hastings

By the people, for the people, WE ARE A SEA launches with a curated weekend of fun activities celebrating the local heroes who help keep our seas and shoreline clean, safe, and welcoming.

It takes place in action hubs located along the seafront and the entire festival is free for all to enjoy.

Surf to www.weareasea.net for the full programme. WE ARE A SEA. Together we make waves.

September 28 to 29. www.weareasea.net #WEAREASEA #community #possibility #solidarity

About WE ARE A SEA:

Here in the historic town of Hastings the sea is deeply embedded into our daily emotions, cultural heritage and tied intrinsically to our wellbeing. And yet, our little patch of ocean suffers from geopolitical bigotry, plastic pollution, degradation of biodiversity, coastal erosion – and yes, sewage.

We may not be receiving much help from the government or the water companies, but at grassroots level there are hundreds of heroes already working hard to help keep our seas and beaches clean, healthy, safe and welcoming.

WE ARE A SEA brings diverse groups and individuals together under a new headline for Hastings; one which unites our community, is more inclusive and relevant than anything 1066-related, and one which reflects the huge amounts of hope bubbling away within our town. Instead of looking back 1,000 years, WE ARE A SEA invites us look forward. Like the sea, we are more than the sum of our parts: a powerful force of hope and possibility.

WE ARE A SEA celebrates these local heroes through a curated weekend of joyful, community happenings, from swimming, storytelling, workshops and beach cleans, to screenings, printmaking, bike rides, boating and more.

By the people, for the people, WE ARE A SEA is a decentralised festival, taking place in ‘action hubs’ located along the seafront. Programmed in partnership with the community WE ARE A SEA creates critical connections between the varied folk working to better our oceans and beaches, whilst bridging social and cultural divides.

Through sharing our relationships with the ocean, WE ARE A SEA is a symbol of solidarity, cooperation & resistance. Sometimes the ripples may feel small - but together we make waves.

Designed to be inclusive, the entire programme will be free for all, with complimentary shuttle buses from Hollington and Ore for those who might have access issues (please get in touch to book a space).

WE ARE A SEA is an idea which belongs to us all. After the event the brand assets will be open-sourced, released into the wild, a gift to the people of this town and all our other Hastings heroes!

WE ARE A SEA. Together we make waves.

Featuring:

• • Clean Water Action Group
• • Hastings Community of Sanctuary • Pebble Dash
• • Refugee Buddy Project
• • Strandliners
• • The Bluetits
• • The Hastings Project
• • Transition Town Hastings
• • Zeroh
• • More TBA..!

Action Hubs:

• • Goat Ledge
• • Hastings Bike Project
• • Hastings & St Leonards Sailing Club

• Oscars

• • Starsky & Hatch
• • Stella Dore
• • Super Nature
• • More TBA..!

Activities:

• • Beach clean & beer • Beach run & games
• • Boating
• • Chill swim

• Creative workshops

• • DJs
• • Family fun
• • Illuminated bike ride 6pm start outside Hastings Bike Project
• • Installation artworks
• • Little Mashers T-shirt printing • Moonlight cinema
• • Murals
• • Sea shanties
• • Storytelling
• • Yoga by the Sea
• • Yacht rock
• • More TBA..!

Fringe events welcome! If you are a seafront venue and want to get involved, or are an organisation or individual planning something sea-related over the weekend of September 28 and 29, get in touch!

“What is ‘the natural world’, when over half of our own body is H2O? How can we be separate from nature if we are nature? Every second breath we take, anywhere in the world, is oxygen that comes from phytoplankton – tiny microscopic plants drifting in the ocean. 50-85% of the oxygen we breathe is created by these tiny creatures."

As the Maori people say, ‘I am the river, the river is me’. We are an ecosystem within a much, much larger system where ‘me’ really means ‘we’. We are a sea.

WE ARE A SEA reflects a growing ocean of change, a movement we are part of here in Hastings which breaks down harmful narratives around separation from each other and the natural world, and instead brings to life stories of interdependence, community, and possibility.

But this isn’t the story we usually tell. Hope is in the shadows while doom is in the mainstream. We know we must not shy away from or whitewash the horrors of the present or the past, but we must interweave other stories to seed a new narrative of possibility.

This is also a moment in which we must boldly call upon and create space for new leaders to be radical and courageous in do their part to help build the futures we long for. We're doing it anyway, but they can and must help too.”

Beccy Mccray, WE ARE A SEA Creator