Events to explore Future Crawley Through Young Eyes

Creative director Louise Blackwell is promising a three-month season of performance, art and participation in Crawley to imagine what the future of the town looks like through the eyes of local nine and ten year olds.

It runs from February 26-May 3 at various locations around Crawley town centre including a secret location high up in Crawley town centre, Crawley Museum, Crawley Library and The Comic Shop.

“From weaving in the museum to a one to one performance with children from Seymour Primary School in Broadfield, to making your own comic strip as part of WORDFestCrawley and a permanent mural in Crawley Library designed by children, this season offers curious people a chance to experience the dreams, aspirations and ideas of a future Crawley through a range of free, high quality arts experiences for and with the young people of the town.

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

Live performance:

“Lookout by Andy Field and Beckie Darlington with children from Seymour Primary School, Broadfield

“Lookout is an internationally renowned, award-winning artistic project that enables a group of local primary school children to imagine a new future for their town and then share their vision with an audience of local adults, including politicians and policy-makers, through a unique one-to-one performance. We are living through a once-in-a-generation moment of change and upheaval - this project attempts to give some of Crawley's youngest and most powerless residents the chance to be the ones to lead us into a better future.”

Visual art: The Lookout Mural in partnership with Crawley Library

“Inspired by the young people of Seymour Primary School’s vision of Crawley’s future, a permanent mural will be designed and painted on a currently blank wall in Crawley Library by a South East based illustrator.

“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 opportunities to try weaving, making a comic strip and banner making for beginners."

Other news about future events:

“Live Performance Without Walls in partnership with Brighton Festival: Sat 14th May 2022

Crawley Borough Council, Crawley Town Centre BID and Creative Crawley are pleased to host performances and work with Brighton Festival to bring amazing, bright, innovative companies to the town centre for a great day of entertainment.

“Graphic Rewilding: Crawley town centre: We are delighted to announce that due to the popularity of the 60 metre artwork by Baker & Borowski, it will stay in position on the Marks & Spencer wall in The Pavement and around the town centre until at least the end of August 2022.”

Louise Blackwell added: ‘There’s never been a more important time to listen to young people and I hope this season of creative activity in Crawley gives us adults a chance to reflect on their ideas in this 75th anniversary year of Crawley becoming a new town.’

Wendy Bell, BID manager, Crawley Town Centre BID added: “It is such an exciting time to be in Crawley, and it is wonderful that our younger residents will get the opportunity to share their ideas and vision, we cannot wait to see what comes out of the project!”

Coming up:

26th February – 3rd May

FREE Various venues

www.creativecrawley.com

Graphic Rewilding: Crawley Town Centre throughout the year (to end of August). Various locations, town centre. In October 2021, with Crawley Town Centre BID we commissioned Sussex based artists Baker & Borowski to create a unique and colourful artwork in Crawley town centre.

Give it a Go: Weaving with Charlene Sandy, Crawley Museum

26th February 2pm – 4pm

Join textile artist Charlene Sandy for an afternoon of weaving. Learn the basics of weaving using different yarns in various colours and textures.

Give it a Go: Create a Comic Strip with Jaime Huxtable, The Comic Shop, Crawley High St

26th March 2pm – 4pm

As part of WORDfesCrawley cartoonist Jaime Huxtable will guide you each step of the way as you create a character, set the scene and develop your own one page story.

Give it a Go: Banner making with Tom Goulden, Town centre location tbc

23rd April 2pm – 4pm

Join Tom from Priority-154 to create banners using street art processes.

Lookout by Andy Field and Beckie Darlington, Secret venue, Crawley town centre

28th – 30th April Various times 12.45pm – 6.30pm daily (30 min performance length)

The project is intended as a way for a town to come together to think honestly, optimistically and imaginatively about what the future might hold. One child performer and one adult audience member get a chance to reflect on the future of Crawley together.

The Lookout Mural will be at Crawley Library from 28th April.

The Lookout Gathering will take place on 3rd May in a town centre location. This is a public meeting for anyone who participated in or attended the show, and anyone else who might be interested in the issues it raises. This is a chance for people to gather, to hear from the children about their experience, and to consider how the children’s ideas might lead to tangible change.

Without Walls with Brighton Festival, Sat 14th May

1.30am – 9.30pm, Queens Square and Memorial Gardens

In partnership with Crawley Borough Council and Crawley Town Centre BID, we bring you a day of outdoor circus, hip hop and dance performance.

11.30 & 2.30pm: Look Mum No Hands! By Daryl Beeton Productions and Mimbre, Queens Sq.A visually beautiful and physically surprising coming of age story about two friends testing their own boundaries.

12.15 & 3.15pm: There Should Be Unicorns by Middle Child, Queens Sq

Hip hop, dance and theatre collide in this brand new family show

8.30pm: Future Cargo by Requardt & Rosenberg, produced by The Place, Memorial Gardens

A sci-fi dance show performed in a 40ft haulage truck. Alarge-scale outdoor spectacle that’s deeply intimate, experience the weird and wonderful world inside the truck through binaural headphones.