Art Exchange awarded Essex County Council Arts and Cultural Fund

£5000 has been awarded to Essex's on-campus gallery to support community art projects which celebrate Wivenhoe Park's green spaces.

A series of weekend outdoor arts activities, organised by Art Exchange, will form the basis for a programme of events which will encourage local residents to visit the parklands and take part in art, wellbeing, and green exercise from July to September 2024.

The Essex County Council Arts and Cultural Fund supports organisations and creative practitioners to deliver a broad and exciting range of work and activity to engage with and bring communities in Essex together.

Jess Twyman, Curator (Exhibition and Public Programme) of Art Exchange, secured the funding award with a bid that promised to open Wivenhoe Park to communities.

She said, "we are excited to have been awarded the funding from Essex County Council."

"It will allow us to open up Wivenhoe Park to local communities through a variety of family friendly arts activities throughout the summer!"

"How much we love the park and look forward to opening it up in new and exciting ways to the communities around us."

Inspired by Wivenhoe Park preserving its status as one of the UK's top 10 favourite parks in 2023, Jess presented a proposal which will see the historic parkland, which was famously painted by John Constable in 1816, revisited through artistic activity and community building.

Catherine Harrison, Cultural Development Officer at Essex County Council, is part of the Culture, Heritage and Green Spaces, Environment and Climate Action team who administer to Arts and Cultural Fund.

She said, "We're so pleased to be supporting the Art Exchange project this summer which will encourage local communities in Colchester and North Essex to come into the University of Essex and take part in activities which utilise and celebrate the parkland immortalised by John Constable."

"The programme of artist-led workshops cover a range of disciplines including sculpture, painting and film making and will provide a wonderful opportunity for residents to experience the university grounds during the summer holidays."

Wivenhoe Park is a 220-acre estate which contains the University of Essex's Colchester campus, including three lakes, 2,800 trees, safe walking and jogging routes and 40 acres of sports fields.