The Paddock is an arts organisation committed to sourcing artists working in different art-forms in our local region and bringing them together to create new work for the benefit of the community in which they live. We aim to get people of all ages actively involved in the arts, both as participants and as audience members, stressing an exchange of new talents and skills as well as an increased accessibility to a wide variety of art-forms.
Susannah Waters, Artistic Director of The Paddock writes:
The Arts should work like a Farmer’s Market. That’s what I’ve been thinking about more and more these days, with climate chaos and oil crises threatening to change the way we live.
How can we re-train ourselves to source our arts locally, much like we are learning to source our fruit and veg? To look for inspiration close to home, without feeling that local need be provincial and therefore less good, less exciting or less professional?
Ever since I first came to Lewes, nearly ten years ago, I have been astounded by the people who live in this town, quietly producing fantastic art of all kinds: writers, actors, painters, sculptors, dancers, animators, musicians, singers. But for the most part, they are producing work which gets performed, put up, acted, published elsewhere, in London or even further afield.
How can we get artists like these to work at home?
The Paddock was formed to create projects that would entice some of these artists to produce work where they live, for, and with the people in this area. Last year we did a play in people’s houses. This year, we’ve been dancing in the streets. This summer we’ll be doing a family theatre piece on top of Mount Caburn. At Christmas, we’re performing a new musical based on Lewes people and their history.
Come and be a part of these projects. Visit your Farmer’s Market for the Arts.
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