67 / 124
65
Growing the Kent Economy 2016
/
17
project, SUBLET at the London Art Fair,
showcased photography made with
them in Dover to an international
high-wealth, art-buying audience.
In Whitstable, regeneration in the early
1990s was driven by private investment,
and a flow of creative sector practition-
ers and second home owners investing
in the town, largely from London.
Whitstable developed a reputation
as a creative place, a reputation that
sustained both ongoing inward
migration, new businesses and tourism.
Kent County Council continues to
invest in that reputation by supporting
the Whitstable Biennale, one of the
UK’s critically acclaimed festivals for
contemporary visual art. In 2014 the
Festival attracted 49,547 visitors (plus an
estimated 20,000 to the fringe) with 93
artists making 67 new works for the
main programme, increasing the profile
of internationally recognised work
made in Kent.
Festival income was £306,000, of which
88% was sourced from outside Kent, yet
55% was spent locally. We are working
with Whitstable Biennale, exploring
new ways to retain art in the centre of
Whitstable, including development of
new showcasing and production space.
people into Margate; the mixture
of spaces encouraging cross-sector
collaboration and the opportunity
for recent graduates and start-ups
to work with more experienced,
mid-career practitioners in a nurturing
environment.
As a direct result of our investment, a
Resort member’s exhibition based on
the bricks removed during the building
works, resulted in a commission for
Resort artist Kate Harrison, providing
four works for The Collective, a London
property development company.
Creative practitioners are moving to
East Kent, which is being viewed as a
place for people to relocate to and raise
their families. This movement started
some years ago in Whitstable and Deal,
and now Cliftonville, once considered
one of the poorest corners of the South
East, is attracting a new set of pioneers
who are investing in the area’s large
heritage properties with some of
the lowest land values in the South
East, offering a high quality of life.
In 2015 Dreamland Margate opened
once again. Its stylised design led by
Wayne Hemingway at Hemingway
Designs captures and renews Margate’s
seaside narrative, offering additional
reasons to visit Margate. Much more than
just an amusement park, Dreamland has
created 200 local jobs and is providing
training for young people.
With financial support from Kent
County Council and Arts Council
England, Dreamland is working with
Turner Contemporary, the town and
its creative communities to create a
summer events programme that
reaches out beyond its boundaries,
connecting high art and popular culture
and bringing coherency to the Margate
visitor offer. Last year our investment
in Summer of Colour Festival, Margate,
involved 45 organisations and businesses,
created 72 new events, with 15 new
commissions, attracting more than
12,000 visitors.
Embedding culture into the heart of
regeneration is a priority across east Kent,
with similar success in driving new
investment into the area. In Dover,
Kent County Council has supported
Dover Arts Development, an artist-led
organisation who are custodians of the
town’s Cultural Framework in partnership
with the local authority, embedding arts
and cultural good practice into the
regeneration of Dover.
Their work includes seeking to commission
a £20,000 piece of public art to mark the
entrance to the White Cliffs. A recent