New team to lead city’s Open Studios Art Trail
Chichester Open Studios
Art Trail embarks on a new chapter in its history as it celebrates its 21st birthday this year.
Former chairman Nicola Hancock has stood down, and a new team has taken over: Mim Mccann is the new chairman, Becky Rose is treasurer and social media, Daphne Casdagli is a volunteer and Helen Button is advertising and publicity coordinator.
For this year, after a July trail last year, the trail returns to its usual slot over the first two weekends in May. The dates are April 30 to May 2 and May 7 and 8. Registration for the art trail closed at the end of November 2021 and the new team are pleased to report that 160 artists registered, underlining the popularity of the trail to both the creative community and to visitors alike.
As Mim says, 160 is a number very close to the maximum she has ever known since first joining the trail in 2013. It’s an exciting time: “Nicola did an absolutely fantastic job with the trail and we were thinking that it was just about taking the model that Nicola had and running with it, but at the same time we’ve got a new team together and that has been really inspiring so we are perhaps thinking about putting our stamp on the trail as well. Becky is a brilliant social media person. She is so good at all of that and perhaps things are changing in the way we are going forward with this. Nicola did an amazing job with so many elements of it and now we are wanting to take it further, really taking it into the community and supporting all the local artists. We are trying to give as much back to the artists as we can. It’s not just about the two weekends in May. We want to be a support for the artists throughout the year. We are also really big on being inclusive. There are so many artists in the area and the whole scene is changing and refreshing all the time. We’re just wanting to help artists and give back to the wider community.
“I was really sad when Nicola said that she wanted to stand down. She had mentioned it to a couple of people at the time and I just felt that it would be taking on too much. She put out an email and I was just thinking that would be a massive job but nobody was coming forward to take it on and so I thought about it some more. I’ve got a nearly three-year-old but I kept thinking about it in the back of my mind and I just kept in touch with Nicola. I said I was happy to help. When nobody came forward, she said that she really needed someone to take on the reins. I met with her and we talked through it and she told me what it entailed. She went through the whole structure. I had a think about it and I realised that I really wanted to do it. I love the art trail. I have been with it since 2013 and when lockdown came, I really missed it. I found myself just walking around the garden with my one-year-old as he was at the time talking to him about what I would have been doing. The lockdown was so weird!
“As artists, most of the work we do is on our own but one of the things that I really love about the art trail is that you are making connections with other people and other artists but also with the visitors that are coming in, people that have seen your stuff before and want to know more about it. It is lovely to get that feedback. We just feed off each other, all the different ideas we have. I just really enjoy the energy that you get from other people.”