The town that art rebuilt...
The faded resort of Folkestone has reinvented itself as a haven for artists, discovers Clive Aslet
The dust – or rather, the sand – is finally settling in Folkestone. A couple of months ago the town hit the headlines when thousands of treasure hunters thronged the beach searching for gold. “It became like the Klondike,” says the novelist Lennox Morrison, a resident of the town. The diggers were scouring the harbour for buried gold to the value of £10,000. It was not so much a publicity stunt as an art work, entitled Folkestone Digs, by German artist Michael Sailstorfer, his contribution to the Folkestone Triennial festival of open air sculpture. It wasn’t, however, treasure of that kind which attracted Lennox and her husband, the artist Alan Smith, to the town. They had previously lived in Paris. But then Folkestone, Paris — they’re both international cities of art, right? Well, perhaps the comparison is a little far-fetched, but Folkestone’s reputation as an artistic centre is rising. That’s the whole point of the Triennial. The event was begun by the philanthropist Roger De Haan in 2008. De Haan grew up in the town, carrying bags in his father’s modest hotels, before helping the business grow into global giant Saga and eventually selling it for £1.3billion. Although Saga’s offices are in the town, De Haan wanted to do more to help to revive a place that, like many seaside resorts, had seen better days. Cleverly, he identified art as the means by which he could do it. Artists are often in the vanguard of urban renewal. They make places cool. Before long, middle-class professionals want a slice of the action. Money circulates. Standards lift. Education follows suit. Each Triennial leaves a legacy. Some of the works of art that have been specially commissioned are left in situ. So even when the Triennial is over next weekend, visitors can hardly put one foot in front of the other without encountering something to stimulate the mind or delight the eye. Over Tontine Street floats a neon sign, proclaiming that “Heaven is a Place where Nothing Ever Happens”. This work by Nathan Coley is a