Big Local supported the Reclaim Cleethorpes Urban Arts Festival to run a Fringe event covering North Cleethorpes for the first time
When? Autumn 2022
Partners: Lynsey Powles – artist. Cleethorpes Library. Punchbowl pub. Cleethorpes Leisure Centre. Numerous urban artists and musicians.
Local artist Lynsey Powles (Lyns) organised and ran the Reclaim Urban Arts Festival in Cleethorpes over the weekend of 24th/25th September 2022. This event had been running for several years already and brings urban artists from across the country to Cleethorpes to live paint their art for all to see at a public, community event.
The event usually takes place around Cleethorpes Leisure Centre, but for 2022, Big Local North Cleethorpes (BLNC) encouraged Lyns to expand the event to take in North Cleethorpes and North Promenade – the area of benefit for BLNC.
BLNC sponsored this “Fringe” event for North Cleethorpes, whilst other funders, including CYC The Hangout provided sponsorship to other parts of the main event around the Leisure Centre.
The weekend was a great success, and Big Local North Cleethorpes was very pleased to have been able to help make the North Cleethorpes part of this event take place. It tied in closely to our Arts and Culture theme and a lot of local people will have been able to see art taking place in their local area.
The Fringe parts of the main event sponsored by Big Local included:
– A month long arts exhibition in Cleethorpes Library featuring some commissioned local artists
– Workshops for kids at Cleethorpes Leisure Centre taking place at the same time as the weekend event
– Urban artists taking part in the festival did live painting of wall art at Cleethorpes Library and on the walls of the PunchBowl pub down on North Prom
– Over the weekend a variety of live activities took place in Cleethorpes Library Gardens including music, poetry and readings and performances.
All activities were aimed to draw more people into North Cleethorpes and also to leave a lasting legacy (on the walls) of the area.
Live painting at Cleethorpes Library
On the Saturday, Leeds based artist Hyro was at Cleethorpes Library to paint a wall in the library gardens. This monochromatic piece of artwork was chosen to suit the natural environment of the gardens, and will brighten up the gardens, hopefully for years to come.
Live painting at the Punchbowl pub
Over the weekend, four artists from Huddersfield and Newcastle were given the task of painting the walls in the yard/beer garden of the Punchbowl pub down North Promenade. The walls are shared with the neighbouring business, and both owners were very keen to get involved and have their yard brightened up.
Again, the walls were live painted for all to see over the weekend, and for a while the Punchbowl will continue to leave the gates to the yard open for visitors to admire the artwork even when the pub is closed.
First wall by Creative Ginger (https://www.facebook.com/TheCreativeGinger/)
Second wall by Northern Mural Company (https://www.facebook.com/northernmuralco)
Art Exhibition at Cleethorpes Library
An art exhibition was put on at Cleethorpes library. Four local artists were each commissioned to create and select a display of their artwork. As well as a launch event to start the weekend and to show off the art, the exhibition remained open to the public for most of October.
The artists exhibiting wer all Cleethorpes and Grimsby locals:
Penny Wood
Jason Carlisle
Steve Green
SOAF
Music and events at the Library
On the Saturday, no less than eight local musicians had the chance to perform in the Library gardens whilst the wall was being painted.
The musicians throughout the day were:
Rob Bywater
Louise Connor
Andrew Maywood
Peter Keaveney
Ever
Tom Humphreys
Kyle Mortimer
Phil Stocks
All musicians selected were less experienced in performing in public, so this was a good opportunity given to them.
Kids art at Leisure Centre
Most of the craft activities and hands-on interaction took place at the Leisure Centre over the weekend of the event. But children were encouraged to explore all of the Cleethorpes prom and go to the library if they could. Treasure hunts and competitions were organised and “yarn bomb” seagulls and creatures were on posts along the length of the promenade to encourage the young people to find them. CYC The Hangout sponsored some of the craft materials for the main crafting activities.
Many children were seen with their families at the Library over the course of the Saturday, and hopefully some of them were enthused by the live music performances and the wall art!
More information
Many of the pieces of art remain in place at the end of 2024 and are featured in the Big Local Cleethorpes Art Trail
More images
A selection of a few more images from the event weekend.
See more
More about the artists Lyns Powles on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/lynsart/