With the Creative Crawley’s Spring programme of exciting, free and participatory art now under way, the local arts charity announce further details ahead of the opening of their brand-new pop-up cultural spaces for the town - at County Mall Shopping Centre in partnership with local music not-for-profit organisation AudioActive, and with Crawley-based national touring theatre company Theatre Centre at their home base in West Green.
As Creative Crawley and AudioActive prepare for the grand opening of their new arts space at County Mall, they can reveal the space will be christened by a brand new sculpture from the celebrated local artist, Abdollah Nafisi. Commissioned by Creative Crawley, the piece named‘ The Surgeon’ is a dialogue between material, sound, and time. Nafisi has utilised old Sussex chair making techniques to craft industrial wood in a work that “considers the forest as a symphony of survival”.
The sculpture will be unveiled on Friday 28th March at the grand opening of the new pop-up venue at Unit 79/80 of County Mall Shopping Centre, which will also feature a interactive visual art exhibition Play Interact Explore by Leap then Look and a County Mall takeover from returning Crawley favourites Super Normal Extra Natural by Requardt &Rosenberg, which combines large-scale dance with intimate binaural sound. Singers, dancers and Crawley locals will take over the shopping centre in a unique dance spectacle using headphones.
Sussex-based music not-for-profit organisation AudioActive-Creative Crawley’s partners in creating the County Mall space - have also announced their first events at the new space. They will be hosting a Rap Masterclass and Cypher with Donae’o on Wednesday 9th April, before the Kustom Vibes Showcase and Album Launch Party on Thursday 24th April in addition to af ull programme of weekly sessions. Tickets available from their Eventbrite here, with further information on how to get involved on their website here.
In West Green, the pop-up space will test the impact of makers and artists’ studios in Theatre Centre’s homebase. Resident artists will make work, collaborate and share their multi-disciplinary practice with each other and other creatives hiring the spaces, and with local residents. The Resident Artists are music producer Maija Handover; architect, royal academician, artist Karl Singporewala RWA RIBA; Crawley-based designer and artist Beth Williams; Crawley-raised fashion and bridalwear designer Sophie Merriner; and Theatre Centre, who make theatre with and for young people.
A further three associate artists join the line-up: immersive theatre-making duo Kat Heath and Tara Boland, and photographer, filmmaker, artist, and long-time Crawley resident Simon Edwards.
The residents move in at the end of March, which coincides with the Skills Exchange Programme- a Creative Crawley initiative for locals aged between 16 - 30 running since September 2024 - cohort also taking up residency to create new installations in different spaces throughout the building.
The first live performances in West Green will take place on Saturday 5 April, with Brigette Aphrodite and Quiet Boy’s Living Legends (and dead ones too)-a wild and anarchic literary gig-theatre cabaret exploring sung and unsung heroes, from Aphra Behn to David Bowie, adding on its own Crawley-specific local legend, which will appear on Brigitte’s ever evolving, illustrated art dress and become a part of the tapestry of legends in this show for all future performances. This free, ticketed performance is the perfect toast to this brand new performance space.
Creative Crawley is looking to commission further artists to create eye-catching window installations at both new pop-up spaces. For the West Green Window, they are seeking two new installations with a brief to make people stop and wonder ‘what on earth is going on inside the building’; and for the County Mall Window, they are looking for digital and film-based artworks to draw shoppers into the space. Submissions close at noon on Thursday 3rd April. Apply here.
Full listings of performances, exhibitions, and workshops at both the County Mall and West Green pop-up cultural spaces can be found at the Creative Crawley website: https://creativecrawley.com/