The East Kent Open Houses team are going ahead with this year’s arts trail in October.
Shoreline’s Sarah Gibbon, who is this year’s Margate area coordinator, is looking to build local involvement in this annual cultural event, which is already well established in other parts of Thanet. She said it is an opportunity – socially distanced of course – for the local creative community to offer a wider range of alternative arts venues for this Autumn’s visitors.
Artists are invited to open their houses, studios and galleries to the public for three weekends – October 10/11, 17/18 and 24/25 – to showcase their artistic and creative talents, supported by a publicity campaign managed by the EKOH team. Participating artists have an entry in the event’s programme and on the website.
Sarah said: “We recognise that there are extra challenges this year in getting involved with EKOH. We have several galleries on board already, including the Old Town’s Eclectic Art Gallery, and DIG Gallery in Westbrook, as well as some individuals opening their studios and homes, and would like to support more local artists doing this.
“We are encouraging galleries who already have Covid-safe arrangements in place to offer display space to artists who cannot participate from their homes. We have also been offered spaces in the large and airy Magical Margate Townhouse in Dalby Square for independent artists.
“We will be able to provide advice on conducting Covid-safe risk assessments, cleaning arrangements, etc if required, which will be updated in line with the official government and public health advice that we would expect to be updated in the coming months.”
More details on criteria and fees are available on www.ekoh.org.uk. The deadline to apply has been extended but please make contact asap, as the promotional material and printed programme will be going into production soon.
Anyone interested can contact Sarah via the Shoreline website, email, Facebook or Instagram.
Turner Contemporary is closed from September 2020 to February 2021