Ashfield Art Trail livens up town centres

As part of the Welcome Back Fund Ashfield District Council has created an art trail of resident’s art.

Following on from the success of Ashfield Virtual Art Fest, organised and produced by local resident Claire Finn in May, the Council has installed hundreds of pieces of art around the town centres for residents and visitors to enjoy.

The artwork includes primary school children’s drawings, secondary school photography and art from Sutton Community Academy and Ashfield School, paintings by local artists, and winning photographs from the Discover Ashfield photography competition.

You can find the artwork in various locations throughout our town centres including, Kirkby Plaza, Portland Square, Hucknall High Street, and on railings across the District. More art will be added over the coming weeks and the trails will be displayed until winter 2021.

The Council received £114k from the government’s Welcome Back Fund and part of this funding will be used on a timetable of events and attractions, including the Art Trail.

Cllr Samantha Deakin, Cabinet Member for Parks, Town Centres and Neighbourhood Services, said “I would like to say thank you to everyone who contributed their art, and to Claire for allowing us to build on her great work. We hope that everyone gets a chance to go out to enjoy finding some of the art.

“We are pleased that the Welcome Back Fund is allowing us to explore new ways of attracting people to our town centres, like this Art Trail, the Food and Drink Festival and the Summer Strings events. We want residents and visitors to feel safe when coming back into our town centres, but we also want them to enjoy it and these events and activities are doing exactly that.”

Claire Finn, Director of Ashfield Virtual Art Fest said “The virtual festival saw a great response and highlighted the amazing talent in Ashfield. I am excited to see a continuation of the celebration for the coming months”.