Coasters’ circus and street art

Hastings Borough Council has become a partner in a national initiative using world class circus and street art to boost visitor numbers and civic pride. Year 2 of Arts Council England funded Coasters project seeks to boost the local economy in seaside resorts.

Hastings Borough Council is one of 12 partners who have banded together as The Coasters Touring Network. They have pooled their resources, experience and expertise, to create a national network that spans the English coastline.

Coasters aims to support the cultural economies of English seaside towns, increasing resident and visitor audiences by touring world class circus and street arts shows. It is building on the traditional British seaside’s reputation as a location for relaxation and fun with a great tradition of family entertainment.

Coasters enjoyed a successful first year in 2016 when over 500,000 people enjoyed Coasters partner events and is set to scale new heights this summer and beyond.

August Stade Saturdays

This year the Coasters partners have selected a top-notch line-up of spectacular circus and outdoor arts companies and for three weeks in August Stade Saturdays free performances will all be Coasters supported shows. On 12/19/26 August Sur Message from Belgium, Cirque du Platzak from Holland and French Compagnie Bilbobasso will be enthralling and entertaining audiences at the Stade Open Space – the outdoor, seafront performance area, next to the Jerwood Gallery and the tall black net huts of the town’s fishing fleet in Hastings Old Town.

Fillage by Sur Mesure is a thrilling but gently surreal mix of southern swing and trampoline, the Andrews Sisters and acrobatics, with more than a nod to sixties Californian swim wear styles.

Cirque du Platzak’s Kermiz is a darkly-comic circus adventure for all the family. Rousing eastern European folk music, played live, accompanies traditional and contemporary circus techniques in a show featuring a man with a fascination for lawnmowers and lettuce, a temperamental Italian aerialist fighting with a Spanish toreador and an acrobat obsessed with staplers.

A heady mix of dance and fire performance comes to Hastings in Compagnie Bilbobasso’s Polar. Thriller meets silent film and street theatre in an emotional show that recreates the lively but sinister atmosphere of a Buenos Aires cabaret, where dancers, gangsters and musicians lurk in the shadows. In this frenetic journey through Argentinian tango the leading lady is surrounded by gangster musicians, fire performances and an exploding piano.

High quality entertainment

Councillor Kim Forward, Hastings Borough Council Portfolio Holder for Culture said, ‘Coasters is very important in bringing street performance from all over the UK and Europe to Hastings, providing high quality entertainment for families and young people, and being part of the summer package which brings new and returning visitors to the town’.

Initially a three year project, led by Great Yarmouth’s SeaChange Arts and supported by Arts Council England, Coasters was set up to encourage more people to visit seaside towns and participate in shared cultural experiences. Using high quality cultural activity and entertainment it seeks to attract visitors, enhance the sense of pride and place of local people and boost the local economy of English seaside towns. Like Hastings Borough Council each of the partners already run successful events and festivals in their regions and Coasters enhances those events through the inclusion of jointly selected indoor and outdoor touring shows that are inspired by coastal locations and relevant to local audiences.

Joe Mackintosh, Director of SeaChange Arts said ‘Circus and street performance are part of the heritage of English seaside holidaymaking. Coasters shows look to celebrate this but bring a contemporary perspective to it. Through performance and associated development projects in each location, we’re seeking to change people’s perceptions of culture on the coast, develop their organisations and build lasting relationships with partners and audiences.’

Hedley Swain, Area Director, South East, Arts Council England, said: ‘Coasters is an exciting project and we’re really pleased that Hastings Borough Council has chosen to be a partner. Our seaside towns have a wonderful heritage as visitor destinations. Coasters’ ground breaking new circus and street arts performances offer a wonderful way to reignite our passion for heading to these coastal towns. I look forward to it strengthening the local arts offer, whilst also creating a lasting legacy of increased visitor numbers for Hastings.’

Stade Saturdays

12 August 4.30pm and 7.30pm Fillage by Sur Mesure, Belgium
19 August 1pm and 6pm Kermiz by Cirque du Platzak, Holland
26 August 8pm Polar by Compagnie Bilbobasso, France

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