Can art change the future? In the mid- to late-nineteenth century, Victorian artists, viewers and critics increasingly believed it could. Opening at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village on 17 November, Art & Action: Making Change in Victorian Britain will be the first exhibition to focus on the Victorian roots of art activism. From the 1840s,…
Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS) is celebrating major success, having won a prestigious Charity Times award which was open to national and regional charities and not-for-profit organisations from across the UK. The life-saving charity has been crowned Charity of the Year (income over £10 million) in recognition of consistently delivering an outstanding and pioneering…
Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village is delighted to announce that it will start to re-open from the 6 July following the latest Government guidelines for the reopening of UK museums. The reopening will be in four phases, enabling the introduction of Government-recommended measures across the site to ensure the safety of visitors, volunteers and staff. The four…
For immediate release: ART FOR ALL SEASON AT WATTS GALLERY – ARTISTS’ VILLAGE Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village (WGAV) has launched a series of activities to celebrate its Art for All Community learning programme. Inspired by the charity’s founders – the great Victorian artist George Frederic Watts OM RA (1817-1904) and his wife, the artist…
As the nation marked the 75th anniversary of VE Day, a significant discovery was made at West Horsley Place. Whilst sorting through old papers, a member of the West Horsley Place team came across an envelope containing 18 thank you letters from children evacuated to the manor house in 1939, thanking Lord and Lady Crewe…
Congratulations to children’s author, Adam Baron, who has won the Awesome Book Award 2020 for his novel, Boy Under Water. His Award was announced today via a special online event “I am delighted and honoured to have won with such an amazing shortlist. These events mean so much to authors and I am always stunned at the…
As one of the country’s leading literary festivals that had to be cancelled because of the Covid-19 outbreak, the Stratford Literary Festival has been busy curating activities to keep its audiences inspired and entertained. Following the launch of its Sharing Stories page, which has already attracted thousands of visitors and features best-selling authors and…
West Horsley Place is inviting members of the local community to help create an artwork that explores ‘what makes us glad right now’. Devised by local artist Diana Burch in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the GladRags project asks local residents – including children – to create a small patchwork square that captures ‘what…
The Stratford Literary Festival is excited to launch a free-to-access page of online video content featuring bestselling authors and illustrators – aimed at young children and parents who are at home because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Those appearing include: Jeanne Willis, author of over 150 books, reading The Bog Baby; the popular author-illustrator Steven Lenton…
The Stratford Literary Festival and The Salariya Book Company are delighted to announce the winners of the 2020 Children’s Picture Book Prize. This year saw a record number of entries from across the UK and a very strong field and, after much deliberation, the judges have decided that two winners will share the prize…