In October, we hosted Why did “Henry VIII Used to Hate Us”….? A fun new show by award winning writer, actor and producer Ryan Gilmartin. For ages 8 and up, this show explored local history: Fen Tigers, folklore, rebellion… and cheese…?!
We Are Waterlees was a pop-up mini-festival bringing on the Waterlees estate in Wisbech. It brought creative activities, music, dancing, food, connection and fun to the whole community. We brought K J Folk musicians back to provide music and ceilidh dancing! The Living Better lads led football, archery and axe throwing activities. The Youths of Fenland horsebox served pizzas and while some creative activities for everyone to have a go at were enjoyed – including clay pressing with Little Ems Studio and songwriting with musician & poet Jay Sandhu.
A celebration of the people and community of the Waterlees Estate, this event celebrate the talent, energy and imagination of the Waterlees community.
In Mildenhall, we’re working with Shared Future CIC to run a Citizens’ Panel. Every resident of Mildenhall received an invite, and we’ve recruited 20 local people to represent the town. They are taking part in a series of sessions to share their views, experiences and ideas about arts, culture, and creativity in their community.
The panel was asked to answer the following question: “What would make Mildenhall feel more creative and culturally alive for everyone, and what could help to make that happen?”
To answer this question, the group decided it wants to spend the next few sessions talking about and hearing more from people with insights into events organising, places where creativity happens, how we communicate what is already happening, and more…
If you didn’t get selected for the panel, we’d still love to stay in touch! Follow us on social media to keep up with the project’s progress, hear what we’re learning along the way, and find out more about a community sharing event planned for next year.
Marketplace Arts is delighted to announce the community‑led light art festival, Light Up the Town, has been awarded major funding from Suffolk County Council Culture Fund and will return to Brandon, Mildenhall, Lakenheath and Newmarket in January and February 2027.
Marketplace Arts will be commissioning a mixture of new and existing light art from professional artists based in the Suffolk and beyond. Community panels taking place in each town will bring together local residents to shape the events that will take place in 2027.
Over the past two years, Light Up the Town has grown into a much‑loved annual highlight attended by nearly 3000 people. In 2025, the light shows toured across seven towns, where historic buildings were transformed with projection artworks co‑created by local residents with artists SDNA Collective.
In 2026, the project expanded further, as Suffolk artist Henry Driver transformed churches with Water Portals, an interactive video artwork exploring hidden microbial worlds. Alongside this, community workshops, lantern displays and a guided folklore Light Walk brought people of all ages together. 2026 also saw the unveiling of a permanent glow‑in‑the‑dark mural at Brandon Heritage Centre, co‑created with local young people from Teen Chill and the Breckland Astronomical Society members, now a lasting legacy for the town.
Marketplace Arts’ Weekend of Making returns to Chatteris for its second year.
On Saturday and Sunday 13 & 14 March 2027 Chatteris will be alive with artists, designers and
crafts people running free-to-attend workshops, talks and demos celebrating the wonders of
making, repurposing & upcycling, and the natural materials of the Fens.
Our Makers’ Market will offer for sale an array of beautiful artisan products from creatives across
the region, some you will see crafting their work.
We will also be celebrating the return of the Bayeux Tapestry to England, the first time in nearly
1000 years! The 70m long Tapestry will be on display from September to July 2027 at the British
Museum, London, and Marketplace Arts is one of the Museum’s National Partners. Visitors to the
Weekend of Making will be able to learn about the history and making of the Tapestry through film,
demos and exhibition.
If you want to learn about making, try your hand at something new, become a maker or own
handcrafted works, put the Weekend in your diary now!
Light Up The Town is an annual light art festival taking place in West Suffolk. MarketPlace Arts is recruiting local residents to act as ambassadors and be involved in a group meeting to inform the next Light Up The Town events. Ambassadors will receive £25 to cover expenses for their time in and travel to the group meeting. Our questions are designed so that we can recruit a diverse group that can represent each town truly. We hope to hear from a range of voices. You don’t have to know about arts and culture, or have attended one of our events before – we want to hear from local people who can tell us about what their life is like in their town.
Ambassadors will take part in one, two-hour meeting which will be a friendly, informal session to share ideas and discuss what matters locally. These will take place in June or July. Food and drink will be available. We particularly welcome people who don’t usually get asked for their views, and anyone who feels their perspective isn’t often heard.
SIGN UP TO BE A LIGHT UP THE TOWN COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR
DROP-IN Q&A SESSIONS
Have questions about the Ambassadors call out? Join us for an informal online Q&A session where you can ask members of the MarketPlace team any questions about the Light Up The Town ambassadors.
FAQ’s
Meetings
Light Up The Town will run in Brandon, Mildenhall and Newmarket in 2027. We are running a group meeting in each town so that local people can shape the event for their town. Each meeting format will run in the same format.
Schedule
The meeting will run for 2 hours. The MarketPlace Arts team will be on site for 30 minutes before the meeting so ambassadors can arrive early and ask any questions if they wish to. This is entirely optional. A comfort break will be scheduled mid way and food and drink will be provided.
Venues
We will be booking a private room in a town centre community space in each town. We will ensure the space is wheelchair accessible and easily walkable from the town centre/ local public transport links, The venues will be booked when a meeting time slot has been confirmed.
Ambassadors
Each meeting aims to have 15 local residents who live, work or have a strong connection to the town. Our questions are designed so that we can recruit a diverse groupl that can represent each town accurately.
What is the project about?
Over the past two years, Light Up the Town has grown into a much‑loved annual highlight attended by nearly 3000 people. In 2025, the light shows toured across seven towns, where historic buildings were transformed with projection artworks co‑created by local residents.
In 2026, the project expanded further, as Suffolk artist Henry Driver transformed churches with Water Portals, an interactive video artwork exploring hidden microbial worlds. Alongside this, community workshops, lantern displays and a guided folklore Light Walk brought people of all ages together. This year also saw the unveiling of a permanent glow‑in‑the‑dark mural at Brandon Heritage Centre, co‑created with local young people from Teen Chill and the Breckland Astronomical Society members, now a lasting legacy for the town.
Light Up the Town will celebrate local creativity through large‑scale illuminated artworks, participatory workshops, and a programme of events designed to bring people in West Suffolk together in joyful, accessible ways. Happening in January and February, the event uses these transitional months to focus on climate adaptation and the local environment, at a time when the landscape is dormant. Attendees say “The environmental theme draws people together” and “the theme is good because it is something you wouldn’t normally see”.
What to expect
Access information
Why is a group meeting happening?
The ambassadors have been invited by MarketPlace Arts to represent their communities in the decision making process for this project. MarketPlace is proud to be part of the Creative People and Places programme, developed by Arts Council England with support from National Lottery funds. This initiative supports people in creating cultural activity right where they live.
We produce a wide range of creative projects all year round. From all day festivals, to art installations, creative workshops, theatre or storytelling; there’s something for everyone. Every project is co-created with the communities they’re happening in, ensuring authentic and meaningful experiences for all. For this project, the group meeting is one part of our co-creation process.
Will I be paid?
Ambassadors will receive £25 to cover expenses for their time in and travel to the meeting. This will be facilitated through bank transfer. Please let us know if receiving a payment presents an issue for you – for example if you are in receipt of universal credit or work allowances.
What experience/ qualifications do I need to apply?
No qualifications or experience are necessary. We would like to make this process as accessible as possible – if there are reasonable adjustments we can make to support your application and involvement we welcome the discussion, please email Maddie on [email protected] . You don’t have to know about arts and culture, or have attended one of our events before – we want to hear from local people who can tell us about what their life is like in their town. You might have lived/worked in Brandon, Mildenhall or Newmarket for 3 months or for 30 years. You might be a teacher, a charity shop volunteer, a cleaner or a baker. You might be looking to learn more about arts and culture or you might just know a lot about your town. You might have never done something like this before! We would love to hear from you.
What happens next?
The group meeting will inform the decision making for what events are offered, where and how. The MarketPlace Arts team will use the feedback from ambassadors to make a programme of events that best meet the need and requests from the meeting. You will be invited to join us for Light Up The Town in 2027. We welcome suggestions and feedback outside of the meeting and would like to build a relationship with all ambassadors.
Want to know more?
If you would like to hear more about the project or discuss the opportunity, please email Maddie (Creative Producer of Light Up The Town) at [email protected]. No question is too big or small.
Reimagining Wisbech’s historic Market Place through contemporary photographic portraits, the project draws inspiration from Alfred Balding’s 1887 painting in the Wisbech and Fenland Museum’s collection, to produce a vibrant, collaborative installation celebrating the town’s diverse residents. The project is a powerful narrative of Wisbech’s living history, bridging past and present by celebrating the community’s rich diversity and ongoing story.
Between April and October 2025 we toured community groups, businesses and the streets of Wisbech to meet and photograph as many people as we could! Using Balding’s painting of Wisbech market place as a talking point we chatted to people about the market place, its history and heritage, and the people of the town, past and present. It was a wonderful experience to hear so many stories and memories from the town’s residents as we collected the portraits of all the people we interacted with. We also commissioned a model of Wisbech market place to be made, designed by scale artist Jess Wright and co-created with Wisbech Shedders & Fixers group. This not only included an intricately detailed rendition of the market place, complete with contemporary and historic shop fronts, but also miniature wooden figures of the 134 portrait subjects to sit inside the model!
The stunning portraits of the town’s residents taken by award-winning photographer Steve Hatton of Electric Egg were then presented together with the original painting and the model of Wisbech market place at an exhibition in Wisbech & Fenland Museum between Wednesday 25th February and Saturday 7th March. It was fantastic to see so many of the portrait subjects come along to the exhibition to see their photographs displayed as well as marvel at their miniature selves and put them Centre Stage in the model!
The model has now commenced its tour around Wisbech. It was housed at Wisbech Library between Wednesday 11th March and Saturday 21st March and has since moved onto its new temporary home at:
Cambridge Science Centre, Horsefair Shopping Centre
Between:
Wednesday 25th March and Thursday 30th April
Opening hours:
28th March to 4th April (Easter Holidays) Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10:30am – 2:45 pm.
4th April to 30th April (term time) Public opening Saturdays 10:30 am – 2:45 pm.
Visitors are encouraged to interact with the model by moving the figures around and taking their own snapshot! Tag us in your photos on Instagram @marketplacearts @electricegg @small_but_wrighty.
Steven Hatton & Electric Egg
Steven Hatton is an award-winning photographer, filmmaker and co-founder of creative production company Electric Egg. Recurring themes in his, and Electric Egg’s work are the connection between people and place and exploring social and historical narratives.
Portraits: Steven Hatton, Electric Egg
Lighting and Production Assistant: Kieran Hill, Electric Egg
Jess Wright
Jess trained at Plymouth University (Fine Art) and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (Theatre Design) and has worked for theatres, TV and film for set design and prop making before returning to her creative art practice. Jess exhibits across the South West and runs workshops for both adults and children.
Shedders & Fixers Wisbech
Shedders & Fixers enjoy working with other groups and being part of our local community, helping out as much as they can.
With very many thanks to the following groups/businesses for taking part in this project:
Sally Tabor and The Shedders & Fixers Team, The Damsons Group and the National Trust Team at Peckover House, Youths of Fenland, People & Animals/Wisbech Community Farm, Port of Wisbech, Luxe Cinema, Wisbech Society and Preservation Trust, The Ferry Project, Elgoods Brewery, Sunlounger Travel Agents, the traders of Wisbech market, Wisbech Library. Wisbech Castle.
Peruse quality, artisan makes at our Makers’ Market. Get creative with our packed timetable of bookable creative workshops. Listen to a fascinating talk by Mary Schoeser – a renowned expert archivist, curator and historian in the fields of textiles and wallpaper. FenCreators: Weekend of Making will be a highly sociable, creative way to banish any winter blues.
Photo credit M & D Crafts
Come and shop an exciting array of quality creations made by local makers and creatives. The Hall at King Edward Community Centre will be awash with creativity on Saturday 31 January and Sunday 1 February. With artisan makes including pyrographic portraits, hand-woven baskets, jewellery, stained glass creations, works in wood, and eco-resin plant pots on offer, we invite you to admire, peruse, and purchase bespoke pieces to give as gifts, or keep for yourselves.
Our Stallholders
Jill Fordham & Paul Fordham – Jill creates stained glass and lamps. Her business is called Hurdy Gurdy. Paul makes prints, cards and Fantasy Fenscapes
Tereza McDermott – Pyrography pet/animal portraits
Immi Calderwood – Lady Bricks Silver – hand-made silver jewellery
Julie Shortland – Stained glass panels specialising in birds
Rich Cartwright – Fen-based sculptor of wood specialising in birds and natural subjects
Glenys Newton – Hand-woven basketry
Linda & Sarah – M&D Crafts – based in March and specialising in handmade jewellery
Judy Dawson – Denim bags, aprons, notebooks and other creations
Kathy from The Quirky Shroom – Eco resin ornaments – from ghosts and giant skulls to wax burners and plant pots
Mike Holmes – Mike runs Marlin Woodcraft, creating and selling items such as pens, tools, utensils, cars and trains
Dave Nunnery – Dave runs Salt and Timber, featuring handcrafted driftwood & reclaimed timber art — inspired by the sea and land all shaped by hand.
Gill Simons – Gill is from Suffolk Quilts and Quirks.
Photo credits: Tereza McDermott, Imogen – Lady Bricks Silver, Rich Cartwright, Julie Shortland, Judy Dawson, Jill Fordham – Hurdy Gurdy, Paul Fordham, Glenys Newton
