Category: Project Posts

What better way to connect with your community, enjoy some time in the company of like-minded adults and learn new skills?

Saturday 31 January

King Edward Community Centre: Room 1	King Edward Community Centre: Room 2	Vermuyden Room, Chatteris Library
10am-1pm Asemic Hurufi and Letterist Painting Workshop with Asim Khairdean Book here	10am-12pm Stained Glass with Jill Fordham Book here	10am-12pm Rush Weaving Demonstration with Lynne Shimell Book here
2pm-3.30pm Conversations with Clay with Sarah Strachan Book here	2pm-4pm Weaving with Linda Blissett Book here	12.30pm-4.30pm Rush Weaving Workshop with Lynne Shimell Book here
	4pm-6pm Creative Writing with Holly Trundle Book here

Saturday 31 January continued

Savage Studios	Church of St Peter & St Paul
10am-12pm Pencil sketching with Ric Savage Book here	11am-1pm Bricstan Concert Band – open rehearsal Drop in – no need to book & Cromwell College – young artists’ exhibition Drop in – no need to book
2pm-4pm Soft pastels with Ric Savage Book here	2pm-3pm English Artist-Designed Textiles, c.1905-1945 Keynote talk by Mary Schoeser, FRSA Tickets cost £5 Buy here
	3pm-4pm Cromwell College – young artists’ exhibition Drop in – no need to book

Sunday 1 February

Church of St Peter & St Paul	King Edward Community Centre: Room 1	King Edward Community Centre: Room 2
	11am-2pm Kené Pattern Making with Karen Avilez Book here	10am-12pm Paper Cactus Making with Ann Bellamy Book here
1pm-4pm Cromwell College – young artists’ exhibition Drop in – no need to book		1pm-2.30pm Visible and creative mending with Steph Norwood Book here
	3pm-5pm Mindful watercolour with The Wild Hub Book here	3pm-5pm Beginners punch needle with Jen Walker Book here

We welcomed over 1,200 residents and visitors for a vibrant, free two-night celebration of light art celebrating the natural world.

Across the 3 towns, each local church played host to a striking immersive installation by internationally recognised West Suffolk artist Henry Driver. The interactive video artwork invited visitors to explore the hidden microbial worlds within rivers, lakes and seas. Visitors of all ages took part in hands-on projection workshops and video games created by the artist, creating a lively and inclusive atmosphere that encouraged creativity and learning.

Much of Henry’s work is inspired by coming from a farming family and witnessing the effects of climate change on the industry. Water Portals was created through discussion and collaboration with leading scientists Dr Pinnegar, Dr Kroeger, Dr Mayes & Dr Jenni Rant from the Centre for Environment Fisheries & Aquaculture Science, at the University of East Anglia. Solar energy powered the production of the project.

Henry Driver, exhibiting artist shared:

“As someone who grew up and lives in the West Suffolk countryside, I’m incredibly proud to be part of Light Up The Town, and I was thrilled to show my artwork and video games as part of it.”

Luke McDonnell, the mural artist, said:

“Working on the mural in Brandon was an absolute pleasure. I adore projects like this as they essentially enable you to dig up historic and cultural treasure! I spanned generations when accruing inspiration from the community, from ‘Teen-Chill’ all the way to a 90 year old local astronomer.

During my time painting I was able to converse with all the locals who were incredibly complimentary and encouraging. They brought cups of tea, cakes and sausage rolls throughout the week. I heard conversations about the mural and took a lot of joy from hearing local children educating themselves on the likes of Charles Brandon, star charts, and taking interest in the heritage centre.”

On Saturday, a tractor provided by O W Wortley and Sons, farmers of the Breckland Farmers Wildlife Network, was stationed in the Market Square and illuminated with hundreds of fairy lights, creating a striking focal point that celebrated the area’s agricultural heritage.

In Chatteris, visitors were invited to experience a captivating Community Lantern Display, showcasing a vibrant collection of lanterns handcrafted by local residents. The event marked the culmination of weeks of free community workshops led by expert artists from Light Whale International, where local people of all ages came together to design and craft an extraordinary collection of lanterns inspired by the natural world.

One of the standout achievements of the project was a spectacular 4 metre long grasshopper lantern created by Light Whale International and built with the help of dedicated local volunteers. Inspired by the Large Marsh Grasshopper, one of the UK’s biggest grasshopper species and a native of the Fens, the final piece measured an impressive 4 metres long and 2 metres high, making it roughly 80 times the size of its real-life counterpart.

Jonathon Ben-Shaul, Creative Director of Light Whale International, said:

“We have been delivering a much-loved biannual lantern parade in Peterborough for the past three years, and so it feels especially exciting to deepen our connections across the Fens. We’ve been blown away by the creativity in Chatteris, from a life-size elephant lantern to an intricate willow microbe!”

In Whittlesey, residents and visitors took part in a guided Community Light Walk along Whittlesey’s Heritage Trail. Led by Ashley Dolling, the walk retold local folklore. Participants embraced the spirit of the event by wearing glowing and illuminated outfits, from fairy lights and fluorescent clothing to inventive light-up straw bear accessories, adding to the sense of celebration throughout the town. The folklore walk route will be made available on the MarketPlace Arts website for free use.

Ashley Dolling, researcher of the community light walk:

“I was excited to support Marketplace Arts in illuminating some of the things which makes Whittlesey special, its community, history and landscape. This event literally shines a light on what we all love about the town”.

We would like to thank:

Venues:

St Mary’s Pathway Church Whittlesey, Chatteris Parish Church, St Peter’s Church Brandon and Brandon Heritage Centre

Artists and collaborators:

Henry Driver, Luke McDonnell, Brandon Leisure & Health Hub Teen Chill, Light Whale International, Ashley Dolling, Hugh Lodge of Breckland Astronomical Society and O.W. Wortley & Sons Ltd of the Breckland Farmers Wildlife Network

Supporters: 

Brandon Town Council, Seasons Garden Centre Chatteris, Cromwell Community College

About Henry Driver

Henry Driver is an artist based in Suffolk. He has shown artwork across the world in; Japan, Canada, Australia and beyond. Henry’s artworks, videogames and installations aim to connect people to the environment. His work explores how to combat the climate crisis by presenting achievable responses to this. Much of Henry’s work is inspired by coming from a farming family and witnessing the effects of climate change on the industry.

www.henrydriverartist.com

Instagram:@HenryDriver

About Light Whale International

Light Whale International create community-focused lantern parades, installations, and workshops. Using storytelling, music, and street theatre, the group brings local histories to life through large-scale illuminated spectacles. Their work has featured at Illuminate Bermondsey festival, Tonnerre S’Éclaire in France and Light Up Eye Village.

www.lightwhaleinternational.com

Instagram: @LightWhaleInternational

About Luke McDonnell

Luke McDonnell is a mural artist with 20 years experience. He is an experienced Street Artist, Illustrator and Graphic designer. He is Managing Director at Chiba Creative. (www.chibacreative.com)

Instagram: @LukeMcdonnellArt

Facebook: Luke McDonnell – Street Artist, Illustrator, Graphic designer

What is Light Up The Town?

Light Up The Town is an annual light art project by MarketPlace Arts, co-created with local communities. It aims to bring people together in the blue months after the festive season, when community members might feel isolated. At this time of year, when much of the landscape is dark and dormant, we bring artworks that celebrate the local environment and the oncoming spring. Find out about what we did last year here:

Light Up The Town 2025

We worked with Mandinga Arts this Autumn to bring The Spirit Tree to Wisbech, a magically immersive tree installation that celebrated the local apple growing tradition and sparks imagination through play, conversation and hands-on interaction. Coinciding with the celebration of Apple Day on 21st October, The Spirit Tree invited the community of Wisbech to connect with the fenland landscape, local heritage, and community identity through the sharing of personal stories or memories connected to trees, nature and local orchards. 

Families and young people decorated apples through painting, collage, glitter and written messages. Decorated apples were then hung on the Tree transforming it into a colourful, communal artwork that captured the essence of Wisbech. Visitors were given the opportunity to wear and animate parts of the Tree, culminating in an impromptu mini parade through Market Square on Sunday 19 October! People created intricate foam masks, tried on 3D animal heads and learned about the development of the Tree.

With 4 different varieties of delicious locally-grown apples available for our visitors to try for FREE, generously donated by William Norman and Son Ltd and delivered by Fenland Orchards Project, it truly was an Apple Day to remember.

In September 2025, MarketPlace Arts brought the Lumini to Memorial Gardens for four days of extraordinary light, colour and joy!

The inflatable Lumini sculpture, created by internationally renowned Architects of Air, offered intricate egg shaped domes which created an inspiring space of light and colour. With a bespoke design for Newmarket, visitors were invited to step inside and be immersed in radiant colour, awakening all the senses.

The Lumini created a stimulating environment that was also calming and comforting, making it the perfect space to support mental health, emotional wellbeing, and social connection. Over 1000 people entered the Lumini and experienced this FREE magical, dreamlike world of domes and radiant light.

There were over 23 hours of free workshops by local artists and community groups in and around the Lumini, including:

• Singing For Fun by Newmarket’s Music Builds Communities inside the Lumini
• Still Life drawing sessions with Jasmine of Brush and Bloom
• A meditation session for over 16s with Newmarket Meditation Group inside the Lumini
• Crochet with Robyn of Newmarket Knit and Natter
• Chair Yoga sessions from Calm with Nicole 
• A sold-out sound bath from Sound and Ground
• Drumming Circles with Newmarket’s New Samba band
• Herbal Tea Tasting and Bird Feeder Making by Project Abundance

“People were wowed as soon as they walked in. (The event was) very inclusive and all ages from 7 yrs to 70 were engaged. (It was) really welcoming and the rows of trees gave a festival vibe.” –
Anthony, Newmarket New Samba.

Outside the Lumini, Memorial Gardens was buzzing with free activities across all 4 days. Visitors who were just stumbling upon the event were invited to try out:

• Zine Making at the co-created Illustration Station by Yve Ward, a local illustrator.
• Cloud Painting, responding to the collection at The National Horse Racing Museum. This partnership enabled us to offer free tickets to the museum to those taking part in the activity, resulting in £500 of free tickets being gifted to local people – many of whom had never been to the museum before.
• Birdwatching with binos from the RSPB that were free to use at any point
• Meditation, grabbing a seat in a deck chair and listening to a guided meditation written specifically for the gardens by Janine Tandy. You can listen to this below:

• A rag bunting station where people could add to the colourful textile take over made by the Knit and Natter group through adding rags to bunting across the park
• A Wellbeing Walk co-created with Newmarket Community Nature Reserve to explore the re-wilded green spaces of the town – see the route here.

Those who came will remember the amazing yarn bombing on view across the park, which was created by members of Newmarket Library Knit and Natter group.

This event was shaped by a community panel of local residents who co-designed the programme to reflect local interests and needs. We would like to thank Alan, Meera, Nicole, Janet, Mark, and Jill for their time and support. 

“As someone who is active in supporting the wellbeing of our local community, I feel privileged to be part of this exciting project.”
Panellist Nicole Smith.

The Lumini was generously supported by Newmarket Town Council.

MarketPlace Arts brought the Bath Road skate park to life with a vibrant celebration of street art, skating and music. The event featured DJ workshops, alongside an exciting breaking performance and workshop from Trinity Warriors, featuring international breaking champion Kid Karam.

The event was part of Future Roots, a youth-led social action project supporting young people aged 12–25 to make a positive difference in their local community in Wisbech.

Led by a group of dedicated young volunteers, the project focused on improving the skate park to help create a safer, more creative and welcoming space for young people. Through art, movement and music, the event celebrated youth creativity, community action and the potential of young people to shape the places they call home.