Centre Stage puts the people of Wisbech in the spotlight, celebrating the diversity of the people that call this historic town their home. The project draws inspiration from a remarkable unfinished painting in the Wisbech and Fenland Museum’s collection. This project is a powerful narrative of Wisbech’s living history, bridging past and present by celebrating the community’s rich diversity and ongoing story.
Historical Inspiration
The project is rooted in an unfinished painting by Alfred Balding, depicting Wisbech Market Place during the celebrations for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. This artwork features many of the town’s residents within a still-recognisable market place backdrop, with many locals having paid for the privilege of being featured.
Contemporary Vision
CentreStage aims to capture a contemporary snapshot of Wisbech through photographic portraits representing the diverse communities that make up the town. These portraits will be housed within a unique, theatre set-inspired model that reimagines the market place for the 21st century.
Community Collaboration
The project will be created through a collaborative effort involving the community of Wisbech, lead artists Electric Egg, and a professional set designer.
Exhibition Details
The final interactive installation will be shared and displayed at the Wisbech & Fenland Museum in October 2025, featuring the new portraits alongside the original 1887 painting.
A Spring Celebration – How We Lit Up the Town Together
Light Up The Town brought communities together across Fenland and West Suffolk, transforming local towns with stunning light projection art during early 2025. Collaborating with SDNA Moving Image and community groups, the project illuminated historic buildings with artworks made by local residents, bringing people together during the transition from winter to spring.
“It brought all ages together. This was especially appreciated by those who suffer with the dark nights. Spring is now in the air! Thank you for brightening up our town.“ – Rev.d Canon Wendy Thomson | Vicar, Chatteris Church of St. Peter & St. Paul
We saw over 1,500 of you visit the light shows that lit up buildings in Chatteris, March, Wisbech, Whittlesey, Brandon, Mildenhall, and Newmarket in early 2025.
West Suffolk Light Shows
The West Suffolk leg of the project featured three captivating evenings:
Brandon came alive on Tuesday, 25th February at the Town Council’s Old School House on Market Hill
Mildenhall was beautifully illuminated on Wednesday, 26th February at St. Mary’s Church
Newmarket concluded the West Suffolk shows on Thursday, 27th February at St. Mary’s Church
Fenland Light Celebrations
The Fenland towns followed with their own spectacular light displays:
Wisbech kicked off on Monday, 3rd March at Museum Square
March hosted its event on Wednesday, 5th March at the Town Hall
Chatteris shone brightly on Thursday, 6th March at the Church of St Peter & St Paul
Whittlesey concluded the series on Friday, 7th March at Saint Mary’s Church
“I didn’t know that music and light could be so overwhelming to make you feel better. It’s so healing.” – Attendee
How was the artwork made?
The artwork was developed in 4 stages: collecting images from local gardening groups, workshops with community groups collaging these images, SDNA animating the artworks with projection mapping software and presentation of the artworks projected onto local landmarks at the Light Shows. The artworks celebrated the work of the gardeners, the creativity of the workshop participants and the transition from winter to spring.
“using our images made it so personal and we instantly connected to it” – Laura, Newmarket Community Nature Reserve
We would like to thank community groups: Brandon Circle, Mildenhall Teen Chill, Newmarket Art Group, Wisbech Recovery Cafe, Cromwell and Neale Wade Academies and Whittlesey brownies and girl guides for creating the artworks for their towns.
Gardening groups Brandon in Bloom, Brandon Town Keepers, Mildenhall in Bloom, Newmarket Community Nature Reserve and Fenland In Bloom kindly supplied images of their hard work for the workshops.
How was the community involved?
Decision Making: Community voices shaped the project from the start. MarketPlace Arts ran two community panels to select the artists SDNA for this project. The community panelists represented each of the seven towns involved in the decision making process for this project.
Collaboration: MarketPlace Arts worked with SDNA to run creative workshops with community groups in every town. We worked with local gardening groups to source images and plant names which served as inspiration and material for collages created by local community groups in the workshops.
Artwork Creation: SDNA used the artworks made by community members, animating them and projecting them onto local buildings for the Light Shows.
Local Support: Local venues hosted the events and provided refreshments, helping to create a warm, welcoming space for neighbours to gather and celebrate together.
Volunteering: Our Light Shows couldn’t happen without the support of local volunteers! Want to get involved? We’re always looking for enthusiastic volunteers to help bring future events to life – get in touch and be part of something special in your town.
We would like to thank the community spaces kindly hosting the light shows: Brandon Town Council, St Mary’s Church Mildenhall, St Mary’s Church Newmarket, Wisbech & Fenland Museum, March Town Hall, St Mary’s Church Whittlesey and Church of St Peter & St Paul, Chatteris.
Who are SDNA?
SDNA is a creative studio founded in 2010 by Valentina Floris and Ben Foot. They specialise in producing distinctive digital artworks and interactive experiences for a range of settings, involving people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds in the creative process. They animate galleries and public spaces with bold and imaginative displays to engage and inspire new and diverse audiences in fresh and exciting ways.
“For the first time in our 800-year history, the church was beautifully illuminated with stunning projected lighting displays.“ – Richard, Mildenhall
Why did MarketPlace Arts commission SDNA?
MarketPlace Arts is part of the Creative People and Places programme, funded by Arts Council England and the National Lottery. We support communities in creating cultural activity where they live, producing festivals, installations, workshops, theatre, and more throughout the year.
Every project is co-created with local communities to ensure it’s meaningful and relevant. For this project, we ran two community panels made up of representatives from all seven towns to select the lead artist.
“Being part of the community panel gave me some insight into the process of developing a community art project. I felt that my perspective was valued. Being involved in the panel pushed me to consider my future career in the creative industries and helped me in my studies by giving me information and experience.” -Yve, Community Panellist
We returned to Rose Fair, with lots of creativity and fun for everyone to get involved with in and around the town centre.
We reunited with the brilliant Mandinga Arts who took part in the parade and performed their brand new show ‘Pansy Postal Service’ at in the church gardens, complete with human flowers. Their bright and imaginative costumes were the perfect addition to the parade.
Artist Karin Forman held drop-in creative sessions in the sensory garden where people could make their own intricate paper flowers to take home.
Plus, we unveiled our street art sculpture which was installed in Horse Fair shopping centre, designed and spray-painted by the local community in our public workshops with Artist and Illustrator Nick Shove.
The community got stuck into our drop-in spray painting sessions at REMO in Wisbech, guided by street artist Nick Shove in the lead up to Wisbech Rose Fair.
These drop-in workshops were free and suitable for all ages. White umbrellas were used to spray on the colourful designs. These were then built into a giant sculpture which was on display during Wisbech Rose Fair.
MarketPlace has partnered with The National Gallery for Art Road Trip as part of their 200th year celebrations. Together we have curated a two week creative programme designed to bring art and creativity to communities in Wisbech and Mildenhall. This July, we are welcoming an art studio across multiple locations in both towns, along with a range of free, open to all, hands on creative workshops.
The travelling studio will be stationed at various locations across Wisbech from 2-6 July and Mildenhall from 9-13 July, with free workshops and interactive activities for all. We’ll be encouraging everyone to get creative, inspired by the theme of ‘Look up and take to the skies’ in Mildenhall, and ‘More than meets the eye‘ in Wisbech. Two incredible artists from The National Gallery, Chioma Ince and Alex Bowie will be facilitating these sessions, exploring a variety of techniques and practices.
The Art Road Trip mobile studio will be at the following locations in Wisbech:
2nd – 3rd July: Outside the Oasis Centre (St Michael’s Ave, PE13 3NR) – drop in between 10-4
4th July: Peckover House (N Brink, PE13 1JR) – drop in between 10:30-4:30
5th – 6th July: Market Square (PE13 1DT) – drop in between 10-5
The Art Road Trip mobile studio will be at the following locations in Mildenhall:
9th July: Mildenhall Hub Plaza (Sheldrick Way, IP28 7JX) – Camera Obscura making drop-in workshops between 10-12 and 2-4
10th July: Mildenhall Lodge Care Home (St John’s Cl, IP28 7NX) – Zoom in and discover: expressive marksof Van Gogh drop-in workshops between 10.30-12 and 2-4
11th July: Mildenhall Hub Plaza (Sheldrick Way, IP28 7JX) – Life in the Sky: exploring with sculptural materials drop-in workshop between 10:30-12 and History of Cyanotypes: using the sky to make art workshop between 1-3:30
12th July: Mildenhall Museum (6 King St, IP28 7EX) – Sky Stories: concertina book drop-in workshop between 10:30-12.
13th July: Market Place (IP28 7EF) – World building in the wind: transforming the market square into a new imagined world all day drop-in between 10-4
Drop in workshops include making stories from the sky, exploring sculptural materials, printing with the sun and transforming the market square into a new imagined world. Mixed age groups welcome. Children must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
Community Workshops Throughout June
Wisbech: We will be working with artist Ann Bellamy and using found pictures from local charity shops to explore the theme ‘More than meets the eye’. Ann will be working at Peckover House and across Wisbech before the Art Road Trip starts in July.
Mildenhall: We will be running community creative writing workshops in June exploring the theme of ‘Look up and take to the skies’. The theme reflects Mildenhall’s celebration and commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the Great Air Race from Mildenhall to Melbourne in 1934. The writing that comes from these sessions will then be available to inspire anyone who joins us in July for Art Road Trip.
Later this year we will be exhibiting a series of the artworks across both towns, developed with the communities and with an accompanying guide. More details on the exhibition will be shared later this year.
Taking place at the Wisbech Adventure Playground, the workshop series is for ages 9+ and is led by artist Karin Forman, with playworkers on hand for support. The sessions cover creative activities such as screen-printing, clay work and crochet. The activities are inspired by objects from Wisbech & Fenland Museum, such as ‘witch’ bottles and Viking brooches. The young people taking part will be given exclusive hands-on access to the collection.
The first workshop will take place on Saturday 23 September from 1-4pm and will run for five consecutive Saturdays. The series is in collaboration with The Spinney Adventure Playground and Wisbech & Fenland Museum.
For more information and to book your space, email peggy@marketplacearts.org.uk or speak to the playworkers at The Spinney Playground
Playday is the national day for play, celebrated each year across the UK on the first Wednesday in August.
MarketPlace works closely with the children and playworkers at The Spinney Adventure Playground, Wisbech. We were invited again to be part of this exciting annual event in the centre of Waterlees Estate.
The Playday theme for this year was ‘Playing on a shoestring – making every day an adventure’, with the focus on the everyday low-cost or no-cost play adventures that children can enjoy at home, in settings, and in our communities.
Having spoken to the playworkers and children at the Spinney, they were keen to see something sculptural as well combining the textile elements from the Wisbech Stories arts programme MarketPlace is producing in partnership with the Spinney Adventure Playground and Wisbech & Fenland Museum.
MarketPlace put together an exciting activity pushing the boundaries of traditional cross stitching. Participants used yarn, string, cord and even shoe laces to stitch directly onto fence panels. This, alongside stitching onto some hessian fabric using coloured wools with Textile Designer Karin Forman, created a wonderful learning platform for children and adults alike. An inexpensive, frugal way to create, craft and play. Graffitiing with yarn!
One mother said how good it was for her son to improve his motor skills, through play. Other children were surprised at how much fun it was to stitch with coloured wool to make a picture. Someone asked if they could stitch on their fence at home – we said they had to ask their parents or carers first! But it shows how art, play and a few household items can engage the imagination.
The activity inspired participants to sit and play with string and yarn – some people stayed for hours, stitching on the fence and fabric. We also handed out free cross stitch kits for those who were eager to continue the activity at home.
Fancy Fencing was also a catalyst to inspire people to come and join in our Wisbech Stories programme taking place on Saturdays from 23 September to 21 October at the Spinney Adventure Playground.
This year was the 60th anniversary of the Wisbech Rose Fair. After a few dormant years due to covid, events were set up around the town centre for the Fair’s return.
Free art activities were set up by MarketPlace in the courtyard of Wisbech & Fenland Museum. We supported the public to create an interactive, giant sculptural cross-stitch on the fences, plus communal stitching onto hessian fabric. We also provided the materials and support to make an artificial flower crown for people to keep.
Artist Karin Forman was there to facilitate the activities along with the MarketPlace team. Free cross stitch beginner packs were also given out to those who were interested to continue learning the craft at home.
We also listened to the community about their ideas and what they would like at future events. There were lots of conversations, with feedback, insights and the forging of new community relationships.
This case study is part of our project evaluation for Phase 2.
During the first summer of the pandemic in 2020, MarketPlace supported Wisbech photographers Jenna Bristow and Steve Hubbard of Click Therapy CIC to create a collection of images that tell a story of a town coping with Covid19. The project developed into an exploration into the connection between the medium of photography to support people’s wellbeing and mental health.
During the first summer of the pandemic in 2020, Wisbech photographers Jenna Bristow and Steve Hubbard of Click Therapy CIC created a collection of images that tell a story of a town coping with Covid19. As photographers interested in using digital cameras to support people’s wellbeing and mental health, they invited local residents to contribute three words that summed up their life experiences during lockdown as a portrait and record of Wisbech in that time. The Creative Conversations in Lockdown commission created a book of resident feelings and stories left over a dedicated phone and text service called Lockdown Easedown. They were capturing a universal moment in time this project was revisited for further development.
As the pandemic continued, a further investment was made to continue to evolve this project idea and document the impact of the latest lockdown on residents. The power of sharing and telling stories that resonated from the first book, ‘Lockdown Easedown’, was highlighted as a development opportunity to be embedded from the beginning of this second commission. Partnering with writer Bel Greenwood, lunchtime online workshops developed the creative writing skills and contributions of Wisbech residents, the Click Therapy artists and community organisers to reflect upon their experiences.
The participants wanted to share their stories more widely, they lent themselves to being performed but the participants didn’t want to do that themselves, so a connection with the local theatre group was made. The vulnerable nature of some of the stories being shared could have left participants increasingly vulnerable by sharing them directly, alongside developing new skills to adapt and perform their work. Drawing upon the skills and interests of community producer Jodie Hicks, she reformed her theatre troupe to bring the experiences of selected stories to life and launch the second book, ‘Surviving Lockdown’.
“I’ve been in a theatre group with my friends Chris and Glenn for a couple of years. So we haven’t actually done anything for a long time, and then I started working for MarketPlace. Colin, Creative Agent, spoke about my interests, and I said my primary interest is theatre and stuff like that. Colin, just kind of, came up to me and said, ‘I have an idea I’ve been working on with Click Therapy that would lend itself quite well to kind of theatrical reading. And would you, or know anyone, [who would] be up for it?’ And I kind of thought, well, it seemed quite ideal for us and to see them as kind of monologues.” – Jodie Hicks, Alternate Orbit Theatre
