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Artwork shortlist announced for £500,000 Norfolk trail

23/12/2021

Stage 2 Shortlist pics

The shortlist of designs for a series of artworks to be placed along a new £500,000 trail around Norfolk have been revealed - and the public can help pick which ones are selected.

The Norfolk Way Art Trail aims to get people visiting the county during the October to March off-season and will feature large-scale sculptures being installed at four locations around Norfolk.

The trail is part of EXPERIENCE project, a €23.3 million project led by Norfolk County Council and co-financed by the Interreg France (Channel) England programme, which aims to deliver innovative and sustainable growth through an innovative experiential tourism approach.

Artists were invited to come up with striking sculptures and artworks for four points on the 250-mile trail - and organisers received more than 200 proposals.

Those ideas have been whittled down to a shortlist for the four locations, at Diss Mere, Reedham Ferry Inn, Boal Quay in King’s Lynn and on the North Walsham and Dilham Canal.

The shortlisted artworks are available at www.norfolkwayarttrail.co.uk where the public are invited to share their opinions about the shortlisted designs by ‘Liking’ and ‘Favouriting’ the artworks in an online exhibition.

These ‘Likes’ and ‘Favourites’ will be taken into consideration by the EXPERIENCE Norfolk Steering Group that will make the final decision on the artwork commissions.

The Steering Group includes representatives from the Interreg France (Channel) England programme as well as traditional tourism stakeholders and representatives from the arts and culture sector, higher and further education, national parks, and wildlife trusts.

Panellists will be looking at a range of factors when assessing the shortlisted submissions including creative ambition, experiential and off-season elements of the artworks, community engagement plans, accessibility, and sustainability, as well as technical aspects such as health and safety and logistics around fabrication and installation.

The public have until midnight on the 11 January 2022 to cast votes. The selected artwork for each location will be announced on the 25th of January 2022, with four artists commissioned to produce permanent site-specific public artworks unique to the culture, personality, nature, stories and heritage of each location.

The outcome will be a dynamic, inclusive art trail, made up of multi-sensory, accessible artworks, suited to viewing especially in the autumn and winter months to encourage off-peak tourism in Norfolk.

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