Our community

One of the founding principles of the modernist De La Warr Pavilion was to promote health in mind, body and soul. Today, we recognize the significant contribution the arts, culture and creativity can make to our health and wellbeing.

Our programmes are a lifeline for over 6,000 local participants in terms of wellbeing and mental health, skills, and creating positive futures. Our participants include marginalised groups such as the elderly, adults and young people with learning disabilities, refugees, people living with dementia, mental health challenges, and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

We work with partners across our Learning & Wellbeing programmes, bringing in expertise and reaching local communities in need. For example,  our Discovery College courses use creativity to support young people experiencing social, emotional and mental health challenges, in partnership with NHS Discovery College. We have staged dementia friendly relaxed film screenings with the Bexhill Dementia Action Alliance and Art & Aphasia with national charity SayAphasia and UCL.

During the pandemic, we worked with Bexhill and Rother Foodbanks to distribute art packs for isolated families and provided online activities and films for families, teachers and young people. Read more on our blog here.

Working with Bexhill Museum, Create Music and Heart of Sidley, we have provided creative activities and healthy food in the school holidays for the Holiday Food and Fun (HAF) programmes for children whose families benefit from free school meals.

Young people have always been a priority for us, even more so since the pandemic given the effect it has had on their education and well-being. We are in conversation with the FSN Charity about offering opportunities to the young people they work with in Rother.

Our youth group of young creatives, The Blueprint Collective aims to: Connect with other young people and professionals; Contribute to shaping the cultural life of DLWP; and Learn & Progress by developing the skills to conduct their plans and encouraging other young people to engage with DLWP.

RESOLVE COLLECTIVE: LIDO is an exhibition co-created by young people from Bexhill. Our new ‘Pavilion Lates’ events welcome more young people into the galleries.

Sunset Screenings
Every summer, with sponsorship from local businesses, we screen free family films on the outside, sea-facing wall of our Grade One Listed building, with family activities taking place beforehand.

Originally conceived as a ‘People’s Palace’, DLWP has always been a catalyst for cultural regeneration in the south east. We support the economic prosperity of the area and contribute well over £16m to the regional economy.

Our live programme has been built up over the last ten years; deemed unviable in 2005 it now offers a programme of live music and comedy which is as important to its region as any other UK venue. The programme returns a very small profit overall which is reinvested for the benefit of our community. It supports many musicians, artists and promoters, as well as stimulating local businesses (bars, restaurants and B&Bs) and providing employment for local people. 98% of our workforce is local.

We create skills and employment opportunities for local people, especially young people. We host and organise the annual Bexhill Jobs & Apprenticeships Fair, which attracted 50 exhibitors and over 500 attendees in 2020. In 2019, we earned an East Sussex Industry Champion badge for delivering opportunities for young people to experience the cultural workplace and we are a Cornerstone Employer. In recent months, DLWP has been supporting two apprentices from Little Gate Farm, an organisation based in Rye which facilitates apprenticeships for young people with learning disabilities and autism.

We have worked with the government’s Kickstarter programme by employing six young people who are on universal credit for a six-month programme. One of those ‘Kickstarters’ has been offered a full-time position in the communications department.

Through internationally acclaimed exhibitions, new commissions, touring and residencies, we create opportunities for artists of all disciplines and career stages to develop their practice and engage with new audiences. Exhibited artists come from across the UK, all five continents and right here in Bexhill. Over 50% of exhibited artists are from minority ethnic backgrounds.

We support Beeching Road Studios, comprising a gallery space – Flatland Projects – and units for artists and makers to rent in Beeching Road, Bexhill.  The Studios aim to provide accessible working spaces for those in the creative industries as well as spaces for training, skills development, and collaboration for young, local artists or those returning to the area after studying elsewhere. The project is key to supporting local regeneration through the development of the creative sector in Bexhill.

Talent Accelerator is a programme delivered by DLWP that aims to get young people across East Sussex passionate about and into work in our thriving Creative Industries. The programme is for all young people in East Sussex who are in secondary school, college or further and (in or outside the county) higher education. It will offer particular support to those from areas of high deprivation, isolated rural locations and under-represented backgrounds to make sure everyone across the region is reaching their potential and has access to the same opportunities.  The project was developed by Always Possible for the Skills East Sussex, Creative and Digital Task Group, working with the De La Warr Pavilion, East Sussex College Group and Careers East Sussex. The programme is funded by and delivered in partnership with Artswork.

Talent Accelerator is a programme delivered by DLWP that aims to get young people across East Sussex passionate about and into work in our thriving Creative Industries. The programme is for all young people in East Sussex who are in secondary school, college or further and (in or outside the county) higher education. It will offer particular support to those from areas of high deprivation, isolated rural locations and under-represented backgrounds to make sure everyone across the region is reaching their potential and has access to the same opportunities.  The project was developed by Always Possible for the Skills East Sussex, Creative and Digital Task Group, working with the De La Warr Pavilion, East Sussex College Group and Careers East Sussex. The programme is funded by and delivered in partnership with Artswork.

Equal opportunities is embedded within our own recruitment. We employ a dedicated team of 130 local people – 98% from Rother & Hastings. Beyond our own staff, we employ 50+ creative freelancers each year, including artists, educators and gallery technicians. 40 active local volunteers who support our programmes. Find the latest opportunities to join our team here.

Read about our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion work here.

Throughout the Covid-19 crisis, we continued to work with our key partners to ensure that we emerge from this crisis as a strong and resilient community. These partners include our core funders Rother District Council and Arts Council England; local cultural and tourism networks; businesses; galleries and cultural organisations nationwide; the South East LEP and our networks of artists, educators and facilitators.  As we emerge out of the pandemic, new opportunities for DLWP to respond to community needs and new funding to achieve our goals is being sought.

Active Arts
We host the annual Active Arts showcase by the Hastings and Bexhill Mencap Society

Active Hastings/Active Rother
We work with these organisations to help promote the 1066 Cycling Festival 2020 and, in Summer 2019, we held a  Rooftop Fitness Rave.

The Bexhill Choral Society, The Bexhill Arts Society, The Bexhill Artists Workspace
We host annual concerts in the auditorium and exhibitions in the studio by these local societies.

Bexhill Academy
This local school holds its prize-giving at DLWP and we work with teachers through HRAEN and CPD events.

Bexhill College
Students have made artworks featured in many exhibitions at DLWP and have displayed their end of year show (2022) in our gallery.  We hosted a student performance of Where There Is Smoke in June 2019.

Bexhill Dementia Action Alliance
The BDDA are our partners in the Musical Matinee Clubs (relaxed film screenings for people living with dementia and their carers) and help us promote events for Older Peoples’ Day. We are hosting a BDDA sponsored event Alice in Aerialand on our terrace this summer

The Bexhill Lions Club
We support The Bexhill Lions Club who  use our terrace for various events, including the annual Wheel and Walk and Santa Dash.  The Lions help us when we need marshalls for events, our Schools’ concerts and other volunteering opportunities.

The Bexhill Festival of Music
We work with the BFOM to programme their events at DLWP including The Wacky Band on our terrace and Last Night Of The Bexhill Proms

Bexhill Museum
We work with Bexhill Museum, sharing our archive and Sussex and Brighton university students on placements, Members and Patrons online talks.

BLODS
At Christmas 20021 we presented  the Bexhill Light Operatic and Dramatic Society’s amateur premiere of SHREK: THE MUSICAL  and will present ELF: THE MUSICAL  at Christmas 2022.

Bexhill Primary Schools
We host the Bexhill Primary Schools Big Sing and Christmas Concerts work with teachers through the Hastings and Rother Arts and Education Network and CPD events.
All Saints School, Sidley: Our Learning and Participation Team worked at All Saints School, Sidley, running creative workshops as part of Children’s Art Week. We are engaging the Ecology Club in England’s Creative Coast project in 2021.
Chantry Primary School, Bexhill: Our Learning and Participation Team worked with artist Lauren Godfrey to create ideas for the exhibition Group Hat. We host the Bexhill Primary Schools annual events – the Big Sing and the Primary Schools’ Christmas Concerts. Artist Lauren Godfrey worked with pupils to co-create aspects of her exhibition Group Hat.

Bexhill Sailing Club
The Sailing Club helped us create a new artwork by with artist Simon Patterson in 2017 and regularly hosts fish and chip lunches for our guests at exhibition openings.

Beyond Imagination and Limits
Pre-pandemic, we hosted a monthly creative club for adults with learning disabilities from Tinkers Hatch, the Parchment Trust and Bexhill College Adult Learners. In 2022, with funding from the Childwick Trust, we commissioned  artist Richard Phoenix to work with the Parchment Trust and Heart ‘n’ Soul to produce a full-scale gig,  fully accessible in our auditorium,  Read more about Beyond Imagination and Limits here

The Blueprint Collective
We work with local young people aged 14 – 22 years to develop their interests, knowledge and skills, while they shape and co-produce activity and events at the De La Warr Pavilion and the local area.
In 2022 the group co-created LIDO the exhibition in our Ground floor gallery with the RESOLVE COLLECTIVE and young people from Bexhill College.  Follow them on instagram here

Create Music
As one of the largest providers of music education in the UK, Create Music reaches over 18,500 children and young people across 262 participating schools and music centres, spanning from Hove to Hastings. It is chaired by the De La Warr Pavilion’s  Stewart Drew, Director and CEO.  They present concerts at the Pavilion and are partners in our Holiday Food and Fun programmes.

Diana Freedman School of Dance
We host the school’s annual pantomime in December.

DV8 & the Eggtooth Project
We work with DV8 and Eggtooth  to host and promote emerging music talent from Bexhill, Rother and Hastings.

We host local nursery group visits though the Making It REAL project – a programme that helps practitioners to build parents’ knowledge and confidence so that they can help their children with reading and writing and create an early home learning environment.
Continuing programmes include Babes In Arms  and  Beach Schools

All Saints Nursery, Cygnets and Rainbow Childcare Centres, and Stepping Stones playgroup:
Through 2018 – 2019 we engaged local nursery group in the Making It REAL project – a programme to build parents’ knowledge and confidence so that they can help their children with reading, writing and speech development.

East Sussex School of Performing Arts (ESSPA) , Bexhill
We host ESSPA’s annual production.

Heart of Sidley
We regularly run creative workshops in Sidley , including the Sidley Family Fun Day in the Recreation ground and the Christmas Fund Day. In 2017 we worked with young people from the Sidley Media Group to produce trailers for our Sunset Screenings and, in 2019, we subsidized tickets for children’s shows for families from Sidley. We are working closely with Heart of Sidley on their future redevelopment programmes.

Littlegate Farm, Beckley
DLWP have employed two supported apprenticeships from Littlegate Farm, a charity near Rye who helps people with learning difficulties in to work and have retained one apprentice in full employment,  We will be holding an Inclusive Jobs Fair in our gallery in Summer 2022 in partnership with Littlegate Farm.

The Motherlode Project
In 2019 this series of workshops supported mothers experiencing mental health challenges as a result of motherhood in their recovery. You can listen to the project podcast here.

Rother Voluntary Action
We work in partnership with Rother Voluntary Action to find ways that the Pavilion can creatively contribute to the lives and well-being of the people of Rother, particularly focussing on young people.

The Pelham Community Centre, Sidley
Artist Lauren Godfrey worked with a community dance troupe at the Pelham to inform her exhibition Group Hat in summer 2019 can we continue working with them through RVA.

The Poppy Marathon and Poppy Appeal
We have worked with the Marathon organisers to use DLWP to facilitate the marathon as well as hosting their charity concert in 2018.

St Richards Catholic CollegeThis local school holds its prize-giving at DLWP and we work with teachers through HRAEN and CPD events.

Sussex Recovery College We host courses that focus on creativity, mental health, well-being and recovery.