Worthing is well and truly a-buzz with creativity – especially during June and July when the Worthing Artists Open Houses festival takes places.
Over the last fifteen years, this fun, creative, festival has seen hundreds of local artists open their homes to the public to be inspired by work, try their hands at a craft and also meet the person behind the art.
Back for another year, the 2018 event has 57 venues, across the town centre, West Worthing, Tarring, Broadwater, Goring-by-Sea and West Durrington on the Worthing Artists Open Houses trail and is bigger and better than ever. The festival runs for three weekends from 16th June – 1st July.
The festival is just one of the many events in Worthing’s cultural calendar – with creative hubs like Colonnade House (which is also taking part in Artists Open Houses) hosting exhibitions all year round.
Due to its stunning seaside location in between cultural centres Brighton and Chichester, Worthing attracts artists, performers, writers and a wide range of creative talent, so it’s no surprise that Artists Open Houses are such a celebrated event and that creative workspaces such as Colonnade House are thriving hubs and almost over-subscribed.
In fact, Worthing has the highest percentage of businesses within the arts, in the Coastal West Sussex region with 7.54% of the town’s businesses being arts-based. This is only 0.7% lower than the Greater Brighton area.
The ‘creative industries’ in West Sussex has an annual turnover of more than £200m and supports around 2,000 businesses and 26,000 jobs.
“Worthing is a wonderful location for the ‘creative industries’ to thrive,” Coastal West Sussex Partnership Director, Caroline Wood, says.
“Not only are we easily located within near reach of Brighton & Hove – one of the country’s capitals for creative and digital entrepreneurialism, but we have fantastic resources in the town too, to support creatives. Team this with lower home and commercial premises costs and a great lifestyle, with so much to do on our doorsteps and it’s easy to see why Worthing’s fast becoming a cultural hub.”