Discover your Beach of Dreams

Who are we?

MSL work with individuals and groups in and around Hastings to help people engage in positive creative experiences, building communities and connections, improving well-being, and having long lasting effects.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Right now the people of Hastings and Rother have an amazing opportunity to take part in activities celebrating our very own coast and to become part of the international Beach of Dreams 2025 celebrations (see www.kinetika.co.uk/beach-of-dreams). MSL want to make sure everyone who wants to has the chance to.

Beach of Dreams 2025 is an unprecedented partnership of organisations across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the R of I, bringing residents together with artists, scientists and other communities to explore their ever changing local coastline, take part in music, art, writing, singing or other activities and create something together. 

MSL Projects is the lead for the 30 mile stretch of coast from Dungeness to Bulverhythe and our pledge is to make sure as many community groups and individuals as possible can be part of Beach of Dreams, creating their own activities throughout 2024, leading up to the big celebration in May/June 2025. 

We are principally working with the Hastings and Rother Refugee Buddy Project, the Seaview Project, St Leonards and groups from Broomgrove Hastings in three pilot project throughout 2024 taking part in creative activities on the coast.

If we gain enough funding, three groups from the Refugee Buddy Project will be enabled to go to the coast at Rye Harbour, work with an enviornmental facilitator to look at the flora and fauna, document their time in photography and words and display the results in an exhibition at the visitor centre. It's an amazing opportunity. 

The intention is that the groups from Seaview and Broomgrove will do similar at St Leonards' beach and Rock a Nore. The group from Seaview have chosen music as their preferred creative pursuit and plan to create a piece of music based on sound waves made by plants at St Leonards' beach.

We will then cast the net wide so that we can reach communities and individuals who would not normally access the coast, understand what they need to do so, and help them make it happen this time, and for future use.

Throughout, we’ll be recording our process and building networks that will last. 

How will we spend the money raised?

We will spend the money finding people and groups who would like to take part in Beach of Dreams 2025, supporting them in developing their project ideas, introducing them to other groups, creatives and facilitators to assist them, sharing expertise, knowledge and learning. We will link up the groups from Hastings and Rother with the south east Beach of Dreams network and the national hub so that their projects can be part of the national celebrations in 2025.

This crowdfunder is doubly important as East Sussex County Council has chosen MSL’s crowdfunder campaign as one of its five Crowdfund East Sussex offers, pledging match funding for up to our first £5k and recognising the transformative work it could achieve for communities in East Sussex.

A Bit More About MSL

MSL celebrates individual creativity, community and place. We combine creative work with social, learning and economic objectives, always working with real people and places in mind.

We create performances, exhibitions and installations that engage and inspire people, and transform communities.

To date (since 2011) we have delivered almost 60 separate projects and programmes, engaged around 200 creatives and commissioned over 40 original new works.

Many of the participants have made lasting connections and continued their creative journeys.

Photograph above by John Cole of MSL's Semaphore event in 2021 warning of the risks to our coastline from climate change.