Vote Herne Bay! Vote Duchamp!!

Vote for the Duchamp Festival in the Canterbury 4 Culture awards

Marcel Duchamp

Herne Bay arts and culture lovers are being urged to vote for the town in the Canterbury 4 Culture awards. The Marcel Duchamp Festival has been nominated for four of the top accolades, and the public has their chance to vote in the category of People's Award.

Last summer it commemorated the 100 anniversary of the artist famously writing on a postcard: "I'm not dead... I'm in Herne Bay." The festival ran for three weeks and was embraced by the whole town, as well as hitting the headlines in national media too.

It has been nominated in three other categories including the best cultural experience in East Kent, offering the best project to engage the wider community and being the best event to promote the area nationally and internationally. They will be up against projects including the Turner Contemporary in Margate, and arts groups in Canterbury.

Duchamp organiser Sue Austen said:

"To be up there with arts organisations like the Turner Contemporary shows that sometimes a bunch of amateurs can be as serious and as professional as the professionals. It was a fantastic effort to put on so many events and exhibitions in such a short time. It brought the whole community together, and showed if everyone does a little, we can all achieve a lot. The nominations show we are a cultured town, so we're looking for lots of support from people in Herne Bay."erbury 4 Culture awards on Thursday, June 12

Fellow organiser Steve Coombes is spearheading the campaign to win the People's Award. He said:

"This was huge news for Herne Bay last year. This is the first time Herne Bay has had so many nominations, no town has ever got as many as this. It's really a feather in the town's cap."

You can vote in the People's Award by visiting www.thecultureawards.org

kentonline 2nd June 2014

Canterbury spouts nonsense, Herne Bay fountain of wisdom. Nobody surprised.

#FUCCC Our Council's Culture & Enterprise bureaucrats seem to think they know what Guardian readers are interested in (how?), but I put it to you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that Guardian journalists have a much clearer picture of what interests their readers.

In fact, they've already said that they'll be coming to Herne Bay to cover this summer's marvellous Duchamp Centenary celebrations... FOR THEIR READERS.​

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Arts festival will bring Guardian journalists to Herne Bay

Guardian readers may not be tempted by the town but the paper's reporters will be heading to Herne Bay this summer.

Staff from the art and travel section of the national newspaper are planning to cover the three-week festival dedicated to artist Marcel Duchamp and his links with the town, amid a storm over an advert that praised Whitstable and Canterbury but left out Herne Bay.

Tourism chiefs, who paid up to £10,000 for the full-page feature in the Guardian's travel section, say they were concentrating on the brands most likely to attract Guardian readers. But at a meeting organised by the team behind the August festival, they revealed the paper's journalists were looking forward to their visit.

The festival marks 100 years since Duchamp spent a month in Herne Bay, a period believed to be critical to his career. Volunteer Sue Austen, from Bayguide, which is behind the festival, said it could be a boost to the whole town. Southeastern trains have agreed to display posters on board. She said:

"It will hopefully encourage people to Herne Bay who have not been before. It will be covered by the Guardian arts section and Guardian travel section and is already listed in Coast magazine as one of the top things to do this summer."

Sue revealed both Kent County Council and Visit Kent had readily offered support, but said "conversations were ongoing" with Canterbury City Council, who have so far offered to waive the rent on the Kings Hall for a one-day conference to discuss the artist's work.

Steve Coombes, who stood in the KCC elections to raise awareness of the festival, added:

"Charlotte Higgins is the chief arts writer of the Guardian and we have been in enthusiastic communication about the Marcel Duchamp Centenary, by email and phone, since last October. The same is also true of the Times, Telegraph and BBC arts. Unlike the CCC dept of Culture and Enterprise, they were all thrilled by the idea."

Members of the Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain are also planning to take part, after Ralph Steadman created a one-off design for a promotional poster. They will create cartoons for toilets, pubs and other places and there will also be quotes from Duchamp in unusual places around the town and themed window displays from shops.

David Cross, who will be curating the gallery shows, said:

"We would like to make it successful to show them that Herne Bay can be - and has got to be - equal to Whitstable and Canterbury."

Other events planned include an open exhibition at Beach House from July 11 and introducing Mr D at Herne Bay Museum from July 16. Invited artists will show their work at galleries around the town from July 23 and there will also be an art bike trail.

Children can take part in workshops and add their own designs to postcards for a pop-up gallery, and live music, street theatre and chess games are also planned.

Jason Hollingsworth, from Bayguide, said:

"There is a huge cultural legacy to this. There will be a trail and a plaque on the house where he stayed in Downs Park."

For more information on the festival, or to get involved as a volunteer, visit www.iamnotdead.co.uk

Canterbury Times 24th May 2013

Surrealist threatened, undaunted

OFFENDING SIGN? Steve Coombes has been told to remove his posters

Independent Herne Bay candidate in county elections threatened with legal action by Canterbury City Council

An Independent candidate in today's county council elections has been threatened with possible legal action by Canterbury City Council.

Steve Coombes, who is promoting a festival to mark the centenary of artist Marcel Duchamp's visit to Herne Bay, was issued with a demand by the authority on Monday morning to take down election posters pasted onto a pedestrian zone sign in Mortimer Street.

But Mr Coombes says he was merely highlighting a legitimate political point. The former university lecturer said:

"The sign is so illegible and broken that the regulations which it is meant to announce are unenforceable. Moreover, £3,000 for Herne Bay community funds was used to pay for a traffic barrier that was not shut this Saturday, in consequence making both the expenditure and the barrier completely ludicrous."

Mr Coombes has not taken down the poster, or others which promote his BLAGA awards (British Local Authority Gallery of Absurdism) at eyesore The Bun Penny pub and King's Road car park, where he says the free parking scheme has gone unnoticed due to poor advertising

He said he will remove them after today's election. But a spokesman for Canterbury council said:

"We have been alerted by other election candidates that a road sign in Herne Bay showing a pedestrian zone has been obscured with election material of another candidate. This is a road safety matter for the police and Kent Highways to deal with. We have suggested to Mr Coombes that he removes this material, as it is in breach of highways legislation, and informed him that, if he doesn't, we will be urgently reporting the matter to Kent Highways."

thisiskent 3rd May 2013

Steve Coombes - head and heart present and correct

The good news is that we have THREE Independent candidates standing for Herne Bay in the KCC election. Regular readers will already have been introduced to John Moore and Stan Truelove.

Now meet Steve Coombes - he's got his head screwed on and his heart's in the right place. What more could you want? He's done all sorts of telly stuff (and probably a few other things too), and has a knack for highlighting the dafter things our Council has done to us. Have a look at his site to find out more.​​

On Thursday, vote for Herne Bay. Vote Independent.

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Steve Coombes

Steve Coombes, Herne Bay Independent candidate talks election issues

What's the difference between a totally corrupt planning system and what happens in Herne Bay?

Well, one sprays around change of use permissions to developers like confetti, blights the seafront and rewards attempts to make buildings derelict, then fails to ensure there are enough schools and health facilities to service the enormous number of flats and housing estates it is approving – and a totally corrupt planning system wouldn't be much better.

Last year, KCC allocated £2.1m to arts development while Canterbury council spent £8.5m on culture and enterprise. But sadly, very little of this money ever reaches Herne Bay. Try this fun quiz about recent controversies:

1. If you have a successful annual classic car rally which attracts up to 6,000 visitors to the town, would you privatise it and then stand idly by as the 2013 rally is postponed indefinitely? (Yes/No)
2. Would you outsource the Herne Bay festival to a Brighton events company on the grounds of Localism? (Yes/No)
3. Given there is £54,500 in the council budget for Christmas lights, would you allow most of that money to go elsewhere, so Herne Bay ends up with the worst Christmas tree in Britain? (Yes/ No)
4. Having erected said tree, would you then take no steps to hold anyone responsible? (Yes/No)
5. Would you then take every penny from the very small pot of money the town does have for culture and leisure and pledge to spend it on Christmas lights instead, so the council doesn't have to pay anything on trees and decorations in Herne Bay next year? (Yes/No)

If your answers are mainly Yes, you are an elected councillor. If your answers are mainly No, you are everyone else in Herne Bay who is absolutely gobsmacked by such municipal absurdity.

I'm all in favour of both – especially in Herne Bay.

thisiskent 17th Apr 2013