Published on 30th January 2014

The Wilson option

The Wilson has won a visit from Fred Deakin in Culture24’s Museums at Night event in May 2014.

The results announced today (Thursday 30 January) show that by public vote The Wilson beat off three other contenders in the race for the multi-talented artist who was once half of Brit Award nominees Lemon Jelly, as well as £2k funding towards putting on the event.


The Wilson intends to plan the evening with the The Wilson Collective, a group of 14-25 year olds, who will be asked to curate the event and feature a live band and an open mic session on Thursday 15 May 2014.

Stevie Edge-McKee, collections and engagement manager, says: “We are so pleased that Cheltenham residents have got behind us and helped us win this vote.

“We now have Fred Deakin performing at The Wilson in May and we have so much planned for that night.
“The Wilson wants to push the boundaries of what people understand an art gallery and museum to be; the new spaces inside give us more flexiblity to deliver exciting events with new audiences. It is also a community cultural hub that can fill in vital gaps for youth arts provision in Gloucestershire and we can't wait to see projects used to benefit young up and coming musicians and artists."

Cllr Rowena Hay, cabinet member for sport and culture, continues: “This is wonderful news and I hope that this event will be very popular and help us to increase the numbers of young people visiting The Wilson.”

The Wilson was up against Castle Drogo in Exeter, the Mining Museum in Wakefield and The Observatory Science Centre in Hailsham.

Fred Deakin is part of an exciting line-up of ten artists who will perform at various venues around the UK. As half of the band Lemon Jelly, Fred Deakin has been Mercury Music Prize and Brit nominated and sold over half a million albums. In 1998 he co-founded London design agency Airside. Most recently he has created interactive art for France's national digital museum, La Gaite Lyrique.

Watch this space for more information about the event.

Notes:

The Connect10 competition matches artists with heritage and arts venues to stage an event during the Museums at Night weekend (15-17 May 2014). The venues with the best ideas were shortlisted and a public vote decided who goes where.

•    Direct link to results:

•    More information on Fred Deakin

For press enquiries contact: Laura Carter, communications officer, telephone 01242 264154 or email [email protected]