About

Remember when the Turner Prize came to Sussex?

Part of Brighton Festival 2024 and University of Sussex Festival of Ideas

The inside story of what happened when one of the UK’s major cultural events came to Eastbourne and what it could mean for the future of the arts.

Join a panel of speakers who have worked on the project as they discuss Turner Prize 2023 in Sussex, its impact on the local area, communities and economy, and exciting future plans for the arts in East Sussex.

Chaired by Professor Ben Burbridge, University of Sussex

Panel members:

Liz Corkhill (Skills and Opportunities Producer at Towner Eastbourne)

Sarah Dance (Strategic consultant for the culture and creative industries, Director of Eastbourne Alive)

Daniel Devitt (Health Improvement Specialist supporting the East Sussex County Council Creative Health programme)

Panel biogrpahies:

Liz Corkhill is Skills and Opportunities Producer at Towner Eastbourne. In 2023 she led on the delivery of a bespoke programme to celebrate the Turner Prize through which over 1500 year 9 pupils came from across the region to visit the exhibition, and 2400 students took part in artist-led workshops in their schools.

Liz is committed to making space for those from marginalised communities to access arts and creative opportunities. She has over 25 years of experience working with children and young people in formal and informal education, social care and the charity sector.

Sarah Dance is a strategic consultant for the culture and creative industries, with over 25 years’ experience in the creative sector. She has led a wide range of cultural organisations and set up her own consultancy in 2002. She has led and worked on a wide range of partnership projects from Eastbourne ALIVE to England’s Creative Coast. She works with many cultural organisations on business and capital development, creative production, organisational change development, and leadership mentoring

In addition to her consultancy work and her Chairship of South East Local Enterprise Partnership, Sarah has co-led the visioning of Thames Estuary Production Corridor. She is also on the Council of the University of Kent, the Civic University Network Advisory Group and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Daniel Devitt is the Health Improvement Specialist supporting the East Sussex County Council Creative Health programme. With a background in the humanities and degrees in English and Masters in text and Performance Studies from Kings College and RADA and a 15-year career as an actor director and writer.

Dan has worked extensively across a wide range of public health programmes at local regional and local level ranging from Teenage Pregnancy, Health Visiting and School Nursing services, Mental Health and Wellbeing services management and commissioning to regional leadership for Public Health England of the Children and Young People in London during the Covid 19 Pandemic. He was selected to be an Olympic Torchbearer on behalf of NHS London in 2012 for his services in tackling Health Inequalities.

Turner Prize 2023 at Towner Eastbourne x University of Sussex

The Turner Prize, one of the world’s leading prizes for contemporary art, was exhibited for the first time in Sussex this year. The University of Sussex was Education Partner for Turner Prize 2023 at Towner Eastbourne.

Organised by University of Sussex in partnership with Towner Eastbourne these events art of The Sussex Festival of Ideas, a programme of talks, events and activities, from the School of Media, Arts and Humanities at University of Sussex. The Festival of Ideas harnesses the transformative power of the arts and humanities to fashion new ways of thinking about the past, present and future.

(Image Towner Eastbourne featuring Dance Diagonal by Lothar Götz, 2019. Photo by Jim Stephenson)