While my children have been growing up, I’ve tried my best to introduce them to the arts, but I’ve often found myself travelling elsewhere, out of Newmarket. I was really interested when I heard about Market Place, because it would be great to change things so that people who live in Newmarket had the chance to engage with all the arts right here. 

I’ve really enjoyed helping with the Newmarket Kite Symphony, which also became part of our Carnival Parade. At first I was just trying to draw people in and passing on information. But then I thought, I’d like to do that – learn to fly a kite! I wasn’t expecting that and I’ve loved it. Usually I’m working on community events, but this was something for me. It’s really refreshing to come out here with a kite – it’s a bit like painting with your own giant paintbrush on the sky. It’s liberating – and it gives me the energy to go back and start working on another event!

I think it’s been quite difficult to set up arts projects in Newmarket, simply because it’s something which nobody is expecting to find here. This isn’t going to change overnight, and sometimes you do feel as though you’re not going to succeed. That’s why it’s so important to have encouragement and new ideas; working with professional artists makes it possible to see what things could be like, and that’s exactly what you need to keep going!

Photo: Stephen King