Bright9on Marina launches competition to showcase University of Brighton artistic talent

Brighton Marina, in collaboration with the University of Brighton, School of Art and Media, are offering students the opportunity to enter a competition to create one winning design which will end up on an array of benches throughout Brighton Marina this year.

The competition, which starts today, and runs for a month, aims to showcase the variety of fresh and inspiring talents of the university students. The challenge is to design a vinyl wrap which represents what the city of Brighton and Hove means to them.

The winner of the competition will have their design replicated, printed and installed onto the benches which are positioned throughout the marina, including the waterfront which was listed as the most ‘instagrammable’ snap spot in 2019. The winner will also receive a £100 voucher redeemable across any Marina venue.

Sophie Chandler, Marketing Manager for Brighton Marina said: “We are looking to uncover the city’s future generation of artists emerging from the University of Brighton. We enjoy collaborating with local educational establishments, which we do on a yearly basis, and as a local business we feel we are best positioned to show our support and have that positive community involvement. We are looking forward to being able to give the students a platform to showcase their talent which ultimately will be seen by every visitor to our marina and hopefully provide opportunities for them in their chosen career. “Professor Tamar Jeffers McDonald, Dean of the School of Art and Media at University of Brighton said: “I am delighted that Brighton Marina has come to us looking for entries from the school. The competition provides such a great opportunity for our artists to use their creative imaginations in interpreting the brief, with a real chance to improve the local environment.”

Tamar continued: “The students study everything from illustration, animation, photography, film, fashion, textiles and 3D and our school has produced some extremely talented artists over the years, with three Turner Prize winners as well as recent runner ups in Channel 4’s Handmade: Britain's Best Woodworker and a BBC 2’s show All that Glitters. We are looking forward to seeing what the students can produce for this unique local competition.”

Over the years, the University of Brighton has also had the privilege of some very famous members of staff who were illustrators, which is one of the school’s specialist areas to help inspire the students. The world-renowned illustrator Raymond Briggs who created the children’s book The Snowman, began teaching at the university in the 1960’s and worked with illustration students at the university until 1986. The university also was fortunate enough to have fellow illustrator Sir Quentin Blake, CBE, who worked alongside Roald Dahl on his legendary books James and the Giant Peach and the BFG as well as John Vernon Lord who wrote the book The Giant Jam Sandwich.

All the design entries will be showcased on Brighton Marina’s digital channels and the three finalists will be chosen from a panel of judges including the University of Brighton’s Vice Chancellor Debra Humphris, Eloise Parrack, Senior Lecturer, Graphic Design, Michael Clarence, a Freeland’s Fellow, an independent brand consultant Bill Wallsgrove and a representative from Brighton Marina.The winner will be decided by the public via an online vote between 13 - 17 April and the winning design, which will be revealed on 4 May, will be seen by the millions of visitors Brighton Marina receives each year and will remain in situ for the rest of 2023. The costs for production and installation of the bench design will be covered by Brighton Marina.