Are you are in interested in Marine conservation? Passionate about your environment & want to enthuse others? Interested in learning about VR technology? Or just want to meet new people? Come & join our volunteer team.
What is The Living Coast Undersea Experience?
It is an interactive, virtual reality & 360o experience enabling users explore the underwater environment of the Beachy Head West Marine Conservation Zone (between Brighton Marina & Beachy Head). The Experience aims to open up the MCZ to everyone; raise awareness of its unique chalk reef & the species living there; & be a powerful educational tool to help people understand the environment & the things we can all do to conserve it. More here….
What would you be doing?
We are looking for volunteers to help us deliver the experience in community settings & schools across Sussex. You will help with:
• Welcoming visitors, signing in/taking tickets • Giving information about the project & Marine Conservation Zone • Engaging visitors in the accompanying games & activities • Helping people into headsets & managing their experience, including the opportunity to learn to set up the VR equipment • Collecting feedback & evaluation & feeding into the overall evaluation & development of the project
Interested? Contact Karen at info@kp-projects.co.uk for more information, or download the application form here
This privacy notice explains how we collect, use and protect your personal data, our purposes for collecting and storing it and your rights as an individual.
1. Your legal rights under General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) are
The right to be informed
The right of access to your personal data
The right of rectification (to have any inaccuracies corrected)
The right of erasure (to have your records deleted)
The right to restrict processing
The right to data portability
The right to object
Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
Further information about your rights is available on the website of the Information Commissioner’s Office at http://www.ico.org.uk.
The Data Controller for KP Projects CIC is Karen Poley who can be contacted at info@kp-projects.co.uk . If you have a concern about the way that we are collecting or using your personal data, we ask that you contact us in the first instance.
2. The type of information we collect:
Customer information: for example names, email addresses, postal addresses, phone numbers
Staff and volunteer information: names, email address, phone numbers and emergency contact details. Personal information such as age, gender, disability etc.
Client and partner contact information: names, email addresses, phone numbers
Monitoring information: this can include collecting information about protected characteristics as defined by the Equalities Act such as age, gender, ethnicity etc
Permission forms: for a child or vulnerable adult to be photographed or filmed for a project
3. How we collect personal information and why we have it
Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:
Via 3rd party websites such as Mailchimp or Eventbrite for the purpose of buying tickets or subscribing to newsletters
Because you have applied to us for work or volunteering roles
Because you have contacted KP Projects for business purposes
Because you have voluntarily completed a monitoring form
Because you have voluntarily completed a photo or video permission form
We use the information that you have given us in order to:
manage your bookings for events
share news with you
work with you
report on and document projects
We may also share aggregated and anonymised monitoring information with funders and partner organisations.
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:
(a) Your consent
(b) We have a contractual obligation
(c) We have a legal obligation
(d) We have a legitimate interest
4. How we store your personal information
Customer Information:
Data is stored on 3rd party sites such as Mailchimp and Eventbrite who have their own data protection policies and you can unsubscribe from these sites at any time.
Staff and volunteer information:
This data is stored electronically on a secure online server (Dropbox) and password protected. Periodic emails will be sent to volunteers to ask them if they are still interested in being part of the volunteer team for KP Projects CIC. Personal information is deleted when the project ends or when the volunteer requests to leave.
Client and partner information:
Business and professional enquiries and correspondence will be retained for business purposes as required. You can withdraw your permission for us to retain this data at any time.
Monitoring information:
We will retain paper copies in a secure place (****) and electronic records in a secure online server (Dropbox) and password protected until all project reporting is completed.
Photo and film permissions:
Your consent will be retained in a secure online server (Dropbox) and password protected for as long as we hold the related images.
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at info@kp-projects.co.uk.
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire. SK9 5AF
The Living Coast Undersea Experience – how to see underwater!
Karen Poley, Creative Producer
In early 2014 I heard a talk by
Rich Howarth from The Living Coast, the Brighton & Lewes Downs UNESCO World
Biosphere Region, in which he mentioned that the Beachy Head West Marine
Conservation Zone (MCZ) had just been designated off the coast of Brighton. The MCZ runs between Brighton Marina &
Beachy Head & out to see for a half a mile or so. It is
a unique chalk reef, created by waves eroding chalk cliffs along the coastline,
& is home to abundant wildlife, including rare short-snouted seahorses
& threatened species, such as blue mussel beds & native oysters.
I was staggered! I had no idea that anything was alive down
there! I know how daft that sounds, but
I grew up on the Sussex coast in an era when people stopped going in the water
following a few too many sewage spills. Since
then, I’ve never really gone back in, or ever thought that much about it.
My first thought now, was ‘How
can we see the MCZ?’ And the answer is,
that its pretty tricky unless you can dive, & even then there’s only a
couple of weeks of the year that the water is clear enough to see much. Obviously,
most people can’t afford to dive, but surely everyone, especially the thousands
living within a couple of miles of the MCZ, would want to see it if they could.
With a background in producing outdoor
arts events, performances & community engagement projects, I wondered about
creating an underwater MCZ experience in a street with giant projections &
maybe some performance. But it quickly
became apparent that a ton of technology would be required &, to be viable,
it would need to be filled with lots & lots & lots of people; hardly the
ethereal & relatively quiet experience of being underwater.
As I talked to various artists, creatives & technical people, I realised that hardly anyone knew about the Biosphere or MCZ designations, & helping raising awareness of these became a second key idea.
Simon Wilkinson of C!RCA69, suggested
virtual reality, a relatively new technology utterly perfect for creating an
immersive, underwater experience. Being virtually
in the marine environment, exploring the chalk gully formations & seeing marine
life all around, is a powerful & awe inspiring, kinaesthetic experience. Just like diving but without getting
wet.
In partnership with The Living Coast, Sussex IFCA (Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authority) & Sussex Wildlife Trust, ideas developed around modelling the MCZ’s chalk reef to create a 3.5m square area for exploration, populated by a long, long list of marine plants & animals found locally.
The result is
an extraordinary & very real experience, which we are now starting to tour,
as a pilot, to communities along the MCZ coastline. The next dates are over the Easter holidays, starting
with a trip to funders, the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, on 6th
& 7th April.
The Living Coast
Undersea Experience is funded by Arts Council England, National Marine Aquarium,
Sussex Community Foundation, South Downs National Park & Heritage Lottery
Fund.
The Bicycle Ballet Ballet will merge ballet & contemporary dance with bicycles, to synthesize a new imagery for performance & cycling.
The project emerges in response to the idea that a rich, creative link exists between the technical skill & precision of a highly trained ballet dancer & the beautifully balanced mechanism of a bicycle.
This metaphor mimics the aesthetics of modernism, in which form follows function, & the machine aesthetic of Constructivism, merging with the body. The project will draw on this influence in the design of both the dance & production (costumes, music, style).
The piece draws on the Modernist dream of the elegant city to present a tale of an idealised future. Tapping into contemporary visions of repurposing & remaking, where the city is free from choking pollution & traffic congestion; the streets reimagined as spaces for people; ease of travel & everyone living & moving in harmony. The bicycle is the ‘ideal’ machine to cut through traffic, offering liberation, health & possibility.
Underpinning the concept is The Bicycle Ballet Company’s commitment to change the way people think about riding bicycles. Reframing cycling here as an activity of elegance & excellence to interrupt cycling stereotypes & help encourage people, including ballet dancers, to ride.
The piece will be flexible, to be performed by six dancers in a variety of spaces, & even move through & between places. It will be created for touring & sustainability, with participatory opportunities. Choreographed by Virginia Farman in collaboration with Creative Producer Karen Poley.
A new show from The Bicycle Ballet Company, created in 2016/7, will be developed in 2018 to further explore the history of women & cycling & fashion & its relevance today.
In particular, we are interested in extending the potential for engaging with local communities, working with a wide range of people, community groups & organisations, to explore the ideas behind the show & to create arts & heritage activities with & for local communities.
Find out more about the show & future ideas in this short presentation, made to delegates of Xtrax Shorts, at the Out There Festival in Great Yarmouth September 2017. Click HERE to watch
Ever look out to sea & wonder what its like under the waves? The Living Coast Undersea Experience can offer you a glimpse. Scroll down for dates & tickets
The Undersea Experience is an interactive, virtual reality experience, that lets you move around & follow your curiosity, to explore one of the world’s only chalk reefs; right off the UK’s south coast.
Beachy Head West Marine Conservation Zone (Brighton Marina to Beachy Head), is home to this unique marine environment with a multitude of life: from rare Short Snouted Seahorses & marathon swimming European Eels, to Moon Jellyfish, Undulate Rays, Native Oysters, Blue Mussels & much more.
21 September, Hillcrest Centre, Newhaven, 11am-4pm – Tickets & more info HERE
.
Past events
Summer Holidays July 2025
4 July, Moving On, The Paddock, Lewes, 4pm – 9pm. Free event with our 360 film headsets
12 July, The Summer Fair in the Big Park (Centenary Park), Peacehaven, 11am – 4pm. Free event with our 360 film headsets
23 July, Community House, Meridien Centre, Peacehaven, 11am – 4pm
24 July, Piddinghoe Village Hall, 11am-4pm
25 July, Cross Way Church Seaford, 11am – 4pm
29 July, Beechwood Hall & Rural Park, Cooksbridge, 11am-4pm
30 July, Cliffe Hall, Lewes, 11am-4pm
31 July, Hillcrest Centre, Newhaven, 11am-4pm
June 2025
21 June, Sustainable Seaford @ Seaford Head School, 12noon – 4pm. Free event with our 360 film headsets
May 2025
3 May, Marine Workshops, Newhaven 11am-4pm
Easter HolidaysApril 2025
8 April, Rodmell Village Hall, 11am-4pm
9 April, Linklater Pavilion, Railwayland, Lewes, 11am-4pm
15 April, South Heighton Village Hall, Newhaven 11am-4pm
16 April, Mercread Youth Centre, Seaford 11am-4pm
17 April, Ringmer Village Hall, 2pm-7pm
Feb Half Term 2025
17 Feb, Denton Island Youth Club, Newhaven 11am-4pm
20 Feb, Meeching Hall, Newhaven, 11am-4pm
21 Feb, Barcombe Village Hall, 11am-4pm
2024
25 May, 11am – 4pm – TLCUE 360 film version as part of Love our Ouse’s River People Tour at The Marine Workshops, Railway Quay, Newhaven BN9 0ER – FREE
1 June, 12noon – 4pm – TLCUE 360 film version as part of Sustainable Seaford Fair at Seaford Head School, Steyne Road, Seaford, BN29 1AL – FREE
13 July, TLCUE version tbc as part of Peacehaven Climate Fayre at The Hub, Centenary Park, Peacehaven BN10 8RH
OVCA community partners interested in presenting TLCUE, Technical Specs HERE
More about The Living Coast Undersea Experience
The Living Coast Undersea Experience was created by internationally acclaimed digital artist, Simon Wilkinson & Karen Poley, KP Projects, in a partnership including The Living Coast UNESCO Biosphere Region, Sussex Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authority (IFCA) & Sussex Wildlife Trust. More about how the idea evolved HERE
TLC Undersea Experience aims to:
Open up one of the UK’s most unique marine environments to everyone
Raise awareness of BHW MCZ, home to one of the world’s only chalk reefs, with unique species of plant & animal life, which only a fraction of people know about
Be a powerful kinaesthetic & educational experience to help people understand the environment & the things we can all do to help conserve it
What people say about TLCUE:
.
.
Want to know more?
Check out these two talks by experts on our local marine environment & the archaeology of the chalk cliffs: Sarah Ward, Living Seas Officer, Sussex Wildlife Trust & Lara Band, Discovery Programme Officer from CITiZAN
.
How can you help?
A few simple things you can do to help protect this unique environment, here…
There are exciting & engaging sponsorship opportunities & the project needs patrons & funders to help develop subsequent touring opportunities for this amazing project across the Biosphere region to schools, community centres & venues. Please get in touch for further information: info@kp-projects.co.uk
.
Have a closer look this is short of the prototype experience, created in 2018:
An interactive, outdoor exhibition conceived as a way of creating a significant ‘guerilla’ art activity during Brighton Festival 2017, to raise awareness of the cuts & re-organisations to the NHS, & is part of KP’s ongoing exploration of presenting digital storytelling in unexpected outdoor locations.
Created in In collaboration with Ray Gibson (Raysto Images), Dr Sarah Anderson, Sussex Defend the NHS & internationally acclaimed photographer & artist JR & the Inside Out project.
Subjects were activists & passers by, plucked off the streets or from a pub round the corner, who told their stories & concerns about the NHS whilst be photographed & recorded.
The photos were blown up & printed as part of internationally acclaimed photographer & artist, JR’s Inside Out project.
Images, film or audio were edited together under the auspices of virtual reality app, Aurasma, to make posters come to live. Click on the instructions to the left, or see a couple of the films below.
An outdoor game for all ages, families & bubbles, which plays out across a town, city, park, street or other location, to find tiny, ‘pebbleface’ artworks drawn by artist Raysto.
Players follow visual clues posted online over one or two days. After finding the general location, players must match the shapes, textures & patterns in the landscape to find the pebblefaces.
The pebblefaces are inspired by the shapes, shades & textures of the stones’ geological formations. The faces are ‘cute & tactile, with surprisingly vivid expressions,’ (The Independent, May 2007)
Lots of potential to develop routes, locations, birthdays, special occasions, team building etc, & possibilities for workshops.
Check out…
The Great Pebble Dash on Facebook, on Instagram & #thegreatpebbledash
Loved by dashers of all ages & even in the dark!!
You can read more about Raysto in this lovely BLOG the silly hats are just one theme!!
Originally commissioned by the University of Brighton for the fourth international Visual Methods Conference, Sept 2015.
A further development of the successful, outdoor show, Strictly Cycling. Combining an entertaining performance with a strong, light-hearted, road safety message to ‘light up’ and be seen on bikes after dark.
The yellow cycling capes will glow like belisha beacons, lit from underneath, with either LED wire or strings of small LED bulbs, powered by battery. Reflective materials will be worked into helmets, goggles, socks & fingers to give extra impact and brightness, and lights or reflectors added to wheels.
The choreography & improvisational structures will be further developed to create new interactions, movements, sculptural and other set pieces to enable performers to accommodate the lights & technology.
