On Saturday 10 October, artists Liz McGowan and Jane Frost will be holding a Walking Conversation at West Runton as part of their Mapping the Wind project for the Cromer and Sheringham Arts Festival. Visitors are invited to share ideas about the destructive force and creative potential of the wind and discuss views on wind energy and decreasing carbon emissions. The walk starts at 11am at West Runton Beach Shelter and coincides with 10:10, the international campaign to cut carbon emissions. Mapping the Wind is part of a series of events celebrating the drama of the coast called Coast Encounters, organised by the Sainsbury Centre’s Culture of the Countryside outreach project. Coast Encounters has been developed by the Sainsbury Centre team with regional and international artists and local people and has been supported by the University of East Anglia’s CUE East.

The Mapping the Wind project started on 25 September and will run until 17 October. Visitors are invited to drop in to the ‘weather station’, which has been set up at West Runton beach shelter, to be inspired by the wind and share experiences in the ‘Wind Diary’. Participants can also visit the wind blog, at mappingthewind.wordpress.com, and add their own photographs and stories. On Sunday 17 October at 11am, visitors are invited to help make a giant pattern on West Runton beach, showing the changes in wind direction over the past month.

Culture of the Countryside is the Sainsbury Centre’s ambitious outreach project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, which began in October 2007 and is in its final phase this autumn. Over the last 3 years the Centre has been working with people of different ages, abilities and interests in East Anglia and thinking afresh about attitudes to the countryside and the ways we use it. The Sainsbury Centre’s world art handling collection is the starting point for exploring current environmental and heritage issues as well as helping to build community relationships.