Big changes are on the cards for one of the region’s best loved arts organisations as it marks a milestone year.

In 2020 Waveney & Blyth Arts will be celebrating ten years at the forefront of the regional arts scene and ahead of this the group has appointed a Next Generation committee.

And, as part of the committee’s plans for 2020 one of the organisation’s highlight events – the annual sculpture trail – will move location to Potton Hall in Westleton.

Each year Waveney & Blyth Arts hosts a programme of events that highlights the unique character of the Waveney and Blyth valleys situated in north Suffolk and south Norfolk.

Outgoing Chair Nicky Stainton said: “After nine years of amazing activities, and with both sadness and some relief, I have stepped down as Chair of the Management Committee and handed the role over to Genevieve Rudd. I am hugely pleased that she is taking on this role and leading a refreshed team into the next period of Waveney & Blyth Arts’ growth.”

Waveney & Blyth Arts’ new Chair Genevieve Rudd said: “I’m very honoured to be elected as Chair of Waveney & Blyth Arts and to be part of the Next Generation team. We will build upon the last 10 years of excellent work, and look forward to the next 10 years, and beyond.

“As Chair, I will bring my energy and enthusiasm for connecting people with the local landscape through the arts, my experience of coordinating arts projects, and of building collaborative working partnerships in the locality.

“I see Waveney & Blyth Arts as a lens to view the landscape – to get in close, uncover stories, grow curiosity, and to champion local people as ‘experts’ of their own patch, path or line. Now more than ever, celebrating and conserving our environment is vital, and Waveney & Blyth Arts uses the arts as a tool to advocate for this.

“The Sculpture in the Valley 2020 event will be part of our ten-year birthday celebrations. We are setting a brief, in collaboration with our curator (to be announced), which delves into the core work of Waveney & Blyth Arts – reflecting on the landscape.

“The Sculpture in the Valley artist brief will ask artists and sculptors to consider the event as a microcosm of the wider Waveney and Blyth landscape, in which they will reflect on ideas around scale, perspectives and the wild versus the cultivated.”

The brief for artists applying to take part in Sculpture in the Valley will be announced on Waveney & Blyth Arts’ website before Christmas 2019.

Previously, the sculpture event has taken place at Raveningham Hall and the River Waveney Study Centre in Earsham.

The move to Potton Hall in Westleton is part of the group’s desire to move the sculpture event around the Waveney & Blyth Arts patch to reach new audiences and explore different landscapes.

Genevieve Rudd said: “For 2020 we’re excited to be hosting Sculpture in the Valley at Potton Hall. We were taken in by the varied spaces on offer, from the wildflower meadow, lawns with formal planted gardens and sheep grazing fields, and how the whole space is nestled within its own valley on the edge of the Dunwich heathland connecting with the River Blyth.”

To sign up as a Waveney & Blyth Arts member and for more information about the organisation and its events visit www.waveneyandblytharts.com