SU6351 : Shall we dance?
taken 7 years ago, near to Basingstoke, Hampshire, England
A public art trail to celebrate Jane Austen’s connections with Basingstoke and her birthplace, Steventon, part of the 200th anniversary of her death. A lovely idea which gave plenty of people of all ages some fun photo opportunities.
In total 24 'BookBenches' were designed by different artists and put on public display. At the end of the summer 2018 they were collected up and auctioned in aid of Ark Cancer Centre Charity.
After the event the council website reported, "In Basingstoke the art trail brought visitors from far and wide in what the media dubbed ‘The Jane Effect’ and went viral on social media with 570,000 impressions of the #SittingWithJane in just one week. The project gave an estimated boost to the local economy of £1.1m and achieved Destination Basingstoke’s aim to raise the profile of Jane Austen’s connections with our town."