To help the thousands of visitors visiting Eastbourne to view the town’s Turner Prize exhibition, Southern Rail has partnered with Towner Eastbourne to provide a meet and great team at Eastbourne station.

This is the first time that the Turner Prize exhibition has been held in Sussex, and to assist visitors from all over the country who have travelled to Eastbourne by train, the meet and great team will be on hand to help drum up excitement for the exhibition and welcome visitors to the town.

This year, Towner Eastbourne, which is just 15 minutes away from Eastbourne station, is celebrating its centenary in the form of ‘Towner 100′. That is a year-long celebration of arts and culture throughout Eastbourne and Sussex, and the centrepiece of the event is The Turner Prize, which is the world’s leading prize for contemporary art and will be displayed at Towner until Sunday, 14 April 2024.

Initiatives to promote the Turner Prize include:

• posters being displayed at stations across the Govia Thameslink Railway network;
• extra advertising on Southern trains;
• a social media competition that is open until 3 November;
• marketing emails sent to Southern’s customers.

Four shortlisted exhibitions have been shortlisted for the Turner Prize, with the winner of the Turner Prize set to be announced on Tuesday, 5 December in Eastbourne’s Winter Garden. Those on the shortlist are:

• Jesse Darling;
• Ghislaine Leung;
• Rory Pilgrim;
• Barbara Walker.

To find out more and to book your trip to Eastbourne, visit https://www.southernrailway.com/.

One of the volunteers working at Eastbourne station is Phoebe, and helps to direct people to the gallery who arrive by train. She also encourages other visitors to Eastbourne to visit the exhibition, which since it opened on 28 September has welcomed over 18,000 visitors.

As soon as Phoebe, 19, saw a request for volunteers at Eastbourne station she applied. She said “Being part of the meet and greet team for a few days a week means I can help raise awareness of the Turner Prize and encourage passengers to see this amazing artwork as part of their trip.

“I think it’s great the exhibition is so accessible; I’ve met people who have travelled from across Sussex and beyond using the train and they can easily walk to the gallery once they arrive in Eastbourne.”

Jenny Saunders, Customer Services Director for Southern, said: “It’s amazing to have such a well-known art exhibition on our network. Although the Turner Prize is often open to visitors in London, having it in Sussex for the first time ever makes it accessible to people living in the south of England. As the only train operator in the area, we’re excited to bring new people to Eastbourne to discover all the area has to offer.”

Joe Hill, Director, Towner Eastbourne, said: “We are thrilled to partner with Southern Rail, who are providing a safe, easy and environmentally friendly route to Towner which is hosting the Turner Prize 2023 as the centrepiece of Towner 100, the gallery’s centenary year. The Turner Prize exhibitions, alongside the associated programme Eastbourne ALIVE, offers a unique opportunity for our town to promote engagement with contemporary art and showcase all it has to offer to visitors.”