The Heart of Kent Hospice has revealed its new character for its sculpture trail around Maidstone.
Peter Lord, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Aardman Animations made an appearance on 3rd October to make the announcement. He was pleased to say that Shaun the Sheep will be the character for the art trail in 2024.
It follows the success of Elma The Elephant with ‘Elmer’s Big Heart of Kent Parade’ in Maidstone last year.
The new trail has been named ‘Shaun in the Heart of Kent’ and will see up to 50 large individually decorated Shaun sculptures placed around the parks, town centre and river walks in Maidstone and the surrounding areas. There will also be little Shaun sculptures which will form the Learning Programme, designed to engage with schools and youth groups by encouraging them to join in this ewe-nique event.
Shaun the Sheep was created by multi award-winning animation studio, Aardman. ‘Shaun,’ has been nominated for two Academy Awards® for his starring roles in ‘Shaun the Sheep The Movie’ and ‘A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon’.
The Hospice’s Chief Executive Rachel Street said: “The trail will be designed to offer a fun day out for families and friends of all ages and will also connect the local community to our wonderful Hospice. This new trail will showcase the wealth of artistic talent in the area, whilst positively contributing to the economic, social and cultural life of Maidstone and the surrounding areas”.
Heart of Kent Hospice, in partnership with Wild in Art and Aardman, is now inviting local companies and community groups to sponsor a Shaun the Sheep sculpture. Sponsors will then choose a design and the chosen artists each decorate a sculpture ensuring that each ‘Shaun’ is completely unique.
As with the previous Elmer trail, there will be an exciting fundraising auction after the ‘Shaun in the Heart of Kent’ trail finishes with the individual ‘Shaun’ sculptures auctioned off to raise vital funds for Heart of Kent Hospice.
Peter Lord, Co-founder of Aardman, said, “We’re delighted that our much-loved character Shaun the Sheep will be supporting the work of the excellent charity Heart of Kent Hospice with this new art trail. Shaun has been entertaining fans and families for 15 years with his mischievous farmyard adventures and now he’s coming to Maidstone to bring fun and joy to the streets for residents and visitors to enjoy. We’re looking forward to working with sponsors and talented artists to make sure that this will be a truly inspiring and entertaining art trail.”
