Artist-Led STREET HUNT to Open Tomorrow

Joshua Sofaer's poem-based treasure hunt giving the chance to win up to £10,000 starts tomorrow, 16 September at noon, when the book of clues for the treasure quest finally goes on sale!

Copies will be available to buy at Red Lion Books, High St Colchester as the Colchester Town Crier announces the start of the Hunt with a lusty fanfare and an early music ensemble will serenade participants as they race to win a potential prize of £10,000.

Street Hunt is an artist led treasure hunt, that is open to everyone to enter. Artist Joshua Sofaer has written a poem using street names from Colchester, the oldest town in Britain and will publish a book of photographs showing the relevant street signs and their surroundings - but with the names removed. Participants need to work out what the missing names are and complete the poem in the book. The first person to submit a correctly completed book wins the cash prize. The prize will be the amount of total book sales with a guaranteed minimum of £1,000 and could be as much as £10,000 if all 1,000 books are sold for the full price of £10.

Street Hunt creator Joshua Sofaer explained 'It seems especially appropriate to hold Street Hunt in Colchester, Britain's oldest town. The challenge is a kind of visual crossword puzzle, a treasure hunt where the riches are road names and a story emerges from the page. I hope it will encourage people to explore the town in a new way and, by really paying attention, spot the previously unnoticed. Each street name has a background and a story behind it, especially in a town as rich in history as Colchester.' Street Hunt is presented by Colchester Arts Centre as part of the town's Roman River Festival.

Anthony Roberts, Director of Colchester Arts Centre added 'This is a brilliantly fun way to explore the town. We're encouraging people to compete as teams or as individuals. Families, companies, clubs, charities, or simply a ruthless gang of intrepid explorers hell bent on getting their hands on the readies, all are welcome and encouraged. And if you're on a low income and don't have a tenner then pay what you can afford.'

Street Hunt will also help highlight the plight of homeless people through a linked programme of events in collaboration with Beacon House, the charity that helps homeless people. These include Street Tours led by local residents and artists bringing the stories of Colchester's streets to life, a specially commissioned large-scale Street Photography exhibition showing images taken by people affected by homelessness and Street Cinema film screenings.

The Street Photography exhibition has particularly caught the imagination of people. The photographers, all with recent experience of homelessness, have created a body of images that mix of intimacy and isolation; a surreal, moving and ultimately deeply real, capturing of everyday street life. The exhibition, appropriately held in a vast disused bus depot, runs to 23 September.

Joshua has also selected images created for the photography project for a 2018 calendar that is being sold to raise money for Beacon House.

The funding for Street Hunt came via a £50,000 grant from Colchester Borough Council. It was selected by public vote in The Big Choice, in which residents chose their favourite from a selection of 12 projects.

For full information go to www.streethunt.co.uk or www.colchesterartscentre.com.

Joshua Sofaer is an artist interested in modes of collaboration and participation, which he explores through social sculpture, performance, installation, exhibition and publication.

Joshua completed an MA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins and was subsequently awarded a PhD from Dartington College in Fine Art. He went on to win a 2009 Bank of America CREATE Art Award and become the first Artist Fellow on the 2010/11 Clore Leadership Programme of Arts. He is a PCT accredited Relationship Dynamics coach. He wants to use art to enable people to see the world as a place of potentiality and to become more active citizens. His work has been seen in many locations in Europe and Asia.

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