CowParade Coming to Surrey Hills!

surrey_banner

World’s largest public art event is coming to Surrey!

Hundreds of brightly-coloured cows will decorate the hills, farms, towns, schools and popular landmarks across Surrey next year with the aim of sharing the beauty of the Surrey Hills and providing a massive boost to local businesses and community projects.

Internationally-celebrated artist, and Surrey Hills resident, Alexander Creswell has agreed to be patron of the CowParade. Find out more about Alexander’s work here.

Individuals, companies and schools will sponsor life-sized cows which they will decorate themselves or with the help of an artist. The cows will then be displayed around the county before being herded to the inaugural Surrey Hills Food, Drink and Music Festival next summer where they will be auctioned off. Those judged the pick of the bunch will go to auction at a glitzy ceremony held at a unique London location later in the year.

The cow owners can choose their own charity and the auction proceeds will be split between that and the Surrey Hills Trust Fund, a charity established to conserve and protect the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, leaving a legacy for generations to come. The fund supports local community projects and enterprise schemes that benefit and enhance the Surrey Hills landscape.

CowParade was born in Switzerland in 1998 and has been staged in more than 80 cities and towns worldwide. Over the years 3,000 cows have been decorated by more than 5,000 artists. CowParade New York had 450 cows and was seen worldwide by 45 million people. The highest-grossing cow was created by designer John Rocha for CowParade Dublin in 2003 – studded with thousands of pieces of Waterford Crystal it was auctioned for $146,000 – quite a lot of moo-lah indeed.

 

About CowParade

CowParade first took place in Chicago in 1999. Since then, these large scale projects have taken place in 79 locations across the world including New York, London, Mexico, Istanbul, Paris and Buenos Aires. Over 200 million people have seen the famous cows and over $30 million dollars raised for charitable organisations at the auctions which take place at the end of each cow parade.

See more about the international arts project at www.cowparade.com

 

About the Surrey Hills

The Surrey Hills is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, one of 38 nationally protected landscapes in England and Wales. The Hills stretch across a quarter of the county of Surrey and include the chalk slopes of the North Downs from Farnham in the west to Oxted in the east and extend south to the deeply wooded Greensand Hills which rise in Haslemere. The Surrey Hills offers some of South East England’s most beautiful and accessible countryside. Famous beauty spots include Box Hill, Leith Hill and the Devil’s Punch Bowl. You’ll discover an extensive footpath network, open commons, breathtaking views, attractive market towns and villages and much more.

The CowParade will not only help to raise awareness of this special landscape but also safeguard its future through donations to the Surrey Hills Trust Fund. For further information on the Surrey Hills please visit www.surreyhills.org.

You may also like