In May, Hastings hosted its first Good Grief Hastings Festival, a community event exploring grief, love and loss through creativity, conversation and connection. Over four days, local organisations, artists, healthcare professionals and residents came together for talks, workshops, storytelling, music and reflective activities.
The festival created welcoming spaces for people to talk more openly about bereavement and to feel less alone. By using arts and culture, it helped make difficult conversations more accessible, inclusive and supportive.
It was well attended across all events, bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds, whether recently bereaved, reflecting on past losses, supporting others, or seeking a better understanding of grief. The response highlighted a strong community willingness for honest conversations about death, dying and loss.
The festival also strengthened awareness of local support services and built connections between community organisations, reinforcing the importance of compassionate, supportive communities.
The festival showed that people are willing to engage in conversations about grief and loss when the space feels safe, open and welcoming. Well-attended talks demonstrated a clear need for opportunities to be informed, to share experiences, and to learn new ways of understanding and navigating loss.
Creativity plays a key role in this process, offering accessible ways to connect with grief that can feel less overwhelming and more expressive. Arts-based approaches help people access emotions and experiences that are often difficult to articulate directly.
Ritual and shared creative practice were also shown to be deeply valued, offering meaningful ways to acknowledge and honour those who have died. These collective moments of reflection help sustain bonds, memory, and connection, while supporting healing within the community.
For Hastings and Rother, Good Grief Hastings has been an important step towards normalising conversations about grief and reducing the isolation that can accompany bereavement. Its lasting legacy will be the connections made, the stories shared and the reminder that no one should have to navigate grief alone.
