The Rotary Club of Leamington Spa is connecting the community and spreading joy through the installation of unique and inspiring pianos in prominent locations around the town. The Club hopes to encourage locals and visitors to engage with each other, and create an opportunity for our community to unite through music and the visual arts.
The project, inspired by artist Luke Jerram’s Play Me, I’m Yours Street Piano (www.streetpianos.com) artwork will see pianos painted by local Warwickshire artists throughout June. The pianos will then be installed outside The Pump Rooms, inside The Royal Priors Shopping Centre and at the Leamington Spa train station between 14h July and 30th August.
The street pianos will be free for the public to play and enjoy, and help showcase the Rotary Club’s dedication to delivering inspiring experiences for Leamington’s residents. Also, as part of Warwick District Council’s CultureFest, and to celebrate the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games being held in the region, the ‘games themed’ pianos are set to enhance the collective experience of being in our wonderful town for tourists, visitors and locals.
July & August 2022
Local residents, visitors to Leamington and the Commonwealth Games.
Experience
Leamington Spa
This idea was brought to us by one of our members who had been following the creation of Street Pianos around the world for some time.
To bring the concept to life, we have sourced suitable pianos, made links with the creative community to find 3 local artists to decorate them and gain the commitment of the 3 spaces they will be living in for the period of the CultureFest. Creating this experience has been a logistical challenge from the start! Pianos are heavy, costly to move and costly to tune. We successfully moved them from their original homes at the end of April into The Royal Priors who have been exceptionally helpful in giving us an empty unit where the pianos will be stored and painted by the 3 artists. In mid-July the pianos will be moved again to their venue; somehow we will have to get the piano up onto the platform area at the station (we are still to overcome that one!). And due to the weather extremities on the pianos themselves, they will need tuning at the start and again at the midway point of the festival.
This has been, and continues to be, a mammoth task! But the result will be worth it.
Rotary is all about giving back to the community within which it resides and although quite often we do that by donating funds to good causes, it is also about creating experiences that bring joy and create lasting memories. This event is all about the latter; for residents and visitors to Leamington.
Meet the Artists
Emily Kaye 
Insta: emilykayeillustration
www.emilykayeillustration.com
I’m Emily, an illustrator, comic artist and mural maker based in Leamington. I’m fascinated by stories of everyday life and enjoy creating beautiful and funny illustrations that feature my curious characters to bring joy and intrigue. I sell prints, paint murals and design artwork for commercial use. My designs are painted by hand, celebrating beauty in imperfection!
See more of Emily’s work here.
Emily’s piano is under the colonnade at The Pump Rooms and is available for anyone to play 7 days a week between 10am – 4pm.
Greg Jinks 
www.artbygreg.co.uk
Whilst completing his BTEC diploma Art Foundation course, Greg experimented for the first time with abstraction on shape, form & colour, reducing the painting to just the colour with minimal, if any form to explore the depth & perception of colours compared to each other.
Greg studied for his degree in Fine Art & Art History (specialised in painting) at The University of Wales institute Cardiff. For his final degree exhibition Greg was heavily influenced by pop art & the image as an icon with no colour, using only black & white household gloss to achieve a flat finish.
See more of Greg’s work here.
Greg’s piano is on Platform3 (London Bound) at Leamington Spa train station and is available to play when the station is open.
Hugo Pang 
Insta: hugo219.draws
My name is Hugo, I am a 16 years old artist based in Leamington Spa. My main art style is manga art from Japan focusing on using alcohol markers on paper. My goal is to study art in Tokyo university of arts.
See more of Hugo’s work here.
Hugo’s piano is on the lower level of The Royal Priors under the escalator and is available to play during the shopping centre opening hours: Monday to Saturday 9am – 5.30pm and Sundays 10.30am – 4.30pm.
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