DONATIONS have poured in at a rate of more than £2,000 a day to fund a seafront art installation.

Hove Civic Society has received £10,000 to meet the cost of the inaugural sculpture planned for Hove Plinth after launching a crowdfunding campaign on Thursday.

The society is hoping to raise £24,000 to trigger a match-funding scheme run by Arts Council England (Ace).

If the society can get to £24,000, another £16,000 will be provided through Ace to cover the full £40,000 for the art piece Constellation by Jonathan Wright.

Karin Janzon, project director of the Hove Plinth campaign, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity. The match funding from the Arts Council means that each individual donation is almost doubled.

“We are inviting everyone to be part of this and welcome all contributions, small and large.

“Help us put the first sculpture on Hove Plinth and launch a stunning seafront site for art in Hove.

“We have already secured the resources for the plinth itself, so if we succeed with this campaign then we can start building the plinth and commission the sculpture Constellation straight away. “

A final round of fundraising for the £100,000 needed for the plinth itself took place last summer.

The project is the brainchild of the Hove Civic Society, which has planning permission to install a stone plinth on the King’s Esplanade at the foot of Grand Avenue.

The plinth will be used for changing displays of sculpture, inspired by the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.

It will have technological capabilities to make viewing the sculptures an interactive experience.

The sculpture Constellation was chosen as part of a competition.

It is designed as a celebration of Hove, showing off its best-known features.

The design is based on an orrery – a mechanical model of the solar system – in which elements representing planets are replaced with historic, present day and future features of Hove.

The work also incorporates elements of a ship’s compass and a film camera lens and its main structure will rest on a gimbal that allows it to move slightly, responding to environmental conditions.

The icons representing Hove will be 50cm high and the piece will measure approximately two and a half metres in height and three meters across.

Work to install the plinth will start as soon as the funding target for the first sculpture has been reached.

The fundraising campaign will run until June 22.

To donate or for more information go to crowdfunder.co.uk/constellation