​Town of Culture goes online

Residents of Bury are being urged to join in and contribute to cultural events taking place in their streets and online during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Arts organisations in the borough have moved activities online to ensure culture can continue to flourish during our year as the first Greater Manchester Town of Culture.

And musical residents, many already cheering up their streets on Thursday nights, and in VE Day singalongs, are being urged to take part in the ‘Together In One Voice’ mass sing-a-long that takes place on Thursday 28 May.

The community choir event is taking place as part of the Manchester International Festival and will see residents join their neighbours from their windows, doorsteps and streets (socially distanced of course!) as they sing along to a special soundtrack of songs.

Musical director Dan McDwyer is leading online rehearsals in preparation for the event, which will see video and music from across Greater Manchester shared into a film to be broadcast on 31 May.

Highlights of events and activity in Bury include:

• Bury’s own The Met being the host venue for much of the United We Stream programme, featuring DJs, big name acts like Elbow and Brandon Flowers, performance, arts and food. Much of the content, viewed at https://unitedwestream.co.uk by millions across the world, has been filmed live from the venue.
• Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre is providing weekly inspiration through themed art and creative activities including resources to design, print, colour, make and display

• Take a virtual tour of the latest sculpture centre exhibition - The Pothole (Mark Tanner Sculpture Award National Touring Programme), by Anna Reading.

• Sketchbook Still Social is the gallery’s Digital Social Hub providing daily prompt words and inspiration from the art collection each day where it’s as much about giving it a go and having fun as creating a masterpiece.
• The Fusilier Museum has put together the highlights of their exhibitions as a resource to view online to learn more about the military heritage of the borough.
• The Met’s resident artist, Professor Jigget, is hosting live interactive stories – Bedtime Tales and Folklore, Myths & Legends.
• Bury Youth Theatre are sharing their latest performances and storytelling online and are taking part in a UK-wide time capsule project with other youth theatres.

• Bury’s online library and archive, available on Borrowbox, celebrated through the Bury Library podcast – Dinosaurs Didn’t Read, promoted as part of World Book evening at the end of April.

• Storybox, who hold monthly dementia friendly creative sessions at the Art Museum have delivered sessions online.

To find out more about the Together in One Voice event please visit the Together Manchester website https://www.togethermcr.com/ or email contact@togethermcr.com.

All the details of online culture in Bury are on our website at www.bury.gov.uk/digital-culture

Councillor Jane Black, cabinet member for the cultural economy, said: “We may not be able to get together at the moment in a choir, or be able to visit our museums and art galleries.

“However, we can still enjoy and be inspired by art, sculpture, storytelling and history in our museums and galleries.

“We would also love the streets of Bury to be alive with the sound of singing from our doorsteps for the Together in One Voice event – my own street is taking part. I hope the borough’s communities will sing in full voice and play their part in bringing us all together in music.”

Remember – we want your stories of living through the age of Covid-19 for our Life in Lockdown community art and social history project!

We’d love to receive your photographs, drawings, paintings, songs, poems or prose which reflect upon your experiences at this unprecedented time. For all the details, go to https://tinyurl.com/ydgtl656

You can email your contributions to townofculture@bury.gov.uk

ENDS

Press release issued: 26 May 2020.

Note to editors:

About Bury Town of Culture

1. Bury is the inaugural Greater Manchester Town of Culture.

2. We are celebrating the contribution of the arts, our communities and our heritage to our borough.

3. We are harnessing the power of our culture through events, exhibitions and participation - in cultural venues, in online platforms, in our streets and in our towns.

4. Activities during 2020 and 2021 will showcase the work of our famous daughters and sons, will share the distinctive identity of our communities and will inspire a new generation.

5. To find out more visit: https://www.bury.gov.uk/digital-culture