Bangor University Researcher co-organises Local Art Festival as part of her research
People in and around Bangor and Menai Bridge may come across or choose to join some intriguing arts events at the end of June, arranged to safely beat the restrictions that Covid 19 has placed on performing arts.
Dr Sarah Pogoda from Bangor University’s School of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics is interested in alternative forms of artistic events and ways of experiencing the arts, and has been co-organising a series of alternative arts events running in 21-27 June.
The series of live outdoor and indoor events include dance, music, performance, poetry, exhibitions, guided art walks, film and more are all developed under Covid-19 health and safety conditions.
Sarah explains:
“I am interested how audiences respond to innovative live arts events, which might appear experimental and unfamiliar to them. I wonder whether the lack of usual and familiar ways to enjoy cultural life caused by Covid-19 might have changed people’s attitude towards art events and small-scale live events in particular?”
Co-organising the Metamorffosis Arts Festival has provided Sarah with a ‘blank canvas’ to test some theories.
She also hopes that her research will be beneficial not only to the local arts communities in North Wales, but across the UK as a whole.
Her research will be asking how pandemic-related changes can be harnessed to improve resilience in the creative sector in the future.
Most events will be outdoors, some events indoors and a few online. All venues and sites have been risk assessed; audience capacities will be limited. All events are free of charge but booking via Eventbrite will be required to enable monitoring of audience numbers.
For Sarah and all involved artists, it is important that all events will be free of charge.
Sarah confirms:
“We decided to stretch out the events across the whole week, so everyone might find an event that suits their interests and calendar. All events are free of charge but you will have to pre-book via Eventbrite. We need to monitor the audience numbers and Eventbrite is the easiest way to do that. If you want to learn more about the festival, you can find us online. We have a bi-lingual website, twitter, facebook and we are working hard to spread the word.”
On Monday 14th, 7pm there is a Zoom-event called "Meet the Artists". This event is aimed for the general public to learn more about the festival, the events and the artists. After short introduction, people can ask questions of all kind - maybe to help them choosing those events which they will like best etc...
There is an Eventbrite page ( https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/metamorffosis-meet-the-artists-siarad-efor-artistiaid-tickets-158376499373 ) to register for the event. The zoom link will be sent to all registered on Monday 6pm.
For further information please visit Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MetamorffosisF
or Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/metamorffosisfestival2021/
