‘Virtual’ Zero Degrees Festival begins tonight!

Although the Covid-19 crisis will prevent the Zero Degrees Festival taking place this summer, the volunteer team has created some virtual community activities to bring people together.

The Party in the Pews event is traditionally a family-friendly celebration of singing and dancing.

This year, the event will take place via Facebook this evening (Friday June 19) - with a programme of specially created performances from Riverhead Theatre, Lacey Gardens Junior Academy and Do-Dance introduced by Mayor of Louth, Councillor Darren Hobson, followed by a fantastic video of the event in 2019.

The Party in the Pews event will start at 6.30pm and will be available to view for one week on the Zero Degrees Louth Facebook page.

Sunday, June 21, would usually see the annual Vintage Day event taking over the Cornmarket.

This year’s event will kick off with a short video compilation of a dance from 52nd Street Jump.

Local artist Jayne Cooper will be taking residence in Spout Yard Gallery from Saturday, June 20, for two weeks, installing a new collection of paintings created in her Queen Street studio.

Working in collaboration with curator Wendy House, Jayne will create several versions of the exhibition by testing out different conversations between the artworks and the viewer. Each day Jayne will share an image of the residency on the Zero Degrees website and a series of video clips documenting the changes.

In the final week of the residency, the doors of Spout Yard Gallery will be open to the public, to view a final installation of the work at a socially safe distance.

If the sunshine is out the café will be open from midday, and families will be welcome.

The gallery will be open from Wednesday, July 1, to Sunday, July 5, between 10am -4pm, with late openings on Friday, July 3, and Saturday, July 4, from 6pm - 8pm.

A spokesman for Zero Degrees Festival said: “Everyone has been affected by the unprecedented change to normal life during the past three months and a new online project.

“Louth/Life in Lockdown is an opportunity to share experiences and personal reflections on what this has meant.

“Children, teenagers, young adults, mid-lifers and older people are invited to create a short description or poem, a drawing, cartoon or even a photo to share your unique story.

“The Zero Degrees Festival website will display a gallery of contributions and the team aims to find other ways to share and archive this material, once lockdown ends.”

• For further information about Louth/Life in Lockdown and guidance about how to take part go to www.zerodegreeslouth.org.uk/entry/

• New projects are still being developed by the team, with the possibility of outdoor performances now that lockdown restrictions are gradually easing.

• For the latest updates, visit www.zerodegreeslouth.org.uk. You can also find updates at www.facebook.com/ZeroDegreesLouth and @ZerodegLouth on Twitter.