Travel through time with story trails

In celebration of Local and Community History Month, the unique immersive storytelling experience StoryTrails is coming to Lincoln as part of a UK tour this summer.

StoryTrails will use the latest multimedia technologies so people can see their town’s past, present and future collide.

Part of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, a ground-breaking nationwide celebration of creativity in 2022, Story Trails will allow local people to experience Lincoln in a completely new way through the magic of augmented and virtual reality.

Lincoln will host StoryTrails for a two-day live event from July 30 to 31 at Lincoln Central Library. This unmissable experience will offer fun for all the family,

The trails will feature a bespoke augmented reality (AR) story trail and a unique, immersive virtual map of the city created using the stories of local people, and showcasing 3D scans of Lincoln’s beloved buildings and iconic places in each location, such as Lincoln Cathedral.

Emma Osman and Adam Dixon, the local creatives working on the project, are using Local and Community History Month, which aims to increase awareness of local history, to put a spotlight on the developments that are well underway locally and encourage everyone to participate in StoryTrails this summer.

Visitors will also be given the chance to enter digitally created worlds by putting on a virtual reality headsets, with highlights including ‘Get Punked!’, which puts users in the shoes of a rebellious teenager finding out about her mother’s punk past.

Then in ‘Off the Record’, they will take part in the daytime South Asian raves of the 2000s, while in ‘Museum of Imagined Futures’ they will dive into past to find out what our ancestors thought life would be like today and beyond!

Emma said: “The stories we are uncovering of the people in Lincoln are truly incredible. I don't think I realised how much history there is hidden away not only in film and photography, but also in people's memories. It's been magical finding some of those hidden stories. Local history month is so important but our ambition is that, by using new technologies, we can inject a passion for history into people all year round. This project is about encouraging people to reassess what they know and develop new perspectives. It’s also about having fun, and I have no doubt that people in Lincoln will love the footage, pictures and stories we've unearthed.”

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK is funded and supported by the four governments of the UK and is commissioned and delivered in partnership with Belfast City Council, Creative Wales and EventScotland.

StoryTrails runs from 1 July – 18 September 2022 and it will culminate in a new film presented by David Olusoga which will screen in cinemas across the UK and be made available to audiences on BBC iPlayer.

For further details visit story-trails.com and via Facebook and Instagram @StoryTrailsProject and Twitter @StoryFuturesA