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The Cultural Quarter pop-up programme continues to deliver a series of town centre-based arts and culture activities with further exciting events to come.

The pop-up programme, funded by the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government from the Towns Fund, has helped deliver 36 events in 30 different locations since 2022.

Recent activities have included supporting local community group Diverse ºÚÁÏÍøÕ¾, ºÚÁÏÍøÕ¾ Museum and art charity Underexposed Arts to work in a local school and present work at a commemorative event for Windrush Day that will be part of the Museums archive.

In addition, Fathom was delivered online as a durational game in which more than 170 subscribers received daily links to narrative and missions and took part in challenges throughout the two-week event. Fathom was created for ºÚÁÏÍøÕ¾ by Goat and Monkey Theatre, working with Punchdrunk/Secret Cinema associates Julie Belinda Landau and Lydia Reed. illustrator, Rory Muldoon and outstanding composers. Those who completed the missions were invited to a special live event delivered in partnership with Wildwood on the High Street, which converted its function room into a dressed performance space (by associates of Punchdrunk/ Secret Cinema).

Another exciting pop-up event was an inaugural Summer Contemporary Art Exhibition through open call, presenting the work of more than 100 local professional, amateur and junior artists from ºÚÁÏÍøÕ¾ and beyond in a takeover of the little used second floor at ºÚÁÏÍøÕ¾ Library. The exhibition was curated by senior artists and curators Alison Dollery, Sarah Maple, Tabish Khan and Sophie Nowakowska, with direct links to the Royal College of Art, and was attended by over 300 people. Art workshops were also held in partnership with La Rusta on its first floor function space plus a window display at g-store in County Mall and at ºÚÁÏÍøÕ¾ Museum foyer.

Looking ahead, ºÚÁÏÍøÕ¾ Fusion Mela will be taking place on Saturday 4 August on a bespoke stage in Memorial Gardens. This is a re-introduction of a small-scale Mela event in collaboration with Cohesion Plus Kent, ºÚÁÏÍøÕ¾ Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID) and Ameesha Bhugwandeen, local Enterprise Manager, NatWest. The event will feature performances from fantastic bands and artists including Uzambezi Trio, Rajhastan Heritage Band, Sivakalaba Natyalaya, Kings of Dhol, Anna Heer, PBN and Circus Raj, who are fresh from Glastonbury.

Audio Active is continuing to try out different town centre spaces and ways of presenting local young musicians, this time with a summer outdoor event called Kustom Vibe #5 taking place at the bandstand in Memorial Gardens on Friday 16 August.

There will also be a second partnership with Videoclub, an agency supporting artists and audiences to engage with film, video and digital culture, presenting Dreamy Space 2024 from 4 to 6 October. This will feature the delivery of substantial new work in Queens Square by light installation artists Limbic Cinema Outdoor Sculptures. It will also include capacity building workshops in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and generative art looking at challenges and opportunities, sited at ºÚÁÏÍøÕ¾ Library as well as in local town centre function rooms. 

Aimed at a younger audience will be an indoor sited exhibition by artist Megan Broadmeadow: ‘Dewiniaeth’, a holographic fairy that interacts with visitors, as well as projection maps made by local young people for projection around the town centre.