Chorlton Arts Festival has gone virtual using artwork of the town to create a space where residents can enjoy the work of more than 20 local artists from home.
The town has been brought to life by Chorlton resident and curator of the arts festival, Jess Symons of Visioning Lab, along with a team of volunteers – including 71-year-old Chorlton artist and festival director Peter Topping.
Peter’s artwork of Chorlton has been used to create the virtual world where visitors will be able to ‘walk’ the high street, recognising local landmarks along the way.
Other virtual spaces include a watercolour version of Chorlton Ees by artist Anna Violet and the inside of a bin by photographer Mike Beard, who wants to highlight environmental issues.
The annual event, which was originally scheduled to happen in May, had to be cancelled due to Covid-19. The virtual showcase will now go live on the Chorlton Arts Festival website across the weekend of October 3-4.
The weekend is supported by patrons’ comedian and actor Jason Manford, singer Damon Gough (Badly Drawn Boy), Lip Service and Stephen Raw. It is also part of the Fun Palaces weekend happening nationally.
Jess said: “After the festival was postponed in March, we decided that it was still possible to celebrate Chorlton’s art scene online.
“But we wanted to do something different to Zoom calls and YouTube streaming. We put a call out to artists who had already registered for the festival to get on board with our virtual idea and we had a fantastic response so, over the past two months, we have worked with them to make virtual art spaces using Mozilla Hubs for others to visit and enjoy together from the comfort and safety of their own home.
“The art hubs that have been created are communal – so when you visit one, you see other people who are visiting at the same time.
“Each visitor is assigned an ‘avatar’ – they look a bit like Lego characters – so you can wander around the spaces much like you would in a gallery.
“You can arrange to meet people there and hang out in the space. It’s a way of experiencing things together even if you cannot physically meet up.”
The line-up of Chorlton artists includes watercolourists, painters, textile artists, photographers such as Susan Parry, Anna Violet, Cathy Duggan, Sea Cat, Nerissa Cargill Thompson, Tracey Cartledge, Mike Beard, Amy Telfer and Peter Topping. They are joined by classical musicians such as Chu Yun, Ivan Hovorun, and musicians and bands including Red Rae, MIRO, Peggy Chorlton, The Dead Xtras and poets, Rose Condo, Anna Percy and the Stirred Poetry collective.
Chorlton’s older person community group, Good Neighbours, will also be launching their YouTuber careers in a series of 3-minute sketches directed by Nakib Narat.
Artist Peter is delighted to have been able to transfer his work online to create virtual Chorlton.
Peter said: “When Jess approached us with the offer to facilitate a virtual arts festival we jumped at the opportunity. Our virtual Chorlton has all the important places but also a little bit of mystery because no virtual town is complete without a secret tunnel!
“I am delighted that people can get together virtually, to stroll through their township, enjoy free performances and art exhibitions, and chat together about their experiences.
“If what we have created can bring joy in these uncertain times we will build on this concept and produce an alternative way of looking at the arts in our future Chorlton.”
Future plans for virtual Chorlton are to use it to promote local traders’ websites as lockdown sees businesses’ trading hit dramatically.
For more information go to: www.chorltonartsfestival.org
