A Year in 12 Stories

As we come to the end of 2020, we want to share some of Live & Local’s success stories from the year, as a little bit of light amid the darkness. Despite the year we’ve had, 2020 has seen communities pull together, new opportunities for artists and collaborative projects across the Live & Local network. […]

Love Theatre Day 2020

Love Theatre Day may look a little different this year, but it’s more important than ever that we come together in support of our theatre-makers, producers, set designers, actors, directors, stage-runners, freelancers, audiences (the list goes on) and highlight the value of it in communities and every day life. For us at Live & Local, […]

Community Spotlight: Hemingby Village Hall

We’re back again for another Community Spotlight. We hope you enjoyed our previous two with Pailton Village Hall and All Saints Church, Bradbourne as much as we enjoyed catching up with them. It’s been a real balm for the soul to stay in touch with the Live & Local network and hearing about how communities […]

Artform Spotlight: Kathak Dance with Sonia Sabri Company

Sonia Sabri Company first stepped onto Live & Local stages way back in 2015 and are highly regarded both nationally and internationally for presenting Kathak dance in a contemporary context while maintaining the integrity of the art form. For those who are new to this particular style of dance, Kathak is a versatile and accessible […]

Community Spotlight: Pailton Village Hall

During these unusual, unprecedented and frankly downright bizarre times, it’s a nice reminder to get back to our roots as a community touring scheme and speak to members of the Live & Local network. Previously we caught up with our friend Jenny at All Saints Church, Bradbourne and she gave us an insight into the […]

Artform Spotlight: Victorian Theatre #2 with Townsend Theatre

In our previous post, we reflected on the joys of Victorian theatre and we continue that theme by looking at another element of Victorian art and culture – The Magic Lantern show. Magic lantern shows were arguably the first example of cinema. Square glass slides (33⁄4 inch) of still images were projected onto large cloths, […]

Artform Spotlight: Victorian Theatre #1 with Don’t Go Into The Cellar!

When thinking about Victorian culture, many of us will undoubtedly bring to mind examples of classic literature – Dickens, Hardy and the Brontës to name but a few. Perhaps we also think back to those school textbook images of wide skirts and top hats? What many of us may be less familiar with is the […]

Artform Spotlight: Storytelling and Poetry

Just as people travel, stories travel too. There is an ever-increasing availability of translated tales, songs and poems. Under normal circumstances, travelling to new places is more affordable and accessible than ever before and global use of the internet continues to expand. These, coupled with the very human desire to gain an insight into the […]

Volunteers’ Week 2020

It’s #VolunteersWeek and we at Live & Local are always indebted to our network of wonderful volunteer promoters. In village halls and community venues across Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, groups of Live & Local promoters have been putting on professional live arts for over 20 years. This is something we […]

Community Spotlight All Saints Church Bradbourne

Live & Local wouldn’t run without our network of fantastic voluntary promoter groups and local communities. This is something we like to celebrate, with previous Community Spotlight articles talking to the teams at Wren Hall, Swayfield Village Hall and Alrewas Village Hall. The current worldwide crisis does cast a rather different light on our every […]