Taster day kicks off Lancaster community performance event

The Facing the Past performance event in Lancaster city centre on May 29 will be created and developed by the participants’ response to the city’s links to transatlantic slavery, based on heritage research.

And tomorrow, Tuesday January 17, at 2pm at The Storey Institute, there will be a taster session to launch the event.

Over the next few months, there will be regular workshops with vocal and movement practitioners and opportunities to learn about Lancaster’s history with heritage specialists.

Visit https://airtable.com/shrMjlsCTBL1dJd3V to get involved.

Facing the Past is an arts and heritage programme, grown from the local community response following the vandalism of a memorial of a slave trader in Lancaster Priory’s churchyard and the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2021.

A group of arts and heritage organisations, faith and community groups, activists and academics have come together to encourage a meaningful response, to raise awareness, and to reveal, reflect, and redress omissions in the way the city of Lancaster has commemorated its role as the fourth largest transatlantic slave port in the UK.

Facing the Past will lead a cultural programme, including a community festival, participatory events, public consultation, historical research, school and teacher programmes, digital mapping and a digital trail, community archiving, and training opportunities.

The programme aims to lay a foundation to new and future understanding of black presence in Lancaster and beyond, generating debate and positive action, engaging new audiences and encouraging them to see their historic surroundings in a new light.