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Bolton light show will bring history to life
Residents are invited to a free event on Saturday (11 April) that will see part of the town centre flooded in light, colour and sound in a show inspired by Bolton Museum’s Egyptology collection.
The ‘re:light’ production will be projected onto the side of buildings in Cheapside Square, off Town Hall Square, at 8.30pm.
The light show is a culmination of three-months of work involving local youth and community groups who developed visual and audio content for the display based on artefacts like Egyptian shabti figures and hieroglyphics after visiting the collection.
We've helped to deliver the project alongside Bolton Council.
Gaynor Cox, our arts officer, said: “This production has been shaped by local residents and young people who’ve seized an opportunity to be involved in a major arts production and learn valuable new digital skills in the process. It promises to be a great family-friendly show on Saturday night and a chance for local people to see the past brought to life in a really visual way.”
The Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr Cliff Morris, said: “We were happy to work with Bolton at Home on this project and facilitate access to our collection. The Egyptology collection is important to the town and projects like this enable people to see artefacts in a unique and interesting way.”
Bolton-based community interest company thebox.tv worked alongside local groups to develop the show. Local photographer Alex Platt and Manchester-based creative agency Albino Mosquito have also worked on the project.
It's been funded through Greater Manchester Strategic Arts Fund’s ‘cold spots’ programme, which aims to increase arts participation in areas of low arts engagement.
re:light is Bolton’s follow up to last year’s production for the Big Digital Project that took place across Greater Manchester and which resulted in light show events being designed and delivered by communities working with local artists in all 10 Greater Manchester authorities.
Bolton’s contribution to that project was led by Breightmet’s Mr One Million Group and showcased the best of Bolton after the town’s residents were asked to send in images and sounds that summed up what Bolton meant to them.
Gaynor added: “Following on from last year’s production for the Big Digital Project, we hope the light show has the potential to become an annual event that will help young people in Bolton to develop new creative skills.”