The Lowry celebrates its tenth anniversary on 28 April 2010
Celebrations include:
Participation in a mass nude art installation Sat 1 & Sun 2 May
- The Lowry’s big family birthday party Fri 4 - Sun 6 June
- Launch of 10 for 10 Fundraising campaign Wed 28 April
- Various high profile theatre events throughout the year including National Ballet of Cuba
- Unlocking Salford Quays – long term community project culminating in artwork & visitor experience of The Quays
The Lowry has spent ten years delighting, engaging and challenging both local and national audiences with the very best in visual art, performance and community and education activities. To date, this spectacular building on Salford Quays has attracted over eight million visitors, staged over 2,300 productions and presented 111 exhibitions, in addition to engaging with thousands of participants through its community and education programme.
Julia Fawcett, Chief Executive of The Lowry commented, “Our birthday year is, without doubt, the opportunity to celebrate the many artistic and community-led achievements of The Lowry as well as the contribution we have made to the creative well-being of the people of Salford, and the region. Since we opened on 28th April 2000 more than 8 million people have visited our building and we are hugely proud to have been such a catalyst for the ongoing regeneration of Salford Quays and a startling reminder of the regenerative impact of culture. All this has been made possible by the commitment, passion and creativity of the staff of The Lowry; all of those who work with us, and by all our audiences who we are continually grateful to.”
The Lowry’s tenth anniversary celebrations include inviting everyday people to take part in a unique art event by shedding their clothes and inhibitions for a mass nude project in May. Spencer Tunick, one of the world’s most celebrated and accessible contemporary artists, has been commissioned by The Lowry to create an installation across eight locations in the two neighbouring cities of Salford and Manchester.
Tunick will focus on the concept of ‘everyday people’ for the Salford and Manchester installation as a reference to the compositional style of LS Lowry, whose figurative works depict a mass of bodies going about their daily life. This exhibition is Spencer’s first visual response to the work of another artist for the entirety of a project and his interest in LS Lowry’s approach to composition illustrates the relevance of Lowry today. The resulting photographic and film work will be shown at The Lowry from 12 June – 26 Sep.
In early June, the Regatta Big Family 10th Birthday Party takes over The Lowry with a combination of ticketed and free events in the theatres and around the building. Highlights include Teatro Kismet, one of Italy’s leading theatre companies and their enchanting and captivating adaptation of a Hans Christian Anderson classic, The Little Mermaid. Families will love the extraordinary combination of circus, theatre and film with LaLaLuna and Suzie Templeton’s glorious animation of Peter And The Wolf, played on the big screen with live accompaniment from the Manchester Camerata.
For the tenth anniversary, The Lowry’s Development team launches its 10 for 10 birthday campaign which aims to raise £10,000 in the birthday year before 10/10/10.As The Lowry is a charity, receiving only 15% of its income through public funding, for every £1 gained through public support, a further £7 must be raised in order to sustain all of the amazing work which takes place within the building. For every £10 donated between 28/4/10 and10/10/10, a further £10 will be added in match-funds to the appeal. Donations can be made by calling the Box office on 0843 2086005, or online at www.thelowry.com/support-us.
The Lowry recently initiated a large-scale community engagement project, Unlocking Salford Quays, which lies at the heart of the venue’s 10th anniversary celebrations. Significant funding from the Heritage Lottery fund has enabled The Lowry to work with local communities in and around Salford Quays to uncover and preserve the heritage of this rapidly changing, historically rich area. This substantial community-led project aims to engage with over 4,000 people, deliver over 300 sessions for the participants, create five public art installation, an exhibition, a series of live events and ultimately provide a vital new element to the visitor experience to Salford Quays.
Barbara Spicer, Chief Executive for Salford City Council, said: "I would like to congratulate The Lowry on its tenth birthday. It is a truly fantastic addition to the city of Salford which many residents benefit from through collaborative work such as project Walkabout, that involved residents who hadn't been involved in arts or community projects before, and the establishment of Salford's very own youth dance company called the 'Salford Commotions'. Having a top class arts venue in the city that is also very rooted in the community is a special combination that has numerous benefits for the city including encouraging economic investment, job creation, aspiration raising as well as providing entertainment. It is an exciting time to be in Salford, with the arrival of MediaCityUK and I'm sure that The Lowry will continue to build on its significant achievements of the last ten years that have helped to put Salford on the national and international map".
Over the past ten years, The Lowry has become a beacon for attracting world class theatre and exhibitions to the North West and acts a symbol for the regeneration of Salford Quays. When The Lowry opened its doors in the year 2000, the founding mission was to enrich the lives of others and to contribute to the creative well-being of the people of Salford and the region. This mission is still at the heart of everything that it does.
The Lowry has consistently brought the world’s best ballet companies to a North West audience and was one of the first organisations which aimed to consistently get the most prominent international artists to perform outside the capital. The Lowry is delighted to welcome Ballet Nacional de Cuba, one of the world’s most prestigious dance companies to its stage for the first time, forming part of the venue’s 10th anniversary celebrations in April.
In the same vein as The Lowry’s efforts to bring international ballet to the regions, there is also a consistent flow of world-class drama and opera programming that audiences in the North West can now experience. The Lowry has always aimed to be an open, accessible space - programmed to attract the widest possible audience and its theatres programme also includes a wealth of popular music, family shows and comedy.
The galleries offer a fascinating, in-depth opportunity to see the works of LS Lowry, whose work has been represented in new ways, showing his talent as something far beyond the stereotypes associated with him. The Lowry’s exhibitions programme mixes the best of LS Lowry with modern contemporary work and historical art.
The Lowry houses a dedicated community and education complex, The Studio, and has organised successful outreach projects working with communities in Salford. The Lowry has committed to embedding work of this nature into the core of the venue’s output over the next three years and hopes to be recognised as a leader in outcomes-based arts engagement work.
In the ten years since opening, The Lowry has won or been shortlisted for over 30 awards ranging from ‘Building of the Year’ and the ‘Museums & Heritage award for excellence’ to taking the number one spot for the most comfortable theatre seats which were praised as “plush and well padded”. This is in addition to 179 Manchester Evening News Theatre award nominations, 41 wins and their Horniman award for outstanding services to theatre.
An exciting new range of retail merchandise will be available as part of The Lowry’s 10th anniversary featuring designs which celebrate ‘the best’ events, artists, theatre companies and dance performances from the venue’s first decade.
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Posted on Tuesday, 20 April 2010 under Press General Press Theatre Press Galleries Press Community & Education Press