Over the weekend, the Cultural Olympiad continued to spread its magical pixie dust across the land by taking the London Festival 2012 to Burnley for Project Triangle, a special one off showcase of diverse talent.
The event was held in the historic Weaver’s Triangle – an old Victorian industrial landscape.
The event was co-ordinated by somewhereto_ and featured live performances, workshops and film premieres. The free event was enjoyed by locals of all ages. Kajol Lally, a young somewhereto_ ambassador and budding presenter, hosted the day, and said “I was so chuffed to present an official 2012 event. It’s such an amazing experience to be part of something as huge as this and it’s really going to benefit me in my future career as a presenter.”
Acts on the day included Mancunian swinging acoustic act Bright Shapes, Burnley’s own Swamp Donkeys and rapper ‘B’ (Billal Mahmood) who features on Tinie Tempah’s new album Coast 2 Coast, the most downloaded mixtape in the world - pretty cool huh?
The day also saw a disused pub, the Neptune Pub, transformed into a cinema to show films from a young aspiring directors.
we caught up with some of the acts who performed on the day to get the insiders scoop on how they felt that the event went. Read below to find put what they had to say.
Who? Bright Shapes.
What do they do? This merry band of friends are, well also a band of talented singers and musicians.
How’d they find it?
“Being part of an official London 2012 Festival event is a great opportunity and a privilege. The London 2012 Olympics represents the best of the world’s athletes and to be chosen to play an event which links into the Official Festival makes us feel very optimistic about our abilities and our music. We are looking forward to have a fantastic experience and to giving you our absolute best performance!”
They also said that “Our ambitions as a band are to be able to do what we love professionally! To be able to play music for a living would be a dream come true for us”; so fro them performing at the event was a definite privilege and boost for them.
Who? Elliot and the Blacklights:
What do they do? Play music!
How’d they find the day?
“We played at the Project Triangle event in Burnley. Other than really enjoying ourselves playing on the brilliant stage bus, the thing that hit us most was the enthusiasm of the somewhereto_ staff. I think the work they do with young people such as us can really give performers the encouragement they need to really push on and make a career out of their talent.
All the artists seemed to really enjoy their performances, and so did the audience. Everyone there was really supportive of my band and I, and I would love to continue playing bigger and bigger events for somewhereto_. I arrived there at the event exhausted after my 4 and a half hour journey, but my spirits were immediately raised after the first act. After that, the enthusiasm of everyone around left me with a huge smile, and by the time we were ready to play, I was really excited to give a good performance to everyone there. I hope we did that.”
So there you have it, an amazing day of young talented, that wasn’t just about fun, but a fantastic platform for young people to showcase their skills! Project Triangle rocked!
somewhereto_ partnered with Burnley Borough Council, with assistance from Mid Pennine Arts, just spreading some Olympiad love folks.
