The Lowry in Salford Quays has launched a new digital platform in response to a continued need for digital performances to exist alongside live ones.
It comes 2 years after its enforced enclosure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lowry Digital will feature specially curated work, including ‘The Empty Auditorium’, which will be a season of exclusive online performances, created by international artists in closed venues during lockdown.
“Throughout the initial lockdown and extended period of closure we worked really hard to maintain a positive connection to our visitors and audiences via our #LoveLowry channel,” explained Matthew Eames, Head of Theatres (Contemporary and Commissioning) for The Lowry.
“We realised quickly that for some artists and audiences the online world was an arts space in its own right – just as important and significant as our theatres and galleries. We are really excited to launch Lowry Digital as a purpose-built online platform for performances, exhibitions, films and experience that can be enjoyed wherever you are – at home or on the move. It is our commitment to artists who want to make work digitally and to those audiences and visitors who may not feel able to return to arts buildings.”
The new platform will include On Demand and Live Streamed performances.
“On 16 March 2020, The Lowry – alongside most theatres in the UK – closed its doors in the first Covid-19 lock-down,” added Eckhard Thiemann, Programming Associate (Dance) for The Lowry.
“Buildings that were teeming with life, became empty and lonely shells of their former selves. Soon, however, artists were able to work again, now alone in the spaces where they normally meet audiences face-to-face. Filled with nostalgia, memory but also a new boldness and energy, they created powerful love-letters to these magical buildings, their audiences and the sense of human connection that live performance creates.”
