Frequency Festival returned in 2021 with a theme reflecting our times: Connection
This year’s theme of Connection was inspired by our desire to reconnect again. It is a response to the environment, digital inequity and re-emerging from the pandemic.
Over four days, the biennial festival offered a hybrid of online and real-world encounters as it celebrated 10 years of bringing inventive digital culture into Lincoln’s historic centre.
COVID-19 has separated communities from public spaces in ways previously not experienced. Through artist and technologist collaborations, Frequency Festival weaves itself into the City’s outdoor spaces for people to enjoy new work created by established and emerging artists.
“Frequency Festival is the cultural heartbeat of the amazing city of Lincoln. The pandemic has changed us all forever and, after much careful consideration alongside our city partners, we have decided to proceed with this year’s festival. We want to make sure we can welcome visitors safely, without losing the spirit of play and curiosity that Frequency is famous for. Our audiences embrace adventure and love to discover new things, and in new ways. Now, with the theme of Connection for our 10th anniversary festival, we will go on a new adventure with them.”
– Uzma Johal MBE, Director, Threshold Studios
The core aim of Frequency Festival is to enable access for all to creative experiences in a digital playground inspiring debate, discussion and discovery. This year’s festival will combine live performances, installations and exhibitions with live and online workshops, panel discussions and talks.
“It is 10 years since the first festival and now in 2021 after the unprecedented year we’ve all faced, it feels important for an event like Frequency to welcome people back into the city. We want to give people an opportunity to feel some joy in seeing art in the city again.”
– Sam Lindley, Director of Programmes, Threshold Studios
Frequency Festival was developed by leading creative and cultural agency Threshold Studios in 2011 as part of the Cultural Olympiad funding for the city of Lincoln. The festival hosts a commissioned programme of digital artistic interventions in non-traditional spaces and is free and open to all. Each edition of the festival has seen visitors experience the unexpected, from Virtual Reality in Churches to Turner Prize-winning artists taking over Lincoln Cathedral’s Chapter House.
The curation of this year’s festival celebrates as well as questions the efficacy and increase in the reliance on screens that has relieved people’s isolation during the pandemic. Frequency Festival is built on a foundation of enabling digital equity and yet the pandemic has highlighted how much digital inequality exists. The festival will be a platform for artists and audiences alike to examine, contemplate and playfully think about communication and connection.
Frequency Festival is produced by Threshold Studios, in partnership with the University of Lincoln and supported using public funding by Arts Council England. The event is driven by a dynamic city wide collaboration of public sector organisations, along with support from the business community.
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www.frequency.org.uk
