A huge thank you to everyone who attended our 10th year anniversary of Frequency Festival! You made this year’s festival so special for all of us.

The theme for Frequency 2021 was ‘Connection‘ – to place, people, environment, self. Culture plays a huge part in encouraging us to explore our public spaces and to connect with one another and with the city once again.

We are so thankful for all the unwavering support from our partners and supporters, without which we wouldn’t have been able to realise our ambition to put on Frequency in our 10th anniversary year to inspire, engage and connect with our audiences when it is most needed.

Read more from our Festival Producers on our Threshold Studios blog.

Here are some highlights from Frequency Festival 2021

WE-Hope public art work premiered

The premiere of WE-Hope‘s public digital artwork and live choir performance took people’s breath away on Thursday evening on Cornhill Square. WE-Hope celebrates the resilience of those experiencing, living with and navigating migration and separation.

Mesmerising digital visuals by artist Zach Walker (Make Amplify), combined with a haunting choral composition by acclaimed composer and vocal artist Juliet Russell, were joined by Birchwood Sings and Nettleham Choir, creating a moving experience which honours these emotional memories.

Artists addressed the climate emergency

Artist Duncan Speakman transported festival visitors with his award-winning immersive audio walk, Only Expansion.

Putting on the headphones with customised electronics, sounds around you are captured and manipulated. Field recordings of climate collapse blend with your surroundings and you begin to hear the city as if it were under water or beaten by dry desert winds. A visceral and poetic reflection on what it means to live on a planet in crisis

“A transcendental experience. As I became more drawn in, I became lost in my own world yet feeling a context bigger than me. An unforgettable journey I will remember forever.”

“A cinematic experience that thrust my home town into a plethora of outstanding soundscapes. Absolutely incredible and poignant. Puts the extraordinary in the ordinary!”

 – Quotes from visitors to Only Expansion at Frequency Festival 2021

Digital Atmosphere by London based artist and technology practice, Studio Above&Below, gave our environment a voice. Ahead of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference, this thought-provoking mixed reality installation encouraged audiences to look at air pollution in a completely different way.

Here are some positive steps you can take to help the environment:

• Visit the photographic exhibition, Our Plastic Ocean at The Collection until 19 Dec. The exhibition is accompanied by further info and resources provided by Plastic Free Lincoln, a community organisation working towards plastic free community status for the City of Lincoln.
• Download Earth Hero – a climate change app that enables you to monitor your environmental impact and make changes to decrease your carbon footprint.
• Visit City of Lincoln Council’s website for some more ideas.

Hidden stories of Lincoln’s history were told

Supported by funding from High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme, Digital Democracies commissioned artist, Thomas Buckley, told heart-tugging stories of those who live or have lived in Lincoln through a multi-sensory installation. The artist and storyteller invited everyone to interact with the installation and uncover the hidden memories inside everyday items, including the love story of John Bee and his wife.

‘’John Bee was a celebrated organist, his wife wrote his biography titled “The honeysuckle and the bee”. I’ve let a honeysuckle branch curl through a cinema floor, at the base of an old wardrobe. When you interact, the sculpture becomes an organ you can play.’’ – Thomas Buckley

Share your memories

For our 10 year anniversary, we invite our visitors, partners, volunteers, interns and artists throughout the past decade to share personal memories, photos and experiences of Frequency.

Share your Frequency Festival memories using #Freq10Years on social media or email us.

We are looking forward to reflecting on feedback and listening to our audiences over the next coming months, as we start planning our return of Frequency Festival in 2023. We hope to see you there!