Lancaster University to host free family festival of music, art, science and history

A two-day festival of art, science, music and fun family activities will uncover the history and research of Lancaster University.

Lancaster University Library will host its Library Festival on September 23 and 24 with talks from Lancaster researchers, exhibitions, workshops and live performances.

Visitors will be able to get hands on with objects from Lancaster Museum and Calligraphy workshops, participate as a citizen scientist in current research, explore Edwardian social media, discover more about the legendary bands who have played at Lancaster University or peer into a cinema from the past in ‘Seeing in the Dark’, a brand-new digital installation.

Both days of the festival will end with an evening of live music and talks from Lancaster staff and researchers, from 6pm to 8.30pm on the Friday and Saturday.

The festival is open to the public, is free, and opens at 9.30am on Friday September 23.

The exhibitions taking place are:

'Seeing in the Dark' - Presented in partnership with Lancaster Arts: Peer into a cinema from the past in a brand-new digital installation from “multimedia daredevils” (The Times) imitating the dog.

Bands that played Lancaster: Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Blondie, and Tina Turner are just some of the legendary acts that played Lancaster University. Find out more about this period at this highly entertaining exhibition.

Disability in Africa: The Disability and Inclusion Africa project is working to improve understandings of the impact of alternative explanations for disability on disabled people, their communities, advocates and policy makers.

Marketplace and I: Previously displayed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, this art exhibition showcases ability ahead of disability and tells of disabled people’s experiences across retail, hospitality, tourism and care services. It includes photos, sculptures, paintings, poetry, music, songs and dance routines.

‘Dessins en liberté’ (Cartoons for freedom): An exhibition of newspaper cartoons on the theme of Freedom of Expression, presented by the institute Français and Courrier international.

Edwardian Postcards: Edwardian postcards were the original social media. The Edwardian Picture Postcard Project at Lancaster University has a collection of over 3,000 cards, many of which involve Lancaster and the Morecambe Bay area. This project revealed much about the travel patterns, social networks and concerns of the age. This exhibition showcases the work of the project which Lancaster University Library, was a partner in developing through our digital collection.

Other activities include song writing workshops, children's stories and Yoga.

Many of the events will also be available online.

For more information and to reserve a place for the evening events of live music and conversation, see here.