As we adjust to a new normal, YPIA Regional Ambassador for Gloucestershire, Grace Green, takes a look at all that's been going on in the region and highlights some of the innovative ways in which local arts and cultural organisations are adapting.

Music and more in the park – The Cheltenham Trust have launched a new take-away café and regular live music sessions at the Pittville Pump Room, which overlooks Pittville Park. In July, a strip of the car park was even marked out with socially distanced dancing areas, meaning locals can feel free to have a boogie whilst enjoying free live music every weekend.

A new way to borrow books - Library services across Gloucestershire are offering click & collect as well as ‘off the shelf’ recommendation services, if you fancy mixing things up a bit, but there are also plenty of eBooks and Audiobooks available too if you’d prefer instant access or simply can’t get out to the library.

Literature Festival goes digital - The Times & The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival went ahead in October, but not quite as usual, the festival was live-streamed for the first time from socially-distanced events, meaning anyone with a wifi connection could access the festival for free.

Community Choir gone virtual – Local Arts Manager Lucy Wilcox who leads The Venture: White City, Community Choir in Gloucester, has taken the choir online. The choir is free to join and no previous singing experience is required, just get in touch and get singing a range of traditional and popular covers.

Connecting through art - Strike a Light curated an inspiring list of experiences to take part in including live theatre over the phone and a community art gallery in a decommissioned phone box.

Creativity in the community - The Gloucester Culture Trust brought a large-scale community art instillation to 20 locations around Gloucester, entitled Of Earth and Sky. The work was led by internationally renowned artist Luke Jerram, who also exhibited Gaia at Gloucester Cathedral, after the success of Museum of the Moon in 2019. The Gloucester Culture Trust’s 2020 Creation Fund is also supporting 8 new creative projects including community art kits; a playwriting course; a digital, community postcard exhibition; short films; a large-scale painting; masked figurehead sculptures and a stop motion tutorial for rainbow bunting which will be displayed around Gloucester Cathedral.

Taking theatre outside - The Barn Theatre, Cirencester took theatre outdoors with BarnFest.

Poolside cinema – Open air and drive-in cinemas have been popping up throughout Gloucestershire, but would you have expected to see one at the local pool? Sandford Lido, Cheltenham hosted sold-out screenings over the summer.

If choral music is your thing - Check out what the oldest non-competitive classical music festival in the world (the 300 year old Three Choirs Festival) has been up to during what would have been festival week: Virtual Performance of Vaughan Williams’ Antiphon

Just keep smiling - Gloucester Community Building Collective are installing Smiles per hour signs throughout Gloucester to inspire more smiles in the community.

If you’d like to hear more about what YPIA are getting up to in Gloucestershire, just drop Grace a line at grace@ypia.co.uk . Don’t forget to check the YPIA website and subscribe for information on all of our virtual events taking place over the course of the season.

If you think we’ve missed anything off the list, drop Grace a line!