At the beginning of lockdown Arts Council England and BBC established a package of funding and support to encourage creative responses to the pandemic, inviting artists and organisations to create cultural work around the idea of social distancing. 25 projects were selected and their work is now beginning to appear.on BBC social platforms and iPlayer.
Watch Home Carnival Queen
A beautiful exploration of UK carnival culture, from the lens of black women and told through dance, music and mas costume. This alternative parade is realised through the streets and gardens of individual black artists – the everyday Queens, dressed in full carnival attire, dancing to original afrobeats and soca-inspired music.
Home Carnival Queen, Somina Fombo
Watch Where I Go (When I Can't Be Where I Am)
Where I Go (When I Can’t Be Where I Am) is a powerful and intimate insight into the isolation of living with a rare, synaesthetic chronic pain condition. It is adapted by the team behind the award-winning theatre show The Shape of the Pain.
Where I Go (When I Can't Be Where I Am) Rachel Bagshaw and China Plate
Watch Sign Night
Sign Night is a poetic conversation in sign language between two star crossed lovers, projected onto buildings in central Bristol. The deaf performers share their dreams for the future from building to building, across the night sky.
Sign Night by Cathy Mager
Watch Reconnect: Digital Raving
Alone and anxious, beatboxer, live looper and theatre-maker SK Shlomo struggles to cope with the pain of bereavement in lockdown until he reconnects with friends, strangers and the music he loves best in a spontaneous ‘remote rave’.
SK Shlomo - Reconnect: Digital Rave
Part Poetry video. Part music video. This experimental short film is a lyrical and musical story told using poetry and beatboxing. Written and directed by Jade Anouka; music composed and performed by Grace Savage.
Jade Anouka and Grace Savage - Her & Her
Watch Say Your Peace
Theresa Lola, the current Young People’s Laureate for London’s, along with two of her predecessors – Caleb Femi and Momtaza Mehri – celebrate what brings them solace during the coronavirus pandemic. Produced by Spread the Word.
Say Your Peace, Spread the Word
Watch Fabula
Fabula is an experimental film by Jordan Baseman that asks questions about our dreams and dream experiences during the coronavirus pandemic.
Fabula by Jordan Baseman
Watch The Bold Fisherman
A poignant and moving documentary by Chloe White. An elderly fisherman reflects on the adaptable nature of the Hastings fishing industry in light of Covid-19.
The Bold Fisherman by Chloe White
Watch No Human Is An Island
A film and song by Tom Hickox, created in lockdown and featuring the Chineke! Orchestra. The film, directed by Grammy-nominated Nicolas Jack Davies, shows each musician performing in 'concert clothes' but in an unmistakably domestic setting.
Tom Hickox No Human Is An Island featuring the Chineke! Orchestra
Watch Swan Lake Bath Ballet
Corey Baker Dance has created a new short film titled Swan Lake Bath Ballet that has taken the worls by storm. Set to Tchaikovsky's famous swan theme, 27 elite dancers from renowned companies across the world perform a modern-day Swan Lake from their own home filled baths.
From Corey Baler Dance - Swan Lake Bath Ballet - Viktorina Kapitonova _Photo by Ryan Capstick
Watch We Are Not The Virus
We Are Not The Virus is a hopeful ode to frontline workers from Michael Jenkins and Blak Wave Productions. An uplifting spoken word film exploring themes of isolation through Black and migrant perspectives in the UK.
We Are Not The Virus written and directed by Michael Jenkins
Watch Flying Home
Flying Home from hip hop dance and theatre creators BirdGang explores self-isolation in the current world pandemic. We meet 6 dancers isolated in conference styled windows. The audience then follows the dancers journey as they embark on a choreographic dance exploring the limitations of their surroundings. The film is about the power of reconnecting with yourself.
BirdGang dancers in BirdGang’s film Flying Home
Watch CAN'T KILL US ALL
This theatrical experience combines Hip hop theatre and film from dance experimentalist Botis Seva, Artistic Director of Far From the Norm. CAN’T KILL US ALL reveals the deterioration of one man’s emotional sanity and physical stability as he confronts life in lockdown.
Botis Seva, Far From The Norm - CAN'T KILL US ALL
Watch Airlock: A Live Action Graphic Novel
Airlock is a live action graphic novel in 3 episodes from imitating the dog. It creatively interacts with the video and audio conferencing platforms that many of us are using during the Covid 19 crisis and explores the themes of isolation, despair and hope. Each episode is a live recording of a single performance made on the conferencing platform. Each person -performers, director, technologists -is working from their own homes.
Airlock: A Live Graphic Novel - imitating the dog
Watch Sofa Dance
30 acrobats from Mimbre physicalize the shared exhaustion, frustration and complications of living within drastically limited space; creating absurdity and beauty while stuck on their sofas. A snapshot of the extraordinary spring of 2020 and how differently we all deal with it, athe film invites viewers to share their own experiences from the comfort of their sofas.
Sofa Dance from acrobatic group Mimbre
Watch How Hard is Waving? Week One
Watch Week Two
Vamos Theatre's How Hard is Waving? is the story of Ryan, alone in lockdown and doing his bestto support his quirky, extended family through video link alone –not to mention keeping his own mental health on track. Playful, comic, and poignant, these non-verbal shorts take us on a journey through fourweeks of daily online meet-ups..
How Hard is Waving? - Vamos Theatre, Culture in Quarantine commissions
Watch Treasure
A family, each member tearing their hair out in isolation, devise a treasure hunt at their home which goes very wrong when a secret is revealed.
Treasure - a film by Nicola Quilter and Robert Del Maestro
More works coming to BBC Arts, BBC Sounds and iPlayer soon....
The commissions - awarded funding from Arts Council England and BBC - have been supported by Battersea Arts Centre, Sadler’s Wells, Opera North, Unlimited and The Space to create their projects which will appear on a range of BBC platforms as part of the organisation’s Culture in Quarantine programming across the summer. Launched by Jonty Claypole, director of BBC Arts at the beginning of lockdown, Culture In Quarantine is designed to bring the arts to UK homes despite arts venue closures, social distancing, and UK-wide lockdowns.
