ARTS & COMMUNITY
ARTS & COMMUNITY
ARTS & COMMUNITY
ARTS & COMMUNITY
SOUTHSIDE AS A TALENT INCUBATION
THE ‘HOMEGROWN’ PROGRAMME, LINCOLNSHIRE WIDE
Enabling wellbeing through arts, cultural, community, and heritage experiences is what Southside, and apparently our activities boost social bonds, and build emotional resilience through shared creative and cultural experiences. Did you know that engaging with your local culture and heritage is estimated to contribute £8 billion annually to the UK economy through measurable health benefits, effectively providing each participant with a value of approximately £1,000 per year? *
What we know is that we can all feel overwhelmed by the pace of modern life, and for some lonely, but increasingly credible research is providing insights into how we can find wellbeing through the arts and heritage activities. It offers a way of taking back your story, or reframing your life, strengthening your mental fortitude, and fostering a deeper sense of belonging amongst your neighbours, co-workers, family, social group, and community.
* Frontier Economics. (November 2024). Culture and Heritage Capital: Monetising the impact of culture and heritage on health and wellbeing London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
AS OF 2026, SOUTHSIDE HAS HELPED 120+ LINCOLNSHIRE-BASED ARTISTS & MUSICIANS
Grassroots music plays a vital role in engaging local as well as national talent, raising aspiration and facilitating the delivery of musical experiences. To support the transition of local artists and off-stage professionals into sustainable careers, we have been helping on-stage talent to move from local open-mic nights to local paid gigs at Southside to regional booking and national promotion by:
Programming events specifically featuring local, regional, and emerging artists.
Continually increasing the number of gigs per year dedicated to original music or young, diverse, and emerging talent.
Local acts progressing from support slots to headline shows or moving from small audience shows to larger ones as the supporting act.
Running skills development workshops and live gig experience opportunities
You might also be interested in Southside’s Jam Night and Junior Jam sessions.
ANNUAL LINCOLN MUSIC & DRAMA FESTIVAL
The Lincoln Music & Drama Festival (LMDF) has been running for over 90 years and has been a catalyst for national and international professional performers, from Lincolnshire. It has helped hone the presentation and life skills of thousands of children and young people.
The Festival closed in 2024 but we relaunched it in March 2026 with a new website and hosting the classes at Southside. There were over 500 participants and a joyous Festival concert with prizegiving.
The 2027 Festival will provide a broader range of classes this year, as we now have a group of committed LMDF volunteers, adjudicators, and local sponsors.
LAMBSTAIL YOUTH THEATRE (LYT) PARTNERSHIP
“There is a critical unmet need for structured young people’s drama and non-musical theatre performance in Greater Lincoln. We know that many schools are reluctant to stage Shakespearean plays and other challenging elements of the dramatic canon. This is why we have supported, wholeheartedly, Lambstail Youth Theatre.”
Colin Webb, CEO, Acoustic Nations Live CIC.
Southside has provided a ‘free’ home and professional production expertise support for Lambstail Youth Theatre’s weekly sessions, production rehearsals, and stage productions for over 3 years. LYT stages three productions each year, with some being full length plays.
Each year they are racking up successes such as company members reaching the final of the English-Speaking Union “Performing Shakespeare” Competition, and in June 2026 a second place in the National Youth Monologue Competition. LYT is one of only 10 youth companies performing new commissioned plays at the Nottingham Playhouse in April 2026, as part of the National Theatre’s Connections Festival.
This partnership resulted in a successful Arts Council England grant in April 2026, which has secured LYT and provides funds towards costs and bursaries to young people struggling to afford to engage with the theatre company.
LYT was set up to be a company which is accessible to all, regardless of family income, language or societal barriers. The plan has never been to send all the young participants off to a career in the Arts, but to engender and nurture confidence, resilience, self-esteem, respect for and empathy with others – qualities which are invaluable throughout life.
“Finding Lambstail has been wonderful! Our sons have been members of various drama groups in Lincoln and, although they enjoyed their time with them, they were frustrated by their strong focus on musicals. They wanted to find a group that allowed them to take part in more traditional theatre productions and drama, especially Shakespeare, and Lambstail has been exactly that.” LYT Parent.
https://www.facebook.com/p/Lambstail-Youth-Theatre-61553365950047/
HOMEGROWN PROJECT
Grassroots music plays a vital role in engaging local as well as national talent, raising aspiration and facilitating the delivery of musical experiences. To support the transition of local artists and off-stage professionals into sustainable careers, Southside have been helping on-stage talent to move from local open-mic nights to local paid gigs at Southside to regional booking and national promotion. So how have we been helping our regional talented artists and bands? By offering to:
Programme events specifically featuring local, regional, and emerging artists playing their own music.
Increasing the number of gigs per year dedicated to original music to this diverse and emerging talent.
Artists and bands progressing from support slots to headline shows or moving from small audience shows to larger ones as the supporting act.
Running skills development workshops and live gig experience opportunities.
Introductions to a trusted record producer that will steer, produce, and record an artist / band's EP (Extended Play).
Filming and audio recording their live performances for the artists use and then editing into videos that are uploaded onto Southside’s YouTube site and social media.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjEcAurDWpmcGdmtldZ7f5w
Arts Council England have supported the Homegrown project to date with two grants.
SOUTHSIDE’S JUNIOR JAM SESSIONS
In early 2024 we launched a free monthly adult jam session, and this has grown to regularly attracting 35 people (including the audience). Young people started to attend, so we asked them whether they would be interested in a ‘Junior Jam’ programme. We had concerns about them attending the Jam Night sessions with alcohol being sold and sometimes coming along without a parent or a guardian.
The ‘Junior Jam’ was eventually launched in October 2025 and attracts over 15 children and young people each month, plus an audience. The sessions are run by two DBS checked multi-instrument musicians who are in at least one band, and one is a music teacher, the other a sound engineer. These Music Leads believe that by teaching children an instrument in a band setting, encourages peer to peer learning, active listening, and patience with themselves and bandmates.
The sessions are welcoming and informal, with all skill levels making music and developing the natural talents of the young participants. Steered by the expert Music Leads music is used as the point of interest to celebrate making music together, nurture talent, inspire creativity, build consistency, and trusting relationships resulting in the young people engaging with each other in a way that feels natural.
To make it straightforward and non-pressurised there is no ‘sign-up’ required to participate, and Southside provides a full backline of drums, amps, PA and microphones, and some guitars and an electronic keyboard.
We have fully funded Junior Jam from its inception but now have carved out some time to start applying for grants to grow this super opportunity for children and young people in the region. We want to grow Junior Jam to offer structured workshops during the school holidays, two Junior Jam festivals a year, buy some new children friendly instruments, and be able to offer Junior Jam sessions bi-weekly. Watch this space…..
(August 2026)
THE UKRAINIAN CULTURAL CENTRE LINCOLN
Since December 2024 Southside has welcomed Lincolnshire’s Ukrainian refugees by supporting the Ukrainian Cultural Centre Lincoln (UCCL) annual traditional Christmas festivities, and other social gatherings such as discos, and their independence celebration events. The wonderful festive event is the highlight with around 150 children, young people, and adults attending a sit-down traditional meal, prepared by their community, who are entertained by the Lincoln Ukrainian Choir, and Saint Nicholas makes an appearance.
There are now over 1,000 Ukrainian refugees living in Lincolnshire since the war started on 24 February 2022. The UCCL is a community hub based at St Mary-le-Wigford Church Hall on St Mary's Street in central Lincoln (next to the railway station). It provides support, workshops, and social gatherings for Ukrainian refugees and families living across Lincolnshire.
Contact: UCCL is reachable via email at ukrainianculturalcenterlincoln@gmail.com or call 07757 722363.
DIASPORA AND WORLD LIVE MUSIC AT SOUTHSIDE
Since Southside opened, we have been plugging a vital gap in the live music offered in Greater Lincoln and Lincolnshire, by providing excellent local and regional grassroots artists and bands paid opportunities to perform their original music, from a broad range of genres. These types of artists often do not have the opportunity to visit Lincoln to perform, and it is extremely important to us, our local communities and existing audiences that such live performances occur at Southside.
We will often film and audio record these live performances, so the acts have edited / unedited footage of their live performances for them to use for free. We will also edit and upload videos to our YouTube channel and our website of these live gigs.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjEcAurDWpmcGdmtldZ7f5w
This ongoing programme of hosting world and diaspora music is sometimes supported by Arts Council England.
You may also be interested in Southside’s ‘Homegrown’ programme that supports regional music talent with professional on-stage and off-stage professional skills and experience and paying gigs.
(August 2026)
COFFEE & CARE WEEKLY SESSIONS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ST KATHERINE’S CARE
The ‘Coffee & Care’ sessions started in January 2024 and has grown to regularly have 25 people chatting, drinking coffee and tea, eating donuts, and playing a couple of rounds of Bingo and ending with a raffle. Friendships have blossomed in a caring and safe environment, as well as on occasion seeking advice on caring for a loved one or friend, and their experience of navigating a complicated care system. Last year Southside organised a Christmas three courses lunch with a ‘sing along’ pianist.
Coffee & Care is supported by St Katherine’s Care Limited and Southside. We also received a small grant from the Shared Prosperity Fund in 2025.
LIFE DRAWING IN COLLABORATION WITH LOCAL ARTIST, TOM HUMBY
These monthly Life Drawing classes are supported by Southside and in collaboration with local artist Tom Humby. These untutored sessions are open to people of all abilities, and each month different curated music is played, with posing times varying from 2 to 15 minutes. Sometimes there is a themed event to enjoy such drawing dogs rather than people. There is also bar for snacks and a drink.
All art supplies are provided such as paper, pencils, pens, chalk, charcoal, boards to lean on.
It was my first time at a life drawing event. I can’t draw but was looking for a fun social event. There were about 20 of us of all ages and artistic abilities. The model posed and we drew; each pose held for between 2 and 12 mins. I had a great time (there’s a bar) and the lady I sat next to, who could draw really well was chatty and kind about my complete lack of ability. At the interval, most people wandered around chatting and looking at the sometimes awe inspiring art of others. This is a gentle, fun and artistic night where you need zero skills, just a zest to try something different. I’ll be back!
(Posted by David on 13/05/2026)
https://www.facebook.com/p/southside-life-drawing-100093250422403/
(August 2026)
