What's On: Online art and drive-in gigs

This month we bring you a medley of sultry Latin dance, live drive-in concerts with top UK artists, inspiring online art exhibitions and the ultimate Cambridge treasure hunt. Enjoy!

World Mambo Champion Karen Hauer and fellow Strictly professional Gorka Marquez will bring their dynamic Firedance show to Cambridge next spring. The 2020 UK tour was cut short owing to the global pandemic, but the pair will hotstep to Cambridge Corn Exchange on March 2. Their breathtaking show follows two Latin dancers from rival Houses, who meet at The Festival of Fire. Fuelled by passion, bravado and pulsing rhythms, there’s an instant connection as they lock eyes. Through an exhilarating fusion of Argentine Tango, Flamenco, Contemporary, Paso Doble, Samba and Salsa, eclectic live music and hypnotic rhythms, we see a passionate affair unfold. With flamboyant costumes, elaborate routines and a soundtrack taking in iconic numbers such as In The Air Tonight, Bad Romance, and the infectious Bambeleo, expect a fiery and fabulous feast for the senses.

Book tickets at cambridgelive.org.uk

Some of the biggest names in UK music are set to perform live at Newmarket Racecourse this summer, thanks to a new drive-in format. Promoters Utilita Live from the Drive-In will be running a series of concerts from your car, with performances from Dizzee Rascal, Bjorn Again, Embrace, Tony Hadley, Gary Numan, Sigala, Sheku & Isata Kanneh-Mason, The Streets and Russell Watson.

There’ll be around 300 cars per show, with concert-goers allocated a dedicated area alongside their vehicle to set up folding chairs and watch the concert. Sounds like quite a roadtrip!

Book tickets at livenation.co.uk/utilitalivefromthedrivein

Lure little ones away from screens with the promise of an outdoor adventure! Treasure Trails offer a unique socially distanced family day out, uncovering Cambridge’s hidden secrets. The self-guided treasure trails are designed for ages six to 106, with various locations including Jesus Green, Midsummer Common and Parker’s Piece. The trails cost £9.99, are suitable for groups of up to five and last around two hours, with a set of fiendish clues, set on a circular route. Don’t forget your deerstalker!

Download the Treasure Trails at treasuretrails.co.uk

Arts and activity packs, celebrating Cambridge’s rich cultural offerings, are being distributed to thousands of children. Thanks to a partnership between Cambridge City Council and the city’s leading cultural institutions, including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Folk Festival, and Kettle’s Yard, young people are able to learn about Cambridge’s major cultural venues. This is especially important for those households with limited digital access. The council is distributing 500 packs every fortnight for 12 weeks, via Cambridge’s community resilience networks and food hubs, established in response to Covid-19.

If there’s one positive to come out of Covid-19, it could be the value of good neighbours, there to hand deliver food or say ‘Hello’ during a Thursday key workers’ clap.

But if you’d like to know your neighbours a wee bit more, listen up! Cambridge Junction is collaborating with arts collective, Scottee & Friends, to help the residents of one street become better acquainted. If chosen, that street will work with Scottee & Friends to create estate agent style placards that will sit outside each house - listing the occupants’ hobbies, passions and interests. If you are interested drop Matty a line on matty@scottee.co.uk, with your name, postcode and a little information on why you want to know your neighbours better, by August 7. The installation will be up by the autumn for all to admire.

Find out more about Cambridge Junction at junction.co.uk

There may still be time to enjoy Cambridge Folk Festival at Home 2020 - a host of special activities and online performances taking place July 30-August 2. There’ll be exclusive video content from artists, social media opportunities for audience interaction, and Cambridge-curated playlists. Among the highlights will be BBC Folk Singer of the Year Bella Hardy leading the Cambridge Folk Festival’s Virtual Choir; the Songlines Interview, featuring Songlines Magazine editor Jo Frost in conversation with Fatoumata Diawara, which will be available to watch on Facebook, as well as talks, workshops and storytelling.

Find out more at cambridgelive.org.uk/folk-festival

During lockdown the Museum of Cambridge has been working hard to create online resources for culture vultures. These include its first online exhibition, ‘Drawing Connections. . .at the edges: Arts in Prisons’, which launched mid-July. Co-curated with Rebecca Lindum Greene, Artist in Residence at the University’s Institute of Criminology, the exhibition illustrates the transformative effect art can have on people serving jail sentences. Staff also helped design online learning resources for primary school children, plus the Museum’s Capturing Cambridge website – a type of Google Maps, but for local history – has surged in popularity, as visitors research the history of specific streets or homes. The Museum of Cambridge is due to reopen this month.

Find out more at museumofcambridge.org.uk

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