A POPULAR Burnham-on-Sea theatre will be showcasing work from 10 local artists in an exhibition to mark the impact of lockdown.

The Princess Theatre and Arts Centre is commissioning a visual arts exhibition of local artists who will be producing a body of work responding to the need for human contact during lockdown.

The exhibition, Contact: A local lockdown visual arts exhibition, has been funded by the Arts Council, will see each artist receive 150 to create a body of work through whatever medium they choose.

All the artists involved in the exhibition have to live in Somerset.

Beccy Armory who is leading the creative team at the Princess, said: “We have all missed human contact whether it be verbal, physical or social. Lockdown has touched and changed all of our lives in many different ways and this new normal doesn’t show any signs of disappearing soon.

"With Contact, we wanted to create something very personal to Somerset especially for the Princess, something that marks this strange period in our lifetimes.”

"The Princess has been part of Somerset’s landscape for more than 150 years. The Theatre and Arts Centre has seen two world wars and many other landmark events, including the coronation of a number of Royals but has only ever been closed for renovation.

“Since our closure due to the pandemic we have realised, like many other arts centre’s around the country, our work has to go online to engage our audiences.

"We have been delighted by the response to our online gallery exhibitions and are hugely grateful to the artists who have agreed to their work being shown in this way. We have already had some incredible expressions of interest for this new exhibition and feel very lucky that there will be a variety of different practices.”

The Princess is looking for artists to take part in the exhibition and the deadline for expressions of interests is July 31.

To apply email visualarts@theprincesstheatre.co.uk.