YOUR CHANCE TO TAKE PART 

We believe everyone has a story to tell and our work with young people and community groups aims to give confidence and skills for everyone to tell theirs.

From our popular Youth Theatre groups to working with refugees and the over 50s, we work with a wide range of people bringing creativity to lives of thousands of people in Bolton every year.

Find out more about our creative opportunities.

The Spring Term will run from the week beginning 12 January until the week beginning 23 March, excluding the week beginning 16 February which is half-term.

AWAAZ COMMUNITY EXHIBITION 

This winter we hosted our final event as part of our Awaaz South Asian Arts Program. We held a beautiful exhibition made up of images from Bolton's South Asian communities and heard many of the stories behind them. The exhibition will be going across to Creatives Now to join their Belonging in Bolton project.

We talked about the amazing elements that made the Awaaz Festival and the various workshops people had enjoyed participating in including yoga, calligraphy, creative writing, dancing, tabla, embroidery and much more.

"The event highlighted the importance of storytelling and sharing memories in various art forms, not only to keep remembering them but also as a way to preserve history, culture and heritage."

A big thank you to all of our community connectors - we look forward to working with you in the new year! 

If you'd like to find out more, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Niparun Nessa - Community Engagement Lead
Niparun.Nessa@octagonbolton.co.uk

PUT BIG LIGHT ON 

Did you make it to Put Big Light On 2025? There were just over 4900 attendees at this year's Light Festival. As part of the festival we commissioned a piece of art, in partnership with Bolton Council and Things That Go On Things, that we showcased in our Studio. 'Wave' combined painting, sculpture, projection mapping, and soundscapes inspired by Bolton’s urban and natural textures.

Alongside our exhibition of 'Wave' we held Story Makers sessions based around the story of 'Little Glow' written by Katie Sahota and published by Owlet Press. Through she power of storytelling children and their families from across Bolton went on a magical adventure to discover different celebrations of light within our communities. 

Put Big Light On - Story Makers was the most popular storytelling event and in your top 5 attended events of all year!