The Met are delighted to have been chosen as one of the #80for80 venues across the UK, taking part in Our Freedom: Then and Now, led by Future Arts Centres. This project marks the 80th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War, with exciting community events taking place across the country, reflecting on what Freedom means in 2025.
Members of The Met team were proud to attend the launch of Our Freedom: Then and Now at Contact in June, where we were invited on stage to share our exciting plans for Bury and to highlight our town’s rich military heritage. Amongst a fantastic line-up of artists and venues from across the UK, we were delighted to be joined by Donna Haslam, local landlady of the Two Tubs pub, who spoke passionately to the audience about the inspiring military initiatives she leads at her local armed forces pub. We’re pleased to be working more closely with Donna and our Veterans’ community as part of the project.
Bury is a community with a very strong connection to the military and military heritage, being the home of the Lancashire Fusiliers who served at home, in North Africa, Sicily and mainland Italy. After a couple of months of planning, The Met is now underway with the delivery of a music-based community participatory programme in Bury. We are excited to be working with three local community groups as part of this project, including local Veterans at the Two Tubs Pub, Global Majority communities with ADAB’s Music Group, and LGBTQI+ young people who are part of the Proud Trust FROGS.
The creative processes will be tailored to each individual group, who will each take part in a series of creative activities that explore notions of Freedom, before choosing a professional musician from our Musicians Menu to develop an original song inspired by their ideas.
The musicians will be invited to perform their work at a live music event at the Met, taking place on Thursday 30th October 2025, in which all the community groups will be invited to experience. This event will also be filled with performances from local community choirs and music groups, a special evening dedicated to celebrating the voices, stories, and collective ideas of Freedom with communities in Bury.
Delivery at the Two Tubs begins next week with our local Veterans’ community, and we’re looking forward to uncovering stories from Bury’s rich military history. This marks the beginning of a meaningful journey to deepen our connection with our local communities and explore what freedom means to them today.
You can find out more about the project nationally here: https://ourfreedom.org.uk/
Stay tuned for more updates throughout our project delivery!