Lauryn Lockyear

Our initial brief asked us to create something that celebrated the city's culture. This resonated with me; as someone born and raised in Chichester, I found in my adolescence that my cultural experience of the city was lacking, especially regarding music. For #Saveourvenues I wanted to bring the audiences' awareness to the decline of the live music scene in Chichester and its lack of diversity.

This map is a representation of my live music viewings in Chichester over the 25 years I've lived there - I've depicted these buildings in green. The yellow crosses show the rest of the venues that are open in the city, but do not hold live music (this being a band of 2 and more people & more than just DJ sets) and centre around mostly being food establishments. Finally, the red marks pinpoint venues that once existed and have now closed.

In this piece I wanted to celebrate my cultural experiences in Chichester, but also to question how venues might engage with new generations of its residents to bring back some life to the city.