Regeneration and more creative opportunities for the town is at the heart of the Lowestoft Cultural Strategy.
Launched in October 2020, the first ever cultural strategy for Lowestoft centres around a five year vision.
It said: "Our 2025 vision - Lowestoft will become a vibrant and energised town with every resident enjoying and taking part in arts, heritage and culture."
First Light Festival
After tens of thousands of people flocked to the south beach in 2019 to enjoy the First Light Festival during the summer solstice, a "weekend to remember" was marked in June as First Light 2022 saw the return of Britain's only non-stop beach festival.
Organised by First Light CIC, tens of thousands of people attended the two-day First Light Festival with "more people" attending than in 2019.
Plans are already under way for the future, an East Suffolk Council spokesman said: "First Light Festival CIC and East Suffolk Council are working to deliver an even more impressive and impactful event in 2023, subject to securing further Arts Council funding."
East Point Pavilion
In June, the transformed East Point Pavilion reopened as a new seafront food hall.
It was revamped with £720,000 from the government’s Towns Fund and is owned by East Suffolk Council, and operated by First Light CIC.
This weekend, East Point Pavilion will host its first ever beer festival over the August bank holiday weekend, with locally sourced drinks, live music and family activities taking place at the iconic seafront site.
The free-to-enter East Pint Beer Fest will be the first to take place since the pavilion reopened.
Running from 10am until 11pm on Saturday, August 27 and Sunday, August 28, the festival will emphasise the best beers Suffolk has to offer.
East Point Pavilion also hosts a number of street food traders, with Oishii Kitchen, Tres Hermanas and Black Dog Pizza joined by Rock the Kasbah - who started serving Moorish middle eastern street food at the pavilion this month.
The Black Dog Deli coffee kiosk also recently opened, and the council spokesman added: "First Light Festival CIC is also in the early stages of planning for a produce/makers’ market in September, an Oktoberfest event and a Christmas programme of events.
"East Point Pavilion has been hosting a number of smaller drop-in events, meetings and workshops, which this week included Access Community Trust’s mental health drop-ins, and Fight Klub - a fitness/music class."
New Cultural Quarter
![Lowestoft Journal: The vision for the Battery Green area of Lowestoft.]( "Lowestoft Journal: The vision for the Battery Green area of Lowestoft.")
The vision for the Battery Green area of Lowestoft. (Image: LDA Design and Neubau Architecture Ltd)
In May, the first glimpse of how a new £14.7m cultural hub for Lowestoft could look was revealed.
With Lowestoft awarded £24.9m from the government's £3.6bn Towns Fund last year for five key projects in the heart of the town, a new online tendering tool gave developers a chance to put forward their bids.
One of the key projects - a new Cultural Quarter - has £14.7m earmarked to be spent, and a vision of how it could look was unveiled with a new artist's impression.
The project would involve upgrades to the Marina Theatre, demolition of the Battery Green car park to build a "new, vibrant building to support the performing arts" in its place, as well as commercial and leisure facilities.
Theatres
The town's theatres - the Marina Theatre, Seagull Theatre and Players Theatre - all welcome tens of thousands of audiences annually to their theatre productions and cinema.
Last month, work began on a new £300,000 development to extend The Seagull Theatre in Pakefield, Lowestoft.
It comes after the not for profit arts venue on Morton Road received a grant of more than £240,000 from Arts Council England’s Capital Investment Programme in May.
Management at the theatre said it would use the money to expand and improve accessibility by developing its building to support more local people.
Art
From Banksy murals, to an art trail commissioned by Suffolk Wildlife Trust, street art and recently installed graffiti art on long-term empty buildings.
The world-famous street artist Banksy visited Lowestoft last summer and created four murals in the town.
Nationally renowned street artist ATM is due to return to Lowestoft soon to team up with Suffolk Wildlife Trust once more and create the seventh in a series of spectacular murals as part of a graffiti art trail.
The trail, which was commissioned by Suffolk Wildlife Trust, began in October 2018 with the aim of bringing wildlife into the town by showcasing marshland species that can be seen at the Carlton Marshes reserve.
Recently, temporary art installations have been created to transform an empty space.
Artworks have been installed on the vacant former Westgate/Beales department store in Lowestoft.
The art by Matt Jones @lunartikjones has turned the empty property into a temporary art space.
Last month, a series of stunning portraits were unveiled on the front of a prominent vacant building.
As work continues on a scheme to turn the historic former Royal Court Hotel on London Road South in Lowestoft into 15 flats and a café, Kirkley businessman and accomplished portrait artist Desmond Baldry teamed up with the owner of the building, Safdar Khan, to brighten up the area.
A series of artworks, featuring familiar faces who all have links with Lowestoft, have gone on the front windows before being displayed inside the building once it is completed.
With street artworks cropping up across Lowestoft, displays, exhibitions and showcases have proved popular.
Now open for use by exhibitors, artists, performers and for community events, The Grit has opened in Lowestoft.
The Grit - Lowestoft Centre for the Arts and Heritage - is now open for bookings at its base in the old Court buildings on Old Nelson Street.
Britten statue
Fundraising is under way as part of a community project that aims to install a statue of Benjamin Britten in his hometown.
Just yards away from where the world famous composer, conductor and pianist was born, and where he drew his musical inspiration from, a team of locals are aiming to install a statue of the young composer - as a boy - on the seafront that inspired his music.
The Britten as a Boy statue committee - which includes Lowestoft-born broadcaster and children’s author Zeb Soanes and a team of passionate locals - said almost £100,000 is needed to be raised for the sculpture.
To show your support for the project, visit its website.
New Taco Bell
Work is under way as a US giant prepares to open its first restaurant in Lowestoft.
Last month, Taco Bell were given approval to unveil a new branch on London Road North - more than a year after McDonald's had departed Lowestoft town centre.
The American-based chain of fast food restaurants that specialises in Mexican-inspired cuisine has started work inside the former McDonald's restaurant on the main approach to Lowestoft town centre - which had been in the town for more than 35 years when it closed in April last year.
The Salty Crow
A fully vegan café has opened its doors in Lowestoft.
Two weeks ago The Salty Crow opened in the former Lowestoft Electrical building, which Banksy famously used for his artwork last year.
Offering a menu packed full of flavour, the new vegan café has welcomed eager customers who have been excited to try out a whole host of new flavours as it is open Thursdays through to Sundays.
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