National Media Museum, Bradford

What do rock concerts, churches, your shower and the National Media Museum all have in common? In case you missed it, the answer is that they are all likely to host displays of singing this week.

This Thursday, August 21 2008, the National Media Museum in Bradford is to ring with the dulcet tones of more than thirty members of community choirs, and you are invited to sing along.

Organised to mark the museum’s launch of After Hours, a new programme of monthly late-night openings, it is hoped that the mass sing-along will encourage visitors to experience the museum’s current exhibitions in a different way.

"It is the first time the public have been invited to participate in our exhibitions in such an innovative and uplifting way," said Kathryn Blacker, Head of Public Programmes at the National Media Museum.

The repertoire will take its theme from the museum’s two current exhibitions: the first, Live by the Lens, Die by the Lens, is an exploration of the glamorous and often fickle world of film stars, as captured by photographers through the ages.

Icons of the silver screen will be brought to life by the choirs with film standards such as Singin’ In The Rain and Summer Nights.

Greta Garbo arrives incognito 14 August 1947

Sunny Snaps, the second exhibition, is a tribute to the commercial portrait photographers who made their living by snapping tourists in Britain’s seaside resorts. Visitors to the museum who remember holidays before the days of budget flights will remember classics such as ‘Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside’ and ‘Summertime’.

The event is part of a wider initiative called Sing The Nation which will see community choirs across the land holding ‘mass sings’ in libraries and museums. The festival of singing culminates in the UK’s biggest sing-along to mark the arrival of the Olympic torch in London on Sunday.

After Hours will take place on Thursday August 21 2008 between 6pm and 9.30pm. Entry is free. Live by the Lens. Die by the Lens and Sunny Snaps will run until September 28 and August 31 2008 respectively.