Navigators Art & Performance

06/05/2026

BACK TO THE GARDEN: Music and words for York Festival of Ideas 2026

This year we've invited some outstanding local performers to celebrate and explore the Festival theme "Place and Space", with a focus on the peaceful, wild, mythical, inspirational green worlds of gardens. There'll be an emphasis on original words and music alongside some well-loved works by familiar names.
Saturday 30th May, 7.30 pm at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York (doors 7 pm).
"Outside-the-box creativity" (BBC Upload)

Featuring:
Storyteller Lara McClure
Dynamic duo Mike Amber & Lola-Mae taking on Joni Mitchell's 'Woodstock'
Poet and novelist Janet Dean
Performance poet Carrieanne Vivianette exploring words and sounds
Alt folk band Sofa Sofa with songs inspired by nature and people, woods, weather, long walks, short thoughts, longing and love:
Charley - vocals, guitar, harmonium
Rich - guitar, vocals, bells, synth
Ayse - violin
Filipe - cello
Adam - drums/percussion

Tickets: £8 in advance, £10 on the door.
Fully accessible venue.

Shoutouts: .zine

28/04/2026

An amazing evening!

28/04/2026

28/04/2026

YO Underground 7 @ City Screen Basement
Saturday 25th April 2026

Three superb acts played to a packed house at the weekend: definitely one of our top gigs in this series.
Weather Balloons: some will know Annie from Fat Spatula - this is her solo project, full of yearning, humour, anger, top tunes and a harmonica. Utterly enchanting.
Joe Douglas Trio: Joe, Louie and Felix played their first gig together, a thrilling set of North African-inspired improvisation with a tangible sense of fun, adventure and unity.
Ben Hopkinson's Synaefonia: a quintet of wind and string players responding to visual projections in Sound.Light.Colour, creating fascinating tapestries of sound.

It was a joy to bring together such an inspiring range of local and regional musicians - and thanks to the warmly appreciative audience too!
More gigs coming on 30th May and 11th July, and further dates in the Autumn. Get in touch if you'd like to play.

Thanks to for audiovisual records and assistance, and Jack Procter for sound engineering.
Shoutouts: .zine
.edstay .manlu

24/04/2026

THIS SATURDAY! YO UNDERGROUND 7
3 incredible acts from York and the region present music to enthral, stimulate and entertain.

Saturday 25th April, 7.30 pm at The Basement, City Screen, York (doors 7 pm).
ADVANCE TICKETS £5 or £8 via https://www.ticketsource.com/navigators-art-performance or £10 on the door after 7 pm.

"Outside-the-box creativity" - BBC Upload

1.
WEATHER BALLOONS
Weather Balloons represents the solo efforts of Leeds' premier soft rock renegade ANNIE PRIOR, sidestepping indie heroes Fat Spatula to return to The Basement underworld with Boschian vignettes and betrayals of guitar music. By moonlight or hot coal she sings of old feeling or burnt terror, new loves, curled spiders, etc. She has a harmonica and a waking dream. Her favourite colour has always been gold.

2.
JOE DOUGLAS TRIO
Hailing from York, JOE DOUGLAS is a multi-instrumentalist performer and producer familiar from open mic events at Kennedy's, The Cat In The Wall, etc. and as bassist for jazz-punk quartet Borgia. This latest project places him behind the drums, leading a new trio. Taking influences from all over the world, Joe has conjured himself a band defined by spontaneity, free improvisation and a passionate disdain for AI music. Audiences should expect a performance of humanity and emotion with a palpable connection between the musicians on stage, who have dedicated their life to this craft.

3.
BEN HOPKINSON & SYNAEFONIA
Ben Hopkinson is a York-based multi-instrumentalist and composer. His Sound.Light.Colour system uses projection mapping, colour coding and moving imagery to communicate musical ideas in real-time to an ensemble of musicians, combining pre-composed material with in-the-moment decisions. The result is a score that is flexible and responsive rather than linear - something that sits between composition, improvisation and live visual art.

Shoutouts: .zine

22/04/2026

YOU 7 ("Outside-the-box creativity" - BBC Upload)
3 incredible acts from York and the region present music to enthral, stimulate, fascinate and provoke!
Saturday 25th April, 7.30 pm at The Basement, City Screen, York (doors 7 pm).
ADVANCE TICKETS £5 or £8 via https://www.ticketsource.com/navigators-art-performance or £10 on the door after 7 pm.

3.
BEN HOPKINSON & SYNAEFONIA
An exploration of alternatives musical languages, funded by the Arts Council

Ben Hopkinson is a York-based multi-instrumentalist and composer. His Sound.Light.Colour system uses projection mapping, colour coding and moving imagery to communicate musical ideas in real-time to an ensemble of musicians, combining pre-composed material with in-the-moment decisions. The result is a score that is flexible and responsive rather than linear - something that sits between composition, improvisation and live visual art.

Violin - Kit Shepherd
Violin - Manlu Du
Oboe / Cor Anglais - Desmond Clarke
Double Bass - Iris Casling
Tenor saxophone / Osmose - Ben Hopkinson

They'll be performing:

Colour in E flat
Musicians respond directly to projected colour

 Water and Electricity
An improvisatory video collage score in three movements:
Drips and Flashes
Rivers and Static
Pylons and Sea

Imperpetuity
A loop-based language for five instruments, each with loops of different lengths.
Danse Macabre 152
Orchestral, apocalyptic rave

 NOTE: The performance will contain flashing imagery.

Shoutouts: .zine

20/04/2026

YO UNDERGROUND 7 ("Outside-the-box creativity" - BBC Upload)
3 incredible acts from York and the region present music to enthral, stimulate, fascinate and provoke!

Saturday 25th April, 7.30 pm at The Basement, City Screen, York (doors 7 pm).
ADVANCE TICKETS £5 or £8 via https://www.ticketsource.com/navigators-art-performance or £10 on the door after 7 pm.

2.
JOE DOUGLAS TRIO - an exhilarating ride into free space via North Africa.
Hailing from York, Joe Douglas is a multi-instrumentalist performer and producer familiar from open mics events at Kennedy's, The Cat In The Wall, etc. and as bassist for jazz-punk quartet Borgia. This latest project places him behind the drums, leading a new Experimental-Jazz trio. Taking influences from all over the world, Joe has conjured himself a band defined by spontaneity, free improvisation and a passionate disdain for AI music. Audiences should expect a performance of humanity and emotion with a palpable connection between the musicians on stage, who have dedicated their life to this craft.

North-African influenced rhythms are cut through by the sweet singing of Louie Hanley-Pir’s tenor saxophone. The Irish-Moroccan is well experienced in realms of non-western music, occasionally providing repeated, hypnotic lines on his Guembri.

Felix Edwards-McStay is based in Kent and is trained in both classical and jazz piano. His percussive, spaciously dynamic approach to the instrument is the glue that sits comfortably between Douglas’s drumming and Hanley-Pir’s saxophone.

Shoutouts: .zine

18/04/2026

YO UNDERGROUND 7 ("Outside-the-box creativity" - BBC Upload)
3 incredible acts from York and the region present music to enthral, stimulate, fascinate and provoke!

Saturday 25th April, 7.30 pm at The Basement, City Screen, York (doors 7 pm).
ADVANCE TICKETS £5 or £8 via https://www.ticketsource.com/navigators-art-performance or £10 on the door after 7 pm.

1.
WEATHER BALLOONS
Weather Balloons represents the solo efforts of Leeds' premier soft rock renegade Annie Prior, sidestepping indie heroes Fat Spatula to return to The Basement underworld with Boschian vignettes and betrayals of guitar music. By moonlight or hot coal she sings of old feeling or burnt terror, new loves, curled spiders, etc. She has a harmonica and a waking dream. Her favourite colour has always been gold.

Shoutouts: .zine

07/04/2026

YO UNDERGROUND #7
Exciting and eclectic left-field sounds from York and the region, including unique acoustic song styles, North African-inspired free jazz, and a collaboration of audiovisual systems with a group of top-notch local musicians. "Outside-the-box creativity" (BBC Upload)
Saturday 25th April, 7.30 pm at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York (doors 7 pm).
Tickets available from £5 in advance / £10 on the door. TicketSource via bit.ly/nav-events or see link in Instagram bio.
Fully accessible venue.

Featuring :
Weather Balloons - Leeds' premier soft rock renegade Annie Prior, singing by moonlight or hot coal of old feeling or burnt terror, new loves, curled spiders, etc. She has a harmonica and a waking dream. Her favourite colour has always been gold.

Joe Douglas Trio - an exhilarating ride into free space via North Africa, driven by local legend Joe on drums, Felix Edwards-McStay on keyboards and Louie Hanley-Pir on sax and guembri.

Ben Hopkinson's Synaefonia - projected colour and moving imagery communicate musical ideas in real time to a highly creative quintet:
Violin - Kit Shepherd
Violin - Manlu Du
Oboe / Cor Anglais - Desmond Clarke
Double Bass - Iris Casling
Tenor saxophone / Osmose - Ben Hopkinson
NOTE: The performance will contain flashing imagery.

Shoutouts: .zine

21/02/2026

A LABOUR OF LOVE - A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY
We're proud to present this new exhibition celebrating two late great York painters:
PENNY MARROWS & J.P. WARRINER
Two wonderful creative artists of vibrant but contrasting styles and subject matter.

Sunday 8th February till Friday 6th March at City Screen Picturehouse café and gallery, York
FREE. Fully accessible venue.
Open every day from 10.30 am till closing

PENNY MARROWS was born in York in 1951.
She trained as a sculptor, and taught art in prisons in London. She returned to Yorkshire, and over the next thirty years she painted and drew portraits, trees and landscapes, one of which includes a self portrait as a heroic winged figure. She died from pancreatic cancer in 2023.
Penny's work is curated by her husband, York artist and teacher Timothy Morrison. You can see photos of the artist and her paintings, drawings and sketchbooks at https://www.funeralguide.co.uk/obituaries/114737

J.P. (John) WARRINER is thought to have been born in Ireland in 1935 but lived most his life in York, where he died in 2019. He has no surviving family or partner.
Accounts indicate he was a brilliant and kind man, and a grandfather figure to troubled local youth. Having tragically lost both his sons, he took to painting to heal.
His work is researched and curated by Cath Dickinson of notionsvintageyork.com, 6 Aldwark Mews YO1 7PJ.

Shoutouts: .zine