A CHOIR made up of a thousand people is being put together to perform at a former mill in Brierfield.

Los Angeles-based artist Suzanne Lacy has been in Pendle to begin work on an ambitious community project.

Suzanne, a pioneer in participatory arts, met some of those interested in taking part at an event at Brierfield Community Centre yesterday.

Working in collaboration with arts regeneration groups Super Slow Way and In-Situ, she is inviting people from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds to join her to discuss their lives and experiences of Pendle and join in a very unique event, Shapes of Water/Sounds of Hope.

Everyone is being invited to take part, whatever their vocal ability or experience. No training is required, just an enjoyment of singing in all its forms is needed.

Suzanne will be drawing on several vocal traditions such as church choirs and folk singing.

The aim is to create a mass participation event later in 2016, in which around 1,00 people from the Pendle area will come together in a unique form of community expression.

The event will take place at Brierfield Mills, which is home to In-Situ, a non-profit artist collective.

Ruth Shorrock, community coordinator at Super Slow Way, is working on developing the project.

She said: "This is an amazing opportunity for people of all walks of life who live in Pendle.

“If we can pull off working with one thousand people it will be a fantastic experience.

"Suzanne Lacy has worked all over the world and is now on our doorstep, which is a real coup for the area. As a resident, as well as working on this, it’s very exciting.”

Suzanne Lacy is an internationally known visual artist whose work includes installations, video and large-scale performances on social themes and urban issues.

She is best known as one of the Los Angeles performance artists who became active in the 1970s and shaped an emergent movement of social engagement in the arts.

Her work ranges from intimate, graphic body explorations to large-scale public performances involving hundreds of performers and thousands of audience members.

She lectures widely, has published over 70 texts of critical commentary, and has exhibited in The Tanks at Tate Modern, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Whitney Museum, the New Museum and P.S. 1 in New York and The Bilbao Museum in Spain.

To get involved in the event visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shapes-of-water-sounds-of-hope-tickets-20753727959.