LANCASTER arts organisation Folly is celebrating the expansion of its premises with a re-launch party.

With the opening up of the ground floor the Castle Park building offers many possibilities for a varied programme of events, courses, workshops.

There will also be a caf with internet access and informal meeting area, open to the public. Folly also plans to continue actively working in the community with a variety of groups and organisations.

They will be hosting a major re-launch party on Friday, January 24 from 7-9pm. This event is free and open to the public. It will give people the opportunity to view the new space, meet a variety of artists and join us for a glass of wine.

This event coincides with the preview night of 'Vancouver Video', an innovative exhibition of video work from Vancouver, Canada. Visiting Canadian artists Tim Lee and Robert Kozinuk and curator Glenn Alteen of 'grunt gallery' will be there for the event.

Photographer Helen Burrow will also be previewing an exhibition of her stunning photography from the Carnforth Oral History Project.

A special addition to the evening will be a performance by Lancaster based artist Hester Reeve. Her performance, entitled 'Video (videre-vidi-visum)', is described as "a compelling and beautifully disturbing subversion of today's pop star industry. A loud girl from 'nowhere' petrifies the 'girls aloud' of the TV somewhere."

Music and dancing will follow at the Crypt! Courtesy of Smorgasbord and Softboy. Delightful 70's afro-funk, slices of jazz and a hint of Arabic all wrapped up in a tortilla of luscious dance beats running from 9pm to the early hours.