It's by no means recent, but Colchester's impressive scene for music, arts, and culture continues to grow.
I've showcased thousands of events through the Keep Colchester Cool project I launched in 2009.
Now, I'll bring the best events to you each week which I recommend checking out.
Here are my five recommendations for music, arts, and culture in Colchester in the week ahead.
Lunar Lullabies opens at Firstsite on Saturday, promising a galactic journey through 200 years of space exploration.
Inspired by Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the exhibition traces the nursery rhyme's legacy and its influence on modern-day comics and video games.
From interactive space objects and immersive extra terrestrial landscapes to sculptures of robots and rockets, there's something for every space enthusiast, young and old.
The exhibition is free entry and runs until October 6.
Fraser Morgan performs his 1,000th show on Saturday night.
This is a fantastic achievement for one of Colchester's hardest-working artists.
Fraser and his band will take to the Colchester Arts Centre with a rocking folk-punk evening of love and laughter with support from Jack Walsh, Armoured Man and Jackson Rivers.
The gig is at 7pm, and tickets are £12 or £10 for concessions.
A Mind Full of PRIDE takes place at Patch on Tuesday.
Hosted and curated by the creativeTom Stock, the event celebrates local queer poetry, drag, spoken word, support groups, performance art and joy.
It starts at 7pm, and tickets are £4 (£3.50 from each ticket is split between Open Road, Colchester Pride and CENS).
Mercury Theatre is the home of the world premiere of the award-winning black comedy Bindweed, which opens on Thursday.
Tackling domestic abuse, this is a shattering and darkly funny new play about responsibility and rehabilitation, which looks at what can be done to tackle abuse at its root.
The show runs until June 22. The performance starts at 7pm, and tickets range from £10 to £16.50.
Brighton-based band Single Parents bring their off-kilter rock-pop-avant-garde-indie-jazz-funk-fusion to Coda on Friday.
The band, on their 'Are We Really There Yet? tour, features Archie Chapman (ex-The Verdicts), and support is from Colchester's Greebo, whose new single, Fumble Rumble, is worth checking out.
The gig starts at 9pm and is free entry.
These are just some of the events in Colchester over the week ahead; you can find out more on keepcolchestercool.co.uk
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