This week our Culture Radar guests are Eleanor Liverakou & Akil Morgan of Capoeira for All C.I.C.
Loved: LEAP Dance Festival was such a success, two years in a row! Showcasing the talent that Liverpool has to offer by a really great initiative and very passionate team.
Looking forward to: We’re really looking forward to attending the Liverpool Against Racism event and although it’s quite far still we cannot wait for Africa Oyé to return next year!
Founded in 1985 with a vision to unite communities in the North West through a shared love of Indian arts, Milap celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2025 as the UK’s leading Indian arts and culture organisation. Over four decades, Milap has raised the national profile of South Asian music, dance, and culture, building a legacy that spans performance, education, and community engagement.
Over the last four decades, Milap have brought some of India’s most revered musicians and performers to stages across the UK through a rich and varied programme of music and dance, as well as pioneering the teaching and preservation of Indian classical artforms in the West and nurturing some of the UK’s most exciting emerging talent.
Their story began in 1985, when Dr Prashant Nayak and a group of like-minded friends hosted ‘Indian Cultural Evenings’ in Liverpool – to enhance friendship, understanding and cooperation between the local community and people of South Asian origin who made a home for themselves in Britain in the 1980s.
40 years on, their dedicated mission to promote Indian culture in North West England has spread nationally, culminating in the creation and delivery of groundbreaking artistic projects, with a strong track record of producing world class performances, educational development programmes and workshops that spotlight classical Hindustani and Carnatic artforms and recognition at their National Indian Arts Awards.
Milap have worked with countless musicians that are globally renowned for their craft. Notably, British Mercury-Prize winner and pioneer of Indian Classical and Drum & Bass fusion Talvin Singh has been championed by Milap since the 1980’s – first bringing him to perform at the Bluecoat in 1993, and most recently collaborating with him at INDIKA 2023.
Fast-forward to their 40th year, Milap presented GRAMMY-winning bansuri virtuoso Rakesh Chaurasia at The Tung Auditorium in March 2025. The distinguished Chaurasia family’s musical legacy has also been a part of Milap’s story for decades – Rakesh’s legendary uncle Hariprasad Chaurasia graced the stage at the Bluecoat back in 1993.
This summer 2025, Milap are welcoming bass virtuoso Shez Raja back to the Wirral for an electrifying evening of his unique ‘Indo-funk-jazz’ sound, alongside electric guitar sensation, Guthrie Govan.
Milap’s flagship Dance India programme remains a globally unique space for dancers of all styles to immerse themselves in an intensive week of learning, exchange, and artistic inspiration.
Today, celebrated artists like Arushi Mudgal and Sonia Sabri are shining examples of the impact of Milap’s enduring commitment to preserving and celebrating Indian dance forms. Arushi Mudgal was part of Milap’s first dance production Swadesh, then went on to become a key member of the Dance India team and has since been hailed by the New York Times’ Chief Dance Critic as ‘one of India’s most remarkable dancers’.
Sonia Sabri has also supported Milap in her role as tutor for Dance India and is now a multi-award winning dance artist, choreographer and movement director. She assisted in choreographing The Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in 2022. Milap have platformed both Sonia’s solo and company works throughout her career, including the 2010 grand opening of the Capstone Theatre in Liverpool .
Founded in 2002, SAMYO – Milap’s National Youth Orchestra for Indian music – has redefined the presentation of Indian Classical Music, by using classical instruments in a new context. Through SAMYO, Milap invite musicians and vocalists to break away from tradition to explore and push the boundaries of their instruments, whilst remaining true to their Indian classical training.
Former contestant on The Voice UK, Abi Sampa progressed through SAMYO and is now an Associate Artist of the Royal Albert Hall. SAMYO alumni Pirashanna Thevarajah has also taken his career to great heights, becoming a member of Pandit Ravi Shankar’s world tours and appearing on a GRAMMY nominated live album at the Royal Albert Hall alongside artists such as Anoushka Shankar and Jeff Lynne.
Jasdeep Singh Degun is the first ever sitarist and British Asian musician to be recognised and awarded a Royal Philharmonic Society Best Instrumentalist Award. He progressed through both SAMYO and TARANG as a young emerging sitarist and his career has seen him reshape the Indian Classical musical landscape. Jasdeep is now collaborating with BBC Concert Orchestra in Leeds and BBC Symphony Orchestra in London.
Milap’s educational reach over the last 40 years extends even further than their ensembles, targeting aspiring young musicians in the North West of all ages and abilities. A foundation of these inclusive opportunities includes Milap’s Arts School; a term time education programme based in Liverpool featuring weekly classes of Indian Performing Arts. Milap’s Arts School has allowed students to work closely with experienced teachers in a vast range of Indian art forms.
The local Merseyside communities have also experienced the lasting impact of Milap’s work via a range of workshops and masterclasses, offering people the unique opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge from the world’s leading Indian music and dance stars. This supported learning has ensured that audiences, aspiring artists and inquisitive students have all had access to memorable and inspirational experiences of Indian Arts for decades.
Adopting a vision of ‘Uniting Hearts Through Arts’, Milap’s mission has been to strengthen both Liverpool and Britain’s multicultural society, ensuring that Indian Arts and Culture is accessible to their local communities.
Milap have made significant contributions to projects by Liverpool City Council over the years, including River of Light and most notably, the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2017. This milestone celebration saw Milap present ‘The Beatles Ragafest’ at St George’s Hall, where world-renowned Hindustani and Carnatic artists explored the works of George Harrison.
Since 1985, Milap have also partnered with numerous venues including the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, The Capstone Theatre, The Tung Auditorium, The Bluecoat and Bundobust in Liverpool.
Coming off the back of a fantastic spring season of concerts, Milap are continuing the 40th celebrations with many more exciting performances and projects planned for the rest of the year. 2025 will also see the return of INDIKA – their bi-annual 15-day festival of Indian Arts & Culture in Liverpool.
As the organisation reflects on this milestone year, Artistic Director Alok Nayak shares what it means to the team and community:
“Milap began in 1985 as a niche festival, introducing Liverpool to some of the world’s greatest Indian artists at venues like The Bluecoat and Philharmonic Hall. Since then, we’ve grown nationally and internationally — but Liverpool remains at our heart. This 40th anniversary is a moment to share stories that changed lives, surprised us, and brought people together. It’s a celebration not of ourselves, but of everyone who’s shaped Milap’s journey. We hope it inspires new generations to dream, create, and believe in what’s possible — especially in a city like Liverpool, where culture and community are always deeply connected.”
Explore Milap’s spring / summer 2025 programme of events here.
In this latest instalment of Buried Treasure, John Maguire of ArtsGroupie CIC uncovers the wealth of history housed within Liverpool Central Library and Archives. Nestled between the World Museum and the Walker Art Gallery, this cultural jewel reveals fascinating stories, rare artefacts, and a vital opportunity for the public to learn how to preserve their own heritage through free home archiving workshops.
Perhaps one of the best examples of Buried Treasure in our City is a jewel that can be found in between the two other precious stones on William Brown Street, the World Museum and the Walker Art Gallery in the St George’s Quarter of Liverpool, Liverpool Central Library and Archives.
Established in 1860, Liverpool Central Library is the flagship building and hub of Liverpool Libraries and Information Services. The building was subject to a further £50 million rebuild and refurbishment and reopened in 2013 with a state-of-the-art repository archive which houses and protects the items within the Liverpool Record Office, the second busiest public archive in the UK. Internationally renowned, the Grade 2 listed heritage areas of the Picton Reading Room, the Oak Room and Hornby Library regularly attract visitors from all over the world, delighted by the opulent splendour of the Victorian and Edwardian architecture. The new building has also won several architectural awards.
This public resource offers a bounty of riches, there is the majestic Audubon, BIRDS OF AMERICA on display in the Oak room, which looks like it has been lifted straight from the bookcase of Roald Dahl’s BIG FRIENDLY GIANT. Watched over by the cyclops in the wood (if you know, you know).
But it is the behind the scenes resources that are thrilling. When researching my play articulating the life of local public health pioneer Kitty Wilkinson (Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse), I discovered in depth facts / figures from public records and other valuable assets. This helped build a picture of what exactly Liverpool was like during the Victorian period.
Newspapers reveal details of the day to day lives, through advertisements and stories that bring the past to life. As I began to interrogate the life of William Roscoe for another play (A Portrait of William Roscoe) I found myself able to climb into the man’s head through his daily journals and manuscripts. Shakespeare revealed his belief in the power of love, when he had his character Cleopatra warn her lover, “You must woo me to the grave.” A view adopted by Roscoe, for I laid my hands on primary sources (direct artifacts) articulating his passion for his wife, writing her daily poems, even when they were married and living together.
This month sees the last week of ArtsGroupie’s Lights Up On Liverpool: Theatre History exhibition, on display in the Hornby Library, Central Library. This project evolved from a heritage walking tour to celebrate World Theatre Day in 2022 at The Epstein Theatre. Initial research found us wanting to know more.
Each week, we dived into the ocean of boxed up content archived around the theatres of the past. Unsure what would be encountered. Play bills from the 1700’s, like Hamlet and Macbeth, countless photographs detailing the ups and downs of the locations, lots of fire damage to venues. The theatres often had a pattern of suffering from financial problems and flames at some point.
But the piece de resistance discovered that blew my mind, finding the official ROYAL SEAL that declared Liverpool to have its own theatre by Royal approval in 1772 (the theatre stood where the Liverpool Football shop stands now in Williamson Square). It may have been administered by King George III but never materialised into a document and physical object until the reign of Victoria. Administration back then, like now, takes time. Bureaucracy can be a slow boat.
One thing that came out of this research period, how important it is to ensure artefacts are looked after in the right way. A need to educate people in how to preserve things, archive programmes, tickets, documents in the proper fashion. For we encountered many archival injuries that had been done unknowingly by the general public. Like programmes scarred by Sellotape strips, tickets and newspaper clippings glued into books. The peril of rusted staples in paper booklets, discolouration and spotting of paper, creating brown or yellow spots, causing what is known as ‘foxing.’
This lack of knowledge gave an opportunity to develop a workshop to instruct people in how to create their own home mini- archive to then pass down through the generations. You can learn how to safeguard your precious memories and family treasures at our free Home Archiving Workshops in May and June.
These interactive sessions provide expert guidance on safely preserving your personal heirlooms, photographs, documents, and artifacts, in partnership with Liverpool Central Library and Liverpool Libraries and Information Services. You will leave equipped with skills and knowledge to keep your heritage safe for generations to come and even take-home materials to get you started on your first safe archive. Participants will learn practical, hands-on techniques using materials such as acid-free folders and specialist preservation methods. Sessions are limited capacity at Central library – Sat 17th May: 2- 4pm and Mon 19th May: 5:30- 7:30pm.
For dates and locations of all the other FREE workshops in the regional libraries – see the calendar on the home page artsgroupie.org or email artgroupie@outlook.com to reserve a place.
Disclaimer: We are unable to give direct advice of genealogy or accept donations to the Liverpool Records Archive.
Kindly supported, by The National Lottery Heritage Fund thanks to money raised by National Lottery players to offer free heritage activity in connection with the ‘Lights Up on Liverpool’ exhibition currently on display at Liverpool Central Library which launched in November 2024.
This week our Culture Radar guest is Lucy Byrne, Managing Director, dot-art and member of the Culture Network LCR Board of Directors.
Loved: I loved Shirley Valentine at the Everyman; I went with my mother in law who saw the original play there 40 years ago which was extra special. River of Light at end of last year was as spectacular as ever, but I also have to say I really loved the last show at the dot-art Gallery, Iconic Women, which showcased the work of 3 female artists whose work celebrates the achievements of amazing women, both local, national and international.
Looking forward to: I can’t wait for Liverpool Biennial, which is always a treat for art lovers, but this year is curated by the wonderful Marie-Anne McQuay, plus we have the biggest ever Independents Biennial running alongside, so its really going to be wonderful. Looking into next year, I somehow managed to get tickets for Jodie Comer in Prima Facie at the Playhouse, which actually felt like winning the lottery as over 30,000 people tried!
Trivia: dot-art also runs Liverpool Art Fair, the annual, open submission selling exhibition which takes place in the Royal Liver Building. After the success of our 10th birthday last year where we showcased over 200 local artists, we are returning this summer from 11th July – 25th August. Artists who would like to get involved can submit work until 25th May!
Liverpool and the city region is packed with fun creative workshops and activities that are perfect for sparking kids’ imaginations. If you’re looking for the best creative kids activities in Liverpool, from hands-on tech fun to immersive art sessions, there’s loads going on to keep them entertained over weekends and school holidays. Plus, these sessions help build confidence, creativity, and self-expression. Check out our go-to guide for the best kid-friendly creative events happening across Liverpool—lots of them are totally free!
This community makerspace offers free creative technology workshops where children (and adults) can explore digital making, coding, and hands-on tech projects. Their Maker Days, taking place on the second Saturday of every month are perfect for young inventors and those curious about how things work. DoES Liverpool provides a supportive environment for kids to develop STEM skills through creative play.
FACT’s Do Something Saturdays invite children and families to take part in free drop-in workshops combining art, tech, and storytelling. Each session is inspired by current exhibitions and themes, encouraging kids to experiment with digital tools, animation, and creative thinking in a fun and inclusive space.
The Little Chameleons Art Club at the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead offers free creative sessions where children can enjoy painting, drawing, and mixed media crafts. These relaxed, welcoming workshops are designed to nurture creativity and introduce children to the world of art in a gallery environment.
ArtsGroupie delivers free creative workshops throughout Liverpool, often focusing on local history and heritage. Their family-friendly sessions incorporate storytelling, crafts, and performance to engage children with Liverpool’s rich cultural past.
National Museums Liverpool offers a range of free creative activities across its venues, inspiring young minds through art, history, and science.
The Atkinson in Southport offers free creative activities for children throughout the year. Their Make It, Craft Workshops span visual arts, crafts, and performance, making this cultural hub worth the trip for families seeking creative experiences.
Capoeira for All CIC offers dynamic and inclusive Capoeira classes for children in Liverpool, blending movement, music, and culture in a fun and supportive environment. Their sessions introduce young participants to the Afro-Brazilian art of Capoeira, combining elements of dance, acrobatics, and martial arts. Through engaging activities, children develop physical coordination, rhythm, and confidence while learning about the rich cultural heritage of Capoeira.
The Everyman Theatre provides several paid workshop series for aspiring young performers and theatre enthusiasts:
Keep an eye on the Everyman and Playhouse website for creative events.
The Everyman Café hosts the Mini dot-art Club (0 – 5 year olds) and dot-art Club (8 – 13 year olds) where young artists can develop their visual creativity and artistic techniques through fun, collaborative workshops.
Many of these venues offer special programming during school holidays, so check their websites before visiting. Most free activities operate on a first-come, first-served basis, though some may require advance booking despite being free. For the Everyman’s paid sessions, early booking is essential as these popular workshops tend to fill quickly.
To find more events happening across the Liverpool city region visit our What’s On listings.
This week our Culture Radar guest is Paul Doyle, Director, Leap Dance Festival.
Loved: I absolutely loved Glitterbox at Blackstone Warehouse last month: great vibe, good crowd, lots of disco house and David Morales. The Leap team also really enjoyed DaDaFest’s closing cabaret event: EAT ME x DadaFest present: RAGE (particularly Jay Farley’s reading from their new poetry collection A [Cupboard] Full of Tomboys, and songs from Crip Ladywood).
Looking forward to: Obviously we’re gearing up for the return of Leap Dance Festival (26th April – 9th May), and I’ve got my tickets for Radio 1’s Big Weekend and Cream Classical! It’s amazing to have so much happening in the city this summer – the team are also really excited about Liverpool Biennial and Independents Biennial 2025.
Trivia: Leap Dance Festival has been part of Liverpool City Region’s cultural calendar for nearly 30 years (formerly as part of Merseyside Dance Initiative’s annual programme). Chaos Arts CIC revived the festival in 2024 following the permanent closure of MDI in 2022, and last year we brought dance to over 37,000 people locally!
As WoWFest mark their 25th anniversary, they reflect on the journey that has shaped Writing on the Wall since their first festival in June 2000. Founded on principles of social justice, they have always been a voice for change, a platform for truth, and a home for writers, artists, activists, and communities—from the Dingle to Dakota and beyond.
WoW’s roots lie in the Liverpool Dockers’ Lockout, and the resilience of those who fought back then is imprinted on their DNA. Against the backdrop of today’s global challenges, they believe writers and artists are vital voices for hope and change.
Balancing entertainment and activism, they have driven positive change—publishing over 500 writers in the past decade alone and paving the way for emerging talent through projects like Liverpool Young Writers and Pulp Idol.
Their 25th festival welcomes old friends and some first-time guests. Here are a selection of highlights for 2025:
To kick off the 25th anniversary celebrations, WoW are delighted to bring you Irvine Welsh, who paid them the greatest compliment, stating, “There isn’t another writing festival in England as good as Writing on the Wall.” Famed for his iconic novels, not least of all the ground-breaking Trainspotting, Irvine joins WoWFEST to discuss Resolution, the third of his novels featuring Ray Lennox.
A night with Irvine Welsh is always fun, a bit gritty, entertaining, and always gets you thinking. Irvine Welsh will be in conversation with author, visual artist and musician Zoë Howe. Join WoWFEST in welcoming back one of their earliest and most favourite WoW guests, Irvine Welsh, for the chance to get inside the mind of the man who created such iconic characters as Renton, Sick Boy, and Spud.
Not only is Kit de Waal an incredibly talented writer and storyteller, she is also a champion for elevating the voices and opportunities for diverse, working class writers, putting her money where her mouth is by creating the Kit de Waal Creative Writing Scholarship to help improve working-class representation in the arts.
They welcome her back to WoWFEST for this online event discussing her latest novel, The Best of Everything, described by Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo as ‘A profoundly compassionate novel of devastating power’.
Levi Tafari is a renowned poet, performer, and educator whose work spans literature, music, and activism. Known for his powerful storytelling, Tafari’s poetry blends elements of reggae, Rastafari culture, and social commentary. His work has earned him widespread acclaim, as he consistently seeks to inspire and uplift. Levi has performed around the world, captivating audiences along the way.
Levi has long been a member of the Writing on the Wall artistic community, working on such projects as From Great War to Race Riots, the Princes Boulevard Steps initiative and most recently in the re-opening for Spellow Library. Levi will perform from his powerful new collection, Being Human, a celebration of the human spirit.
Come together for an unforgettable night of music and spoken word, celebrating diversity and Liverpool Rising Against Racism in one of Liverpool’s most iconic venues.
Hip-hop legend Skinnyman, who returns to the city in a show of solidarity, will be joined by a blistering line-up of Liverpool talent, including rapper Blue Saint, Yemeni Scouse poet Amina Atiq, and rising stars Sam Millne & the Virants, with more exciting names to be announced.
Expect big beats and rhymes, unforgettable performances, and an excellent vibe. The night will kick off with a spectacular outdoor performance by the Batala drummers at the North Entrance to the hall.
WoW are hosting the Liverpool launch of The Singh Twins‘ latest book, Slaves of Fashion: Art of the Singh Twins – Personal Reflections on Hidden Stories of Empire, Colonialism, and Their Legacies.
This richly illustrated, artist-designed book, showcases Slaves of Fashion, an award-winning series of portrait-based allegorical and narrative works by contemporary British artists The Singh Twins. Slaves of Fashion explores diverse histories and legacies of empire and colonialism through the history of Indian textiles. It is a global story of conflict, conquest, exploitation, slavery, intercultural exchange, and changing fashion.
WoWFEST welcomes Armando Iannucci, a towering figure of British storytelling and satire, to seek answers to the question — can laughter still challenge authority, expose hypocrisy, and spark change — or has the joke already worn thin?
Armando Iannucci, creator of iconic TV and film, including The Thick of It, Veep, In the Loop, and The Death of Stalin, has spent decades turning political dysfunction into brutal, brilliant comedy. With a signature blend of intelligence and irreverence, Iannucci has held a mirror to power, exposing its absurdities with scalpel-sharp precision.
From Spellow to Southport…with Love is a special family-friendly event featuring three of the UK’s most celebrated poets and performers—Michael Rosen, Jackie Kay, Jordan Stephens, and Beth Suzanna. Join Jordan and Beth for a captivating and interactive storytelling adventure to discover the wonders of the natural world! This day of creativity, storytelling, and poetry aims to promote unity, diversity, and resilience.
The tragic murders of young girls in Southport and the racist riots that followed, resulting in major fire damage to Spellow Library, deeply affected communities across the region. While the library may be repaired, the community still needs healing. Writing on the Wall, in partnership with Culture Liverpool and Spellow Library, ran a series of free creative writing sessions called What’s Your Walton Story? for anyone who wanted to share their experience of living or working in the community. They will be celebrating these stories on the day and launching an anthology of work.
Making a welcome return to WoWFEST, Dr John Cooper Clarke, one of the most iconic poets of our time, whose seminal works, including Evidently Chickentown and (I Married a) Monster from Outer Space are as relevant and vibrant today as when they were first written.
His status as the Godfather of Punk Poetry is now firmly established as Dr John Cooper Clarke became the first-ever poet to headline an arena in the UK, with a sell-out performance at The Co-op arena in Manchester. You will not want to miss this unique evening of conversation and performance. The self-confessed nosy parker is hot off the back of his arena tour and the paperback release of his best-selling poetry collection, WHAT.
See the full WoWFEST25 programme and get your tickets via writingonthewall.org.uk/whats-on.
By John Maguire
In this latest instalment of Buried Treasure with ArtsGroupie CIC writer and theatre-maker John Maguire reflects on a century of storytelling, stars, and stagecraft at the iconic Liverpool Empire. As the theatre celebrates its 100th birthday, John takes us on a journey through its rich and dramatic past, reminding us why this majestic venue remains a jewel in Liverpool’s cultural crown.
2025 marks a significant birthday for one of Liverpool’s most beloved theatre’s, The Empire. ArtsGroupie recently attended a centenary celebration showing of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers and we were reminded of the significance of this venue and its sheer majesty. For, the space is charged with a magical energy. Wonderful and electric. A result of the many dramas being played and audiences coming together to enjoy a piece of storytelling.
For a century, the stage has been populated by theatrical productions, spectaculars, concerts, and a vast variety of entertainment. The theatre site itself is actually older than one hundred years. The first performance to take to the boards was Faust, opening on October 15, 1866, as the New Prince of Wales Theatre and Opera House. This building consisted of a lower story, with carved heads of dramatists Shakespeare, Schiller, Moliere and composers Beethoven and Rossini, above the first floor. A bold statement to indicate its function and figures chosen emblematical of drama and music.
When it opened as the New Prince of Wales Theatre, it was Liverpool’s largest theatre built to date, though it was only two-thirds the size of The Empire which now stands in its place. The building changed hands in 1867 and was renamed in honour of the then Princess of Wales, Princess Alexandra of Denmark. It became known for a variety of Italian operas, plays, pantomimes, and burlesque. Esteemed thespian Henry Irving, renowned for his performances in revivals of Shakespeare’s plays performed at the venue, he became the first actor to ever be knighted. The exact dates of Irving’s performances at the Empire are not specified but, the theatre’s history indicates that he and other famous actors, including Ellen Terry, Sarah Bernhardt, and Marie Lloyd, were among the many notable performers who graced its stage.
In 1895, it came under the ownership of a company called Empire Theatre (Liverpool) Ltd., though it retained the name Alexandra until December 1896, when after renovations it was reopened as the Empire Theatre. A production of Cinderella came direct from the Lyceum in London with an impressive two hundred performers in the spectacle.
The theatre switched to Variety performances, until 1911 when it briefly showed silent motion pictures, (it gained the exclusive rights for Liverpool to show Kinemacolour, an invention of pioneer filmmaker George Albert Smith, with the likes of 1908’s ‘Natures Looking Glass’ – the only stereoscopic life motion pictures, reproducing the actual colours of nature without any means of colouring), before the opening of Liverpool’s first purpose built cinema in 1912, Lime Street Picture House (later The Futurist).
The theatre continued to host Variety entertainment throughout the First World War (1914-18) and finally closed for the last time in February 1924. The building was then demolished to make way for the much larger art deco Empire Theatre that we know today. The 1925 new build was constructed in the style of a New York City theatre. But the original plans had to be changed as they left out a key asset to a theatre’s profit making. As being modelled on an American venue, there were no bars included. Due to prohibition, venues in the states could not sell liquor.
The Empire’s stage was declared the largest in Great Britain, making it an attractive venue for big names internationally. Big musical productions came to Liverpool, like 1926 Lady Be Good starring Fred and Adele Astair.
Despite Liverpool being the most bombed city outside of London in WWII, The Empire survived and was managing to book Hollywood greats like Mae West (1947), Laurel and Hardy (1947), Judy Garland (1951), and Frank Sinatra (1953), amongst many others during the rebuilding effort. The theatre was still pulling in big names throughout the 1960s, and even during the peak of Liverpool’s economic decline The Empire, alongside the Royal Court had become an important rock and roll venue hosting the biggest rock acts in the world. The Rolling Stones, Bowie and Kate Bush, to name a few.
The theatre would go through multiple renovations and improvements over the years. The Empire is now Liverpool’s largest receiving house, attracting the countries biggest touring theatre shows.
Here is to another hundred years of theatrical adventures.
This week our Culture Radar guest is Laura Pye, Director/ CEO at National Museums Liverpool and member of the Culture Network LCR Board of Directors.
Loved: I saw Shirley Valentine at the Everyman recently and absolutely loved it, I have seen the play a couple of times and felt this version was both the most true to the original script I had seen and yet the most contemporary feeling. It was brilliant theatre.
Looking forward to: There is always loads going on across the city region so often it hard to keep up, as we approach the summer I am looking forward to WoWFEST25 in May and I have had tickets for Hamilton at the Empire for what feels like years!
Trivia: National Museums Liverpool will be 40 next year, whilst many of our museums and galleries are much older than that we were brought together as a national arms length body by an act of parliament in 1986.
This week our Culture Radar guest is Nicola Triscott, Director/CEO of FACT and and member of the Culture Network LCR Board of Directors.
Loved: DaDa Fest’s Zoe Partington’s Painting in Light, stunning text-based light sculptures conveying slogans and messages from disabled people’s activism, in venues across the city. Also the photos and engaging stories of women disability activists, artists and leaders at Open Eye.
Looking forward to: Excited for Liverpool Biennial, this year curated by Marie-Anne McQuay. And, at FACT, Amartey Golding’s exhibition featuring a huge chainmail sculpture created in collaboration with imprisoned men from HMP Altcourse. Sadly, I missed the hot ticket of Jodie Comer in Prima Facie at the Playhouse next year!
Trivia: Last year, FACT opened Studio/Lab on its top floor, a creative space designed to support artists who want to learn and experiment with digital and immersive media. We have a growing membership with opportunities to showcase work at FACT.