Category: Culture Radar

This week’s Culture Radar guest is the Artistic Director, A Place for Us Theatre, Kate Allerston.

Loved: I have really enjoyed the NPO events programme at Norton Priory in Runcorn, where I have been fortunate to be one of the Artistic Directors, along with my husband Chris Bastock, in 24/25. This includes the events around the Gaia (Earth) installation, the outdoor and indoor theatre & concerts programme and the events currently around the Mars installation (until 9 March 2025).

Looking forward to:  I am really looking forward to being at Shakespeare North Playhouse for several of our productions this coming summer.

Trivia: I have been an actor & director for over 30 years, starting at the Liverpool Playhouse Youth Theatre as a young teen, then went on to study acting in London at LAMDA, lived/worked  in London for all of the 90s and early naughties and was one of the founder artistic directors of the now international and Shakespeare Schools Festival (now Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation) and returned to work in the arts across the LCR in 2005.

This week’s Culture Radar guest is the Director of The Hope Street Theatre, Merseyside Academy of Drama (MAD), Performers Theatre School, and Olivier award-winning theatre company, Papatango, Nick Rogers.

Loved: I thoroughly enjoyed An Evening with Talking Heads (which was made up entirely of a cast of current and ex-MAD students) and the What Happens Next competition by Tip Tray Theatre, both hosted at The Hope Street Theatre. Stocking Fillers at Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre was another highlight, directed by my brilliant colleague, Sam Donovan.

Looking forward to: I’m particularly excited for On The Banks of The Royal Blue Mersey (despite being a Red!), Someone You Love by SevenBlu3, Northern Comedy’s No Sex Please, We’re British – all at Hope Street – and The Merchant of Venice 1936 at the Playhouse, and The Peaceful Hour at Liverpool’s Royal Court.

Trivia: Next year marks the 25th anniversary of Performers Theatre School, which has introduced thousands of children to drama, dance, and singing. We began on Bold Street in 2001 and moved into our current studios on Hope Street in 2015, which are also home to MAD in the evenings and Rare Studio BTEC and Intensive students on weekdays. The opening of The Hope Street Theatre in 2017 helped transform the building into a vibrant creative hub. It’s been incredible to see the space evolve into a thriving centre for the arts, with so many talented people coming together to create and share their work. And now, with amazing food courtesy of the Arts Bar, there’s truly something for everyone here, from aged 2 to 99!

This week’s Culture Radar guest is the Executive Director, Collective Encounters, Tessa Buddle.

Loved: I’ve been on maternity leave for the best part of a year so I’ve been loving our region’s family friendly cultural offer. Favourites have been Sling and Swing It (a baby-wearing dance class) run by Travelled Companions at 24 Hope Street, the brilliant Africa Oyé, the seasonal rituals at Squash Liverpool, and Collective Encounters’ sound journey ‘Voices on the Streets’ – a great way to connect with the city while on a pram walk!

Looking forward to: I can’t wait to get out and see some theatre. For starters, the new season at Unity is looking really good and I’m eagerly awaiting the DaDaFest programme.

Trivia: Did you know Collective Encounters is 21 this year? We’ve got some exciting plans to mark the occasion including the launch of a new digital archive documenting two decades of theatre for social change in the Liverpool City Region.

This week’s Culture Radar guest is the Founder of Live Wire Dance Studio and teacher, choreographer and director at Mersey Swing CIC, Helen Maguire.

Loved: I’m really enjoying Sole Rebel’s monthly Tap Jams at the Caledonia. It’s a brilliant mix of dance and live jazz music and it brings together dancers from several different scenes in Liverpool. The return of Leap Festival last year was definitely a highlight. It was amazing to see so many people from different dance styles and backgrounds coming together and sharing one stage. Luma Creations Latin Festival at Future Yard in the summer was fantastic. Music and dancing in the sun is always a treat.

Looking forward to: I can’t wait to see Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music) at District in April. Snailmania at Future Yard is always a lot of fun (live music in a wrestling ring!) and I’m looking forward to getting involved in Leap Festival again this year. I’m really excited to see Ma Bessie at Lindy in the Sky this month (shameless self plug). I’ve wanted to bring her show honouring Bessie Smith back to Liverpool for years so that’s going to be brilliant.

Trivia: Along with dancing, I also train and coach Muay Thai at the MMA academy and my dance studio Live Wire is named after an AC/DC song!

This week’s Culture Radar guest is Pravinder Singh, Head of Programmes & Planning for Milap.

Loved: Shez Raja at Future Yard. A fantastic gig and great to present him on his home turf! Secondly, River of Light. Another wonderful event by Culture Liverpool and for Milap to work with Murugiah for his installation of ‘Rangoli Mirrored Cosmos’ and for all to celebrate Diwali.

Looking forward to: On 16 March, Milap present the internationally renowned, multi-Grammy award winning artist, Rakesh Chaurasia, at the wonderful Tung Auditorium. To me, he is the world’s best flautist, so don’t miss this concert!

I’m also looking forward to Liverpool International Jazz Festival in February and the Darius Brubeck Quartet opening the festival. Milap and LIJF also come together again to present Rekesh Chauhan and Kousic Sen on 22 February.

Trivia: I had graduated from University of Liverpool with a Law degree, when Milap plucked at my heart strings. Nearly 20 years later, I’m still going strong to make Indian Arts accessible to all, in Milap’s 40th Anniversary year! My sisters also happen to be the amazing local and internationally renowned artists, The Singh Twins!!

 

This week’s Culture Radar guest is Project Coordinator at Writing on the Wall, Lyn Papadopoulos.

Loved: I loved Proximity – selected works by Stephen McCoy at the Open Eye Gallery.  Gorgeous photos, a lot of which reminded me of growing up in Liverpool.

Looking forward to: The Legend of Rooney’s Ring. Written by Helen Serafinowicz and Directed by Stephen Fletcher at The Royal Court in July 2025. This is definitely going to be one to watch.

Trivia: I’ve been storylining and scriptwriting on soaps for over 20 years. Before that I worked on the 1999 Channel 4 film ‘Dockers’ that Writing on the Wall was born out of. Next year I’m excited for our 25th anniversary annual literature festival WoWFest, which will celebrate writing in all its forms.

This week’s Culture Radar guest is Mary Pearson, one of the members of the dance collective at 24 Hope Street studio.

Loved: Over at 24 Hope Street, there’s a great night happening called ‘A Life (drawing class) Less Ordinary’ which is a creative art class using contemporary dance as primary inspiration. Participants observe timed dances from contemporary dancers, and are invited to use their medium of choice to create an artistic piece. It’s an exciting new collaboration between tattooer and poet Plazzybag from Fool’s Gold Tattoo, Garston and Taciturn dance.

I’ve super enjoyed seeing new solo shows emerging from great women: Rowena Gander’s ‘Woman | Women’, Dora Colquhoun’s ‘The Lodger’, and Aline Costa’s ‘In Bloom’. I especially love being involved in the process, and seeing new work develop from early stages to a strong finish.

Looking forward to: I adore ‘Strike A Pose’ cabaret / party nights, hosted by the fabulous Mooncup Theatre, which raise awareness and funds for striking workers. Great to see who’s making new work in Scratch nights at the Unity. I always want to see what EAT ME and Frightwig Theatre are up to. Also, looking forward to Teatro Pomodoro’s Christmas show, Star of Wonder.

Trivia: One new area of my work that I’m passionate about is what I’m calling ‘Somatic Dramaturgy’. This brings together my experience as an outside eye and maker with Somatic Experiencing®, to create a framework of trauma-informed support for artists creating work from difficult lived experience. I love working with people who have decided that care is a priority!

This week’s Culture Radar guest is the Youth and Community Director at 20 Stories High, Paislie Reid.

Loved: I loved watching The Rocky Horror Show at Liverpool Playhouse recently it was so much fun. I also enjoyed the River of Light, it’s so pretty and makes the city buzz.

Looking forward to: I’m looking forward to 20 Stories High The Access Manifesto screening event in January. We are really excited to share the film with local organisations, share our learning and open up conversations about access within the arts! You can learn more about The Access Manifesto here!

This week’s Culture Radar guest is the Gallery Manager at dot-art, Claire Henderson.

Loved: Land, Rights and Resistance at FACT with local PHD candidate Gabriela Saenger Silva leading a discussion with Yula Rocha from People’s Palace Project exploring a project this past October of creating a 1 tonne 3-D printed replica of the sacred Kamukuwaká cave with Xingu Indigenous peoples living in the Brazilian Amazon.

Looking forward to: Another FACT event! From Ground Zero screening of 22 short films by filmmakers from Gaza, each presenting their current reality of Gaza. Each £10 ticket is donated and shared between the London Palestine Film Festival and Medical Aid for Palestine.

Trivia: Do you know about the dot-art Christmas Baubles? Metroplitan Cathedral, Sefton Palm House and the Royal Liver Building are the three designs we have in sustainably sourced wood. We even worked with our dot-art Artist Members to create limited edition painted versions of each iconic Liverpool building.

This week’s Culture Radar guest is our Intern Alice Cockburn, joining us as part of LJMU’s Discovery Internship Programme.

Loved: I absolutely loved seeing Yoko Ono’s Ceiling Painting at The Tate. I saw it years ago, but the message really stuck with me and has driven me to seek out positivity wherever I go! I am relatively new to Liverpool as a Yorkshire lass, but I have been particularly taken by the galleries here. I’ve seen some wonderful exhibitions at Smithdown Social Arts Hub and Castle Fine Art.

Looking forward to: Later this month I’ll be going to the Festive Paper Bunting Workshop with Design Laser Play. I am excited to meet new people and get stuck into an activity. World Museum are also having Relaxed Screenings at the Planetarium which sound like a beautiful way to calm my mind before Christmas.

Trivia: I’m interning with Open Culture and I’m really enjoying engaging with local arts, culture and a vibrant community.