Category: Culture Radar

This week our Culture Radar guest is Co-Director of the Liverpool Architecture Foundation CIC (LAF), Lizzie Edge.

Loved: I popped over to Tate Liverpool’s Brickworks exhibition at RIBA North (National Architecture Centre) at Mann Island on my lunch break the week after the exhibition opened. While TATE Liverpool is undergoing exciting redevelopment their partnership with RIBA North has provided a superb opportunity to explore the intersection between art and architecture. As a practising architect with an interest in art, I loved how brick, a common construction material has been utilised in artistic work on display at the exhibition.

Looking forward to: The Anish Kapoor exhibition! I have tried to avoid any spoilers on social media so that I can be really in awe when I step into the Liverpool Cathedral. What a space to showcase his work!

I am also looking forward to checking out the Queer Places: The exhibition at Unit 3 Design Studio, an exhibition of the growing archive of Liverpool’s LGBTQ+ Spaces: Past, Present & Future. It’s been running since June and was part of the Liverpool Architecture Festival 2024 programme, but I didn’t have time to go along to support the project during the festival period. The graphics and promotional materials, including the guide designed by artist Luke Fawcett, look fantastic, so I am eagerly anticipating learning more about Liverpool’s LGBTQ+ heritage.

Trivia: This year, the Liverpool Architecture Foundation reached a major milestone. Our third festival, the Liverpool Architecture Festival 2024 (#LAF24) took place in June. It engaged with over 4,000 people and included a dedicated space for a festival hub and a pop-up exhibition for the first time. The Architecture Showcase presented work from architecture practices based throughout the Liverpool City Region, providing a great opportunity to interact with the public. We are looking forward to achieving more significant milestones for the 2026 festival – stay tuned!

This week our Culture Radar guest is Director of Marketing & Comms, ACC Liverpool, Joanna Rowlands.

Loved: I went to see Taylor Swift at Anfield, not because I’m a massive fan but because I knew I would have mega FOMO if I didn’t when the rest of the city would be there. I LOVED IT! What a show. What a woman. Three solid hours of performance. Being at a big music event makes me so emotional at the best of times so seeing all those young people singing every word and mirroring every dance move, rendered me a puddle.

Looking forward to: I love musicals and invariably have about three in the diary at any one time. We have a system that works – dinner with BYO booze in The Egg, musical at the Empire and a sing song in Ma Egy’s afterwards. It’s always a joy. It’s a way off but I’m really REALLY looking forward to Hamilton coming to Liverpool. I’ve never seen it live but I know all the songs from Disney+. The main challenge will be not singing too loudly in the theatre.

Trivia: My career in the arts started when I worked at the Everyman in 1996 as an usher. It was one long party. I was on a gap year with a day job at John Moores and after work I would hot foot it up the hill to Hope Street to chuck Revels and warm wine at customers, before staying up till the early hours arguing about politics in the much-missed Ev Bistro.

This week our Culture Radar guest is Stakeholder Relations Manager at Liverpool John Moores University, Kerry Weeks (pictured above, right).

Loved: I visited the incredible, immersive Beyond Van Gogh event at the ACC last month and was blown away by this unique approach to experiencing art. I expected it to be visually stunning, but the audio really added to how immersive the experience is and took it to another level.

Looking forward to: This week I had a speedy glance around the fabulous Liverpool Art Fair at the Liver Building as I had a meeting there. I’m planning to go back and take my time, because it definitely warrants a proper visit. For a slight change of pace, tonight I’m heading to the Liverpool Indoor Funfair with my wife! We’re huge fans of funfairs and always make an effort to support the incredible showmen and their families to continue this fabulous tradition.

Trivia: My wife and I film and vlog our visits to theme parks and fun fairs in the UK and overseas, including capturing our on-ride experience on coasters and rides. This has become a real passion of ours over the past two years. It’s given us insight to the fascinating life of the showman and immersed us in the incredible community of showmen, workers and enthusiasts around the world. You can find us @themeparksandadventures on TikTok and YouTube.

 

This week our Culture Radar guest is the Founder and Managing Director of Focal Studios, Dennis Outten.

Loved: We really enjoyed the dance, music, arts, theatre, new street art and comedy at New Brighton Arts Festival, which was organised by one of our partners, CChange (Holy Family Multi Academy Trust) who are also based on Victoria Road. It was fantastic to see how their creative curriculum has directly impacted the lives and aspirations of so many young people who performed or took part in the festival. 

We even got to see scouse legends Space play on the main stage with some of our projection mapping onto Good Hood forming an immersive backdrop!

Looking forward to: It’s another shameless plug for a Wirral event but we’re so excited for the Future Now Festival at Future Yard on Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th August. Especially the peerless Wirral-born She Drew The Gun, whose visceral, hard hitting songwriting expounds the wild injustices faced in 21st century Britain after 14 years of Conservative rule. 

The festival has grown so much that it’s taking over Birkenhead Town Hall and multiple venues across the town, promising to be an incredible weekend of musical talent and celebration. Considering its only 1 stop on the train from James Street, there’s no reason for the Scouse psychological divide to hinder attendance across the water! 

Trivia: Focal Studios have recently taken over the upper floors of the old Natwest Bank on Victoria Road, New Brighton, that we’re turning into a Creative Technology Hub. It’s situated above Jayne Casey’s (CREAM, District, Baltic Triangle) amazing new venue and is promising to be an incredible addition to the city region’s most thriving seaside creative community – Costa Del Newbo. We can’t wait to share it with everyone and begin making an impact on the livelihoods of creatives in the region.

We also have an incredible immersive installation opening in Wilkie’s New Palace (the 1920s fronted arcade and funfair) with artist Di Mainstone, which is a real coup for the region. If you haven’t popped over yet to check out the world-class street art, bars/pubs, cafes/restaurants, galleries, seaside heritage and event spaces, grab your sunnies and come check it out. You’ll probably end up moving here with the rest of us!

Our Culture Radar guest this week is Digital Marketing, Communications and Content Producer at Open Eye Gallery, Maria Gulina.

Loved: I love the current exhibition at Open Eye Gallery. It’s called A Place Of Our Own and it brings together the local stories of people across Walton (North Liverpool), Prescot (Knowsley) and Chester town centre. All the works produced are examples of socially engaged projects, meaning that photographers and local communities have come together to co-author work which best reflects their local area. Whilst the three projects show varying views and responses to each location, what connects them is a clear pride in people’s memories and associations with each place.

Looking forward to: I’m really looking forward to the next project we are working on: LOOK Climate Lab 2024! We’ll be bringing together researchers and artists to show how photography can be a relevant and powerful medium for talking about climate change, and the events programme is looking very exciting. Mark your calendars: we’re opening on 18th January 2024.

Trivia: It was sad (but eye-opening) to learn more about Roma and Traveller communities. One of our socially engaged photographers, Ciara Leeming, worked with Roma and Traveller girls and women, to produce a zine and an exhibition. Roma and Traveller communities are already among the most marginalised in Britain – with a life expectancy 10-12 years below the national average. They face a lot of stereotypes, and I hope that our exhibition and the zine with their honest and brave stories will encourage empathy and understanding.