Community Post Type: News

Following the success of its ongoing collaboration with Liverpool’s leading independent art gallery, dot-art, INNSiDE by Meliá Liverpool, part of Meliá Hotels International, has announced the next exhibition in its rotating art programme, showcasing Postcards by Liverpool-based artist Jazz Stan. 

Launching on Thursday 23rd July, the hotel’s gallery space will present a vibrant new body of work inspired by the power of memory, imagination and our emotional connection to place.  

Created during periods of lockdown and the isolation of new motherhood, Postcards emerged from Jazz’s desire to mentally transport beyond the confines of everyday life. Through painting, the exhibition explores how she connected with places both real and imagined, drawing on colours, textures, sounds, food and stories to create vivid emotional landscapes. 

Inspired by travel photography, local music, regional cuisine and soundscapes, Jazz created many of the works before ever visiting the places they depict. The collection explores the idea that places can be experienced through memory, imagination and the senses, inviting visitors to reflect on the moments when a familiar scent, song or memory evokes a powerful sense of place. 

Based in Liverpool, Jazz Stan is a mural artist whose practice spans a diverse range of media, styles and scales. Blending fine art techniques with contemporary influences, her bold and expressive work has evolved to incorporate elements of abstract expressionism, using movement, natural tones and intuitive mark-making to create striking compositions. Alongside original canvas works, Jazz has delivered large-scale public murals across the UK, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and has completed commissions for globally recognised brands including Disney, Porsche, Instagram, Red Bull, Waterstones and Estrella Damm. 

The exhibition forms part of INNSiDE Liverpool’s ongoing partnership with dot-art. Reflecting INNSiDE’s Stay Curious philosophy, the partnership invites travellers to discover Liverpool’s thriving creative community during their stay. Located on the hotel’s first floor, the gallery offers a relaxed and accessible space to explore contemporary art, with each exhibition introducing new perspectives and emerging artistic talent. 

All artworks featured in Postcards will be available to purchase throughout the exhibition, with visitors also encouraged to explore dot-art Gallery, located just a short walk from the hotel on Castle Street. 

The exhibition officially launches with a private viewing on Thursday 23rd July. Sign up HERE to attend.  

Location: First Floor, INNSiDE by Melia Liverpool, Old Hall Street, Liverpool L3 9PP, United Kingdom    

For further information, please visit dot-art.co.uk/innside  

To book a room, please visit www.innside.com/liverpool    

Birkenhead has been shortlisted for the Uk Town of Culture prize, with each of the 15 towns selected now receiving £60,000 to develop their bids.

It will now compete for the inaugural UK Town of Culture 2028 title across three categories – small towns, medium towns and large towns. The shortlisted towns are:

Small towns: Ilfracombe, Isle of Bute, Lerwick, Sandown, Strabane, and Stockton Town Centre Ward

Medium towns: Corby, Great Yarmouth, Leith, Pontypridd, and Port Talbot

Large towns: Basildon, Birkenhead, Grimsby and Rotherham

Birkenhead will explain how it will use culture to celebrate their town, showcase original storytelling, empower it’s local communities and provide more accessible culture in the area.

The overall winner will be announced early next year and receive a £3 million grant from the government, along with hosting a season of culture in 2028. This will help to deliver a long-lasting legacy of cultural participation and local pride.

The UK Town of Culture competition is part of the government’s ambition to restore pride in local areas in every part of Britain and deliver a decade of national renewal, following the announcement of the Pride in Place Programme last year. Throughout this year, this competition – together with the UK City of Culture 2029 competition – will continue to shine a light on local visions and voices from across the UK to help encourage increased local investment, create a lasting sense of pride, and open doors to the arts and culture for everyone.

See the Birkenhead UK Town of Culture campaign video here

A new exhibition 70 Years of The Cavern Club is set to open in Liverpool in 2027 celebrating 70 years of one of the world’s most iconic live music venues. The new exhibition, in collaboration with The Cavern Club charts the venue’s rise from a post-war jazz club in a Mathew Street cellar, to global cultural phenomenon and the thriving live venue it is today.

Internationally recognised as the birthplace of The Beatles and the defining venue of Merseybeat, The Cavern Club’s story is inseparable from that of Liverpool itself, shaped by the same social, cultural and economic fortunes as the city around it.

Founded by Alan Sytner as a jazz venue, the club opened its doors on 16 January 1957 and quickly attracted big jazz names such as Acker Bilk and Johnny Dankworth. The basement stage also became home to local emerging talent, including Ringo Starr, playing drums with Rory Storm’s Hurricanes and The Quarry Men Skiffle Group, featuring John Lennon, and later Paul McCartney and George Harrison. The Beatles became the resident Cavern band, building their reputation and their sound there, before going on to spark the worldwide phenomenon of Beatlemania.

The 1960s Cavern was THE place to be seen, and international artists flocked to the club, from Chuck Berry to Stevie Wonder, who performed there in 1966 aged just fifteen. Since then, the venue has welcomed an extraordinary roll call of talent, from The Rolling Stones, The Who, Queen and Elton John to Oasis, Adele, The Arctic Monkeys and home-grown stars such as Jamie Webster, cementing its place as a living, breathing part of music history.

Julia Baird, John Lennon’s sister and Cavern co-owner said:

“My brother John always said his happiest times as a band were playing in the Cavern. He wasn’t alone in his love of this wonderful club and what a great opportunity to get those stories and memories together in one place. Here’s to another seventy years!”

Charting seven decades of unforgettable gigs, performances and nights out, 70 Years of The Cavern Club traces the Cavern’s closures, redevelopment and revival, following its journey through to today’s recognition as an integral part of a UNESCO City of Music. Personal stories and first-hand accounts run throughout, bringing the wider story of Liverpool’s music culture to life through the voices of the communities who lived it. The exhibition presents The Cavern Club as a shared cultural experience, shaped by those who were there and those who continue to be part of it today.

Karen O’Rourke, Curator of Sport, Music and Performance at Museum of Liverpool, added:

“The Cavern Club is so much more than the dank basement where The Beatles were discovered, it’s a cellar full of noise that has shaped Liverpool’s identity for seventy years. This exhibition is our chance to tell that fuller story: the rise, the fall, the emotion, the people and its life today as a hard-working venue. We want visitors to leave our exhibition feeling The Cavern Club the way generations from across the globe have felt it, not as a historic place, but as a living, breathing part of our amazing city.”

70 Years of The Cavern Club opens at Museum of Liverpool from Saturday 16 January 2027 to Sunday 31 October 2027. To find out more about 70 Years of The Cavern Club and to sign up to become a National Museums Liverpool member, visit: www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/cavern-club-70

Ahead of the exhibition’s opening, Museum of Liverpool and The Cavern Club will host Summer of Sound, a month of live music bringing some of Liverpool’s most celebrated acts to the museum this summer. The line-up includes The Quarrymen and Friends on 25 July; Dave Monks BBC Introducing presents STONE and featuring support acts SILENT-K and BITE on 1 August; This is Merseybeat on 8 August; Michael Head and the Red Elastic Band on 15 August, and Ian Prowse and The Monday Club on 22 August. The programme closes on 29 August with performances by Nube 9 from Argentina, The Flaming Shakers from Spain and Gleison Túlio from Brazil, all taking part in the International Beatleweek Festival. These special events begin on 24 July with Tom Kelly’s Musical Bingo, running every Friday evening through to 28 August, offering a warm-up to the Cavern Club’s 70th anniversary celebrations.

Full details and tickets are available at www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/summer-of-sound.

Liverpool Arab Arts Festival (LAAF) has received a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for a major new project exploring and preserving the festival’s history and the stories of Liverpool’s Arab communities.

The project, developed in partnership with Bluecoat, National Museums Liverpool, and representative community partner organisations, comes as LAAF marks 25 years of the festival and will focus on collecting, safeguarding and sharing the memories, experiences and cultural contributions that have shaped the organisation since it began in 1998.

Made possible thanks to National Lottery players, the project will work closely with young people of Arab heritage, giving them the opportunity to explore LAAF’s archive, record oral histories and help shape a public programme of exhibitions, events and digital content leading up to a major public launch in 2027.

Over more than two decades, LAAF has become an important cultural platform for Arab artists and communities locally, nationally and internationally. Through music, theatre, visual arts, literature, film, food and community projects, the festival has created space for dialogue, creativity and cultural exchange in Liverpool and beyond. In 2025 alone, the festival reached audiences of more than 35,000 people across 32 events.

At the heart of the heritage project is a desire to ensure these stories are not lost. Young people will work alongside artists, founders, community members and heritage specialists to document personal memories and explore materials from LAAF’s archive. These stories and materials will then be preserved and made accessible through partnerships with National Museums Liverpool, Liverpool Record Office, Bluecoat and community organisations, including the Liverpool Arabic Centre, the Merseyside Yemeni Community Association, and the Syrian Community in Liverpool.

Alongside preserving heritage, the project will also support young people of Arab heritage to develop skills and confidence in areas in which they are underrepresented, including oral history, heritage practice, event production and creative programming, helping open up future pathways into the cultural and creative sectors.

Afrah Qassim, Chair of Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, said: “For 25 years, Liverpool Arab Arts Festival has created space for Arab stories, artists and communities to be celebrated shared and understood. This project is about making sure those stories are preserved for future generations and giving young people of Arab heritage the chance to actively shape and share that history themselves. We’re incredibly grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for making this possible.”

Bryan Biggs, Director of Cultural Legacies at Bluecoat, said: “As co-founder of the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, the Bluecoat is delighted to participate in this project to explore the festival’s history through the lens of local community engagement. LAAF is a valued member of the creative community based in our building and we look forward to supporting this important opportunity for it to tell its story in such an imaginative and inclusive way.”

Liz Stewart, head of Museum of Liverpool said: “The Museum of Liverpool is delighted to be involved in this celebration of the story of LAAF. This is an important moment to capture the history of this significant cultural festival on its 25th anniversary. The project’s opportunities for young people to lead on exploring histories and programming community activity around it, is very exciting.”

Founded in 1998, Liverpool Arab Arts Festival is the UK’s longest-running annual festival dedicated to Arab arts and cultures. Alongside its annual festival, LAAF delivers year-round artistic, educational and community programmes that aim to celebrate identity, challenge perceptions and create meaningful cultural exchange.

LAAF is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation and receives support from Culture Liverpool through Liverpool City Council’s Culture and Arts Investment Programme.

This Autumn, the Liverpool Everyman revisits and breathes new life into a timeless classic, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, one of theatre’s most enduring and powerful stories. Arthur Miller’s modern classic of a family at breaking point and a man in conflict with his own sense of worth is directed by Olivier Award-winning Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu.

The production will star Cyril Nri (Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story), as Willy Loman, alongside Tayo Aluko (Call Mr. Robeson; Liverpool Everyman) as Uncle Ben, Adelaide Banks (The Woman), Emma Cater (Linda), Kiren Kebaili-Dwyer (Happy), Noah Olaoye (Bernard / Howard Wagner), Joe Speare (Charley / Stanley), Lawrence Ubong Williams (Biff), and is directed by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu (For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy and Deep Azure).  Death Of A Salesman lays bare a family at breaking point and a man wrestling with his own sense of worth.

Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu said, ‘Willy is a migrant and, like many migrants, is sold a dream, whether that be American or in the UK. You can make your mark, stake your claim – but the dream doesn’t always become reality, and there can be repercussions.  Willy also battles generational conflict: how do fathers and sons relate, and if the gap is too wide, can they ever meet in the middle to fulfil their potential?

Liverpool, like Brooklyn (where the play is set), is rich in Irish and Nigerian heritage and in mixed-race populations.  It’s important to me that this production is being performed in Liverpool, engaging with local audiences, and exploring what blackness and the migrant experience is across the UK. There’s a reason ‘Death of A Salesman’ is widely considered a classic and one of the greatest American plays ever written.’

Death Of A Salesman is presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International: www.mtishows.co.uk

Tickets Tickets for Death of A Salesman are Priced from £11 – £41 at https://everymanplayhouse.com/event/death-of-a-salesman/ or call boxoffice: 0151 709 4776
Captioned Performance – Thu 24 September, 7.30 pm
Audio-described performance – Thu 1 October, 7.30 pm
BSL performance – Friday 9 October, 7:30 pm
Post Show Discussion – Following the 7.30 pm performance on Wed 30 Sep, there will be a post-show discussion hosted by the Everyman & Playhouse’s Creative Director, Nathan Powell.

Liverpool artist Danny O’Connor is heading to the capital this summer with Awakened Dreams, a solo exhibition presented by Eclectic Gallery in The White Box at Nobu Hotel London Portman Square. The show runs from 11 to 23 August 2026, opening with a private view on Thursday 13 August, 6:00pm–8:00pm, featuring an intimate Q&A and a live painting demonstration.

O’Connor studied Graphic Arts at Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Art and Design and has spent more than a decade building a full-time practice from his studio in the city. Over that time he has developed a distinctive visual language: layered mixed media portraits and figures that blend graffiti, comics, tattoo art and expressionist influences, built up in acrylic, spray paint, ink, graphite and collage.

That language has travelled far beyond the North West. His work has appeared at Selfridges London, the LA Art Show, Moniker Art Fair and Affordable Art Fair, alongside bespoke commissions for Hard Rock Hotel, fashion brand Ellesse, Dirty Martini, Yum Cha and Everton FC. In publishing, he created the artwork for Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel Confess and its TV adaptation, as well as the cover of Tarryn Fisher’s Mud Vein, while his paintings have been collected and licensed by V Starr Interiors, the luxury design studio founded by tennis legend Venus Williams.

Awakened Dreams brings a new body of this work together under one roof, and the private view offers the rare chance to see it made: after the Q&A, guests will watch O’Connor paint live, his hyper-stylised figures taking shape in real time. For anyone who has followed his rise from art school in the city to international walls, it promises to be a memorable evening, and a proud one, with a homegrown talent taking centre stage at one of central London’s most prestigious venues.

Tickets for the private view are limited and advance booking is recommended; the exhibition is then open to the public until 23 August. In the meantime, you can explore O’Connor’s work his artist page at Eclectic Gallery and watch the short film Soul of Nature, which showcases his paintings and international collaborations.

Event details

• What: Private View – Danny O’Connor: Awakened Dreams (Q&A and live painting)
• When: Thursday 13 August 2026, 6:00pm–8:00pm
• Exhibition dates: 11–23 August 2026 (open to the public beyond the private view)
• Where: The White Box, Nobu Hotel London Portman Square, 22 Portman Square, London W1H 7BG
• Private view tickets: Private View: Danny O’Connor – Awakened Dreams
• General exhibition listing: Danny O’Connor Solo Show: Awakened Dreams

Danny O’Connor is represented by Eclectic Gallery. To learn more about Danny and his work, visit the gallery at 16 Newman Street, Fitzrovia, London W1T 1PB, or explore the website and Instagram.