Community Post Type: News

Get ready! This year’s Knowsley Pride celebrations are getting a major boost with Prescot Pride launching on Saturday 19 July too!

In partnership with Sahir House and Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot town centre will come alive from 2pm offering an alternative for LGBTQ+ adults to engage with creative workshops, activities and LGBTQ+ theatre.

This complements the family-friendly fun at Court Hey Park (12pm-2pm) organised by One Knowsley.

Full details of all the Knowsley Pride events and activities closer to the time on https://orlo.uk/OCBFN, https://orlo.uk/STqkb, and https://orlo.uk/9L7IO

Liverpool MakeFest After Party and Maker Brunch.

Join DoES Liverpool on Sat, 5 July from 18:00 for an Aftershow party, then recover from your hedonistic lifestyle with their Brunch.

Location: DoES Liverpool

Details: https://doesliverpool.com/maker-events/

Liverpool’s RAWD organisation are so pleased to announce that they have officially been shortlisted for the National Diversity Awards 2025!

RAWD has spent over a decade co-creating joyful, inclusive spaces where disabled artists can thrive. They believe creativity is a powerful vehicle for independence, confidence, and expression – enabling people to dream bigger, communicate more freely, and take up space that’s rightfully theirs.

Selected from over 85,000 nominations and votes! They would like to thank everyone who voted for them!

Talented students from Liverpool Theatre School are set to take over the Floral Pavilion Theatre for their end of year showcase, The Performance, on Wednesday 2nd July.

The show promises an uplifting evening of musical theatre and dance, featuring high energy entertainment that will whisk the audience off to the magical world of the Emerald City, then on to the heart of Africa before heading straight into the legendary rock anthems of Queen. There will also be a show-stopping performance of the disco classic It’s Raining Men, guaranteed to bring the house down.

Carefully choreographed to showcase the talent, skills and versatility of performers, the production brings together the whole of Liverpool Theatre School from final year students, who have already completed three years of rigorous professional training, to the rising stars of the junior academy.

“Our students have worked incredibly hard all year, and this is a wonderful opportunity to see their talent and dedication come to life on stage at the Floral Pavilion,” said Maxine Ellis, Principal of Liverpool Theatre School.

She added: “It’s set to be a fantastic evening of musical theatre and dance as our graduating students star in their last Liverpool Theatre School showcase before stepping into the world of professional performing. We’re looking forward to bringing the audience to their feet as graduates share the stage with our brilliant first and second year students, with a special appearance from the young performers in our junior academy who are coming up through the ranks. It’s going to be a real celebration of talent.”

Liverpool Theatre School, whose patrons include dance legend Wayne Sleep OBE and musical theatre star Anita Dobson, provides talented young performers with the skills they need to perform at a professional level. The centre of excellence has shaped the careers of many of the region’s professional dancers, performers and musical theatre stars, with former students going on to appear in shows such as Mamma Mia!, SIX, Frozen, Starlight Express, Blood Brothers and Wicked.

Only the most talented performers are accepted on the elite training programmes at Liverpool Theatre School, which has a strict audition process in place. As part of a commitment to making high level musical theatre and dance training more accessible to gifted performers from working class backgrounds, there are a number of fully funded places and bursaries available every year.

In addition to full-time professional training, Liverpool Theatre School also provides coaching for younger performers at its junior academy, which is open to anyone from the age of four to 16. Established in 1939, Liverpool Theatre School is the city’s longest running performing arts school. It is located on Sefton Street, near the city’s Creative Quarter. For further information, please visit liverpooltheatreschool.co.uk.

The Performance will take place at the Floral Pavilion at 7pm on Wednesday 2nd July. Tickets cost £24 each and are available online at floralpavilion.com.

Summer Open 2025, ArtHouse, EastBank Street, Southport, 8^th – 26^th July 2025

A sure sign that Summer has arrived is when Southport Contemporary Art’s gallery in Eastbank Street – the ArtHouse – throws open its doors to welcome visitors to its much-anticipated Summer Open Exhibition.

SCA has established a reputation for bringing together a range of high quality contemporary art and craft from both emerging and established artists throughout the year and this year’s Summer Open will unmistakeably demonstrate the scope of creativity and artistic talent across the region.

Co-Director of SCA, Norrie Beswick-Calvert explains this year’s theme: “The 2025 Summer Open will celebrate the joyful feeling and colours of Summer and the diversity of activities that the Summer season allows us to get involved with whether that’s music festivals, beach picnics or tea and cake in the garden. As always with our Open Exhibitions we’re excited to be hosting work from the wider community and reviewing the submissions for our Summer Open 2025 looks like being a really interesting and uplifting show”.

Norrie sets the tone of this year’s show with her own ambitious entry, “Ocean Flora”: “Summer intensifies the colour around us and this holds true for the amazing underwater flora that I glimpse and explore on my summer beach walks”.

Open to Artists and Makers living in the Liverpool City Region or Lancashire, there will be plenty to attract even the most discerning connoisseur at this year’s wide-ranging show.

Originally born and brought up in Liverpool, Ainsdale artist Anthony Coulthurst moved to London to complete a Fine Art degree before returning to his roots 30 years later in 2019: “I have worked in many different media over the years including printmaking, pastel, watercolour and acrylic. For the last few years I have worked exclusively in collage after seeing some collages by American artist, Romare Bearden, which encouraged me to look into the medium and was impressed by the expressive possibilities”.

An obsessive ‘drawer’ even before he started primary school, Anthony’s 2025 collage, “Fallen Tree, Petts Wood”, is a riot of texture and tumbling pattern: “I lived in Petts Wood for twelve years and have produced several works on the subject of fallen trees in the South East London area. I am attracted to the resilience/persistence of nature and how fallen trees grow back stronger. The improvisational quality of collage makes it particularly suited to representing these transient effects. I see these pictures as being optimistic”.

Equally well versed at recycling the ephemera of everyday life, local mixed-media artist, Suzanna Gregg’s cutting-edge collages are sensitive ‘cut-and-paste’ assemblages incorporating imagery scavenged from a wide variety of sources: “My practice is somewhat eclectic and often messy, with a love for experimenting and trying something new. All of my pieces tell the story of something that has either captured my imagination or touched my emotions”.

Memories of holidaying in Cornwall became the muse for two of her current images on display: “A single surfer alone on Fistral Beach early one morning was the inspiration for a mixed media piece. She looked so tiny on the wide expanse of sand with the waves rushing in”.  Equally arresting is Suzanna’s abstract collage – “Elements of Summer” – that creatively “evokes the atmosphere of hot summer days along the beautiful coast of Cornwall”.

Textile artist and designer, Jo Landy from Formby, who has many years experience teaching in further and higher education and working as a freelance designer at international level, is also seduced by the serendipity of working in collage: “I love experimenting with layering and collage, using my garden and local environment as starting points”.

“Alliums and Cow Parsley” sympathetically mixes batik, inks and stitch and has direct links to the ornamentation of flowers in her own garden: “I am passionate about using recycled or found materials that are hand dyed or painted. Natural dyes are of particular interest to me”.

Based on Jo’s continued investigation into documenting the beauty of trees throughout the seasons, another entry – “Abundance” – skilfully incorporates print, stitch and collage to creatively articulate her vision.

In a change from her usual tactile approach, Janet Hatch from Maghull recently decided to test the artistic waters by working with oils: “I had never used the medium before but decided to give it a good go. It’s now my favourite, especially when used with cold wax. I love the way it moves. Gradually I’m getting more confident in this medium and hopefully won’t get bored for a long time”.

Her experimental sequential quadtych – “Summer Evenings” – on show at this year’s Summer Open is her personal interpretation of the Sefton coastline, skilfully using atmospheric Impressionistic gestures to evoke the mood of the tranquil landscape.

This year’s Summer Open will kick-start with a special Preview Evening (6-8pm) on Tuesday 8^th July and remain on show until 26^th July at ArtHouse, 65 Eastbank Street, Southport PR8 1EJ.  Opening times: Tuesday – Friday: 10am-3pm & Saturday: 11am-4pm.

Get ready for some serious fun and gleeful games! 🤩

The Serious Nonsense Festival returns to Prescot town centre on Saturday 23 August.

There’ll be FREE family entertainment, activities, and performances that promise music, mischief, and pure joy!

From toe-tapping tunes to side-splitting spectacles, you won’t want to miss it. Read more on Culture Knowsley.

Save the date in your diary now:
🗓️ Saturday 23 August
📍 Prescot Town Centre
⌚ 11am – 6pm

Liverpool City Region is one of six areas to receive part of a new £150m fund to boost creative industries.

Liverpool City Region has been chosen due its strengths in sectors including film and TV, music and video games – with the city region already home to more than 50 active gaming companies including Sony PlayStation and work is underway to transform the former Littlewoods Building into a world-class film, TV and creative campus.

The Creative Places Growth Fund will be allocated to Mayors in six regions outside London to support local creative businesses and freelancers with access to finance, mentoring and networking opportunities, and skills development.

It is part of wider £380m Government investment package that’s set to benefit thousands of creative professionals and businesses across the UK from grassroots music venues to world-class film studios.

Liverpool is already the most filmed UK city outside London and is developing its production facilities and talent pipeline as the city region strives to become the ‘Hollywood of the North’.

The Combined Authority has committed up to £17m to develop the Littlewoods Film and TV Studios and has invested £3m in the LCR Production Fund which has supported the making of award-winning TV shows including The Responder, Time and Help.

10 local residents from the Picton area have been gathering at Metal Liverpool across the 12 months to share their stories, relationships to the local area, and explore artistic-led community engagement.

These are the Mystery Dreamers, Metal Liverpool’s community group formed in June 2024. Their Mystery Dreamers have been instrumental in collaborating with Metal to commission a series of short stories and working towards a large scale event later this year to celebrate the culmination of Metal Liverpool’s Picton Play Project.

Read more about their Mystery Dreamers via the link here.

Homotopia Festival back this November, and they’re UPRISING. Homotopia Festival 2025 marks their 21st edition, and they’re celebrating bold, rebellious art that says: they’re still here.

This year’s theme, UPRISING, is a call to action. A love letter to local resistance. A celebration of creativity rooted in place, protest and pride.

From murals to drag, poetry to protest, join them in Liverpool this November for an unapologetically queer, defiant, grassroots arts festival.

Homotopia Festival 2025: UPRISING.

Right here. Right now…

Will you uprise with them?