Community Post Type: News

It Takes Two is back in the Liverpool Philharmonic Music Room, 19 March 2024, 8pm, with a brand-new line-up featuring four of Merseyside’s most exciting vocal duos…

Merseyside/Irish folk duo The Folk Doctors take to the stage, their debut album Silent Shores having received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Limerance, known for their unmistakable chemistry, light-hearted chatter and lovely engagement, bring unique harmonies and beautiful lyrics via music inspired by Americana, folk and country.

The recently formed Bau Cat present music spanning psych, indie, roots and rock n roll, cultivating a sound that sits between retro and modern. The Troubadears perform originals as well as smash hits penned by the classic songwriters of folk, rock, country and pop, showcasing their natural blend of vocals that has wowed audiences across the UK.

Tickets available here

From the team behind Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse, and Ghost Stories for Christmas, ArtsGroupie presents, A Portrait of William Roscoe.

Celebrating a renowned writer and one of England’s first abolitionists. This play will see the man break free from the confines of his canvas to share his captivating tale.

A poet, historian, and patron of the arts, he was responsible for helping to establish the first botanical garden in Liverpool in 1802. In that same year, he wrote a children’s poem, The Butterfly’s Ball and The Grasshopper’s Feast for his son, Robert, which won him international fame.

Roscoe was a social activist throughout his life, as an advocate for the environment, and racial justice. He became an MP in Liverpool to vote against slavery, leading to the abolition of slavery in 1807.

Journey with us back to see Liverpool through the eyes of this distinguished gentleman.

“A Portrait of William Roscoe“ returns after its successful 2023 run, this time gracing Halewood CultureFest, an annual programme of cultural, artistic, environmental and sporting events in various locations around Halewood.

Sunday, 23rd June, 2024

St Nicholas’ Church

Church Road

L26 6LB

Directed by Margaret Connell

Written and Performed by John Maguire

Ticket Quarter

https://bit.aly/3TjCXlG

More dates coming soon…

Heritage Workshops

Art-loving, history-loving people, we need you to take part in some community-driven creativity at Liverpool Central Library, and other locations with Liverpool Irish Festival –

Thursday mornings till June

Volunteering with local artists, we want you to help us create artworks for Liverpool Irish Famine Trail sites based on the idea of family surnames with an Irish connection.

You will meet interesting and creative people, learn lots about your city and contribute to an internationally important project.

We also would love to see family photographs and hear stories about your family.

Interested please email for further information.

Part of a National Heritage Lottery funded project.

First session – Thurs 21^st Mar 11am – 2pm at Central library

BOXPARK Liverpool will be opening its doors to the public on Friday 19 April 2024, with an epic launch party and a serious line-up of festival-style events across the weekend (19 – 21 April).

The venue will be located in the historic Canning Hall as part of the Cains Brewery Village situated in the Baltic Triangle, Liverpool’s cultural and creative hub. The fully integrated all-day dining and events space will span 21,000 sq. and feature eight independent traders from the City and surrounding areas, which will be announced in the coming weeks. The Baltic Triangle’s exciting new addition will also feature a 5,500 sq. ft external terrace for al fresco dining and intimate events.

From 19 – 21 April, BOXPARK Liverpool will host a series of festival-style parties in its 1,500- capacity events space, which will see some of the City’s most loved acts, and exciting up-and- coming musicians and DJs celebrate the new arrival in the Baltic Triangle.

Expect specially curated top-class events with an iconic BOXPARK twist, delivering unbeatable vibes.
The full programme for BOXPARK Liverpool’s opening weekend will be announced soon.

TO BE THE FIRST TO KNOW WHEN TICKETS GO LIVE, SIGN-UP HERE.

Simon Champion, CEO of BOXPARK said: “It’s a special moment for us knowing that the opening date for BOXPARK Liverpool is just right around the corner. The team have been working hard to ensure our first opening outside of London will be as impactful as we had envisioned when originally planning BOXPARK Liverpool. We’re transforming Canning Hall and bringing job opportunities into the area, which we’re incredibly excited about. We also can’t wait to give everyone a flavour of what to expect from BOXPARK Liverpool with our big plans for the opening weekend!”

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “Our area is an international destination with a world-class reputation and a thriving visitor economy – which is worth more than £5bn a year and supports over 50,000 local jobs. We have cemented our region’s status as the UK’s cultural capital – but I know we have so much more to offer.

“The Baltic Triangle is one of our area’s great urban regeneration success stories and is now a hub of vibrant and creative venues. To put it simply, nowhere is better placed to host the BOXPARK’s newest venue – the first outside of London – and I can’t wait to see it grow from strength to strength in its new home!”

BOXPARK has agreed a 15-year lease with Cains Brewery Village and will focus on championing local independent businesses, through its extensive food and entertainment offering, investing more than £5m into the Baltic Triangle and expecting to bring 150 new jobs to the local community.

Escapes, supported by the BFI awarding National Lottery funding, returns on Monday 25th March 2024 with over 15,000 tickets to a special preview of new British comedy SEIZE THEM! The film is showing at FACT Liverpool and The Light, New Brighton.

With the opportunity to watch the film ahead of its official UK release date, free tickets are available to encourage everyone to discover, or rediscover, independent cinema. This month sees Escapes making its audiences smile and laugh as they’re transported to the dark ages to watch the story unfold of arrogant Queen Dagan becoming a fugitive in her own land.

With a strong cast, the new comedy Seize Them! stars Sex Education actress Aimee Lou Wood and Lolly Adefope, famous for her appearance in sitcom Ghosts. Cinema-goers should expect a voyage of surprises, hardship, danger and most-of-all, humour, with the film featuring an impressive line up for comedic talent, including Nicola Coughlan, known for her roles in Derry Girls and Bridgerton, BAFTA-winning actress Jessica Hynes, Hot Fuzz star Nick Frost and stand-up comedian James Acaster.

On a mission to bring new audiences to local cinemas, Escapes is offering the chance for everyone, especially those who rarely prioritise a trip to the cinema, the opportunity to watch the film for free and prior to its release date, giving guests an exclusive first-look. New locations this month will include London’s South Bank, Woking, Plymouth, Reading, Haverfordwest, Tewkesbury and Fakenham along with much-loved destinations Norwich, Ipswich and many more, with the full list below. Escapes screenings will also feature descriptive subtitles in over 100 of their venues to make the experience more inclusive.

Offering a year of free independent film, Escapes will announce free regular screenings. Tickets are FREE and available to secure at escapetothecinema.co.uk/tickets

Liverpool John Moores University will look back on its milestone Bicentenary year at an exhibition of work by artist Julia Midgley created during her residency throughout 2023. 

Julia Midgley: Bicentenary Sketchbook – A Window On LJMU’s 200th Anniversary Year will go on public display from Monday 18 to Sunday 24 March at the LJMU John Lennon Art and Design Building.  

As Artist in Residence, Julia visited the LJMU campus regularly during the year to capture everything from open days to public lectures, to student projects and graduation celebrations, using her distinctive documentary and reportage style to create a poignant record of a historic year.  

Julia created around 140 individual drawings with watercolour from her time on campus, some of which have been curated for the special exhibition which will also feature large-scale reproductions of the original works, Julia’s sketchbooks and her art materials.   

Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark Power said: “Julia captured the many different aspects of university life throughout 2023, documenting our milestone anniversary year in her unique style. There’s a real sensory element to Julia’s work – from perfectly capturing the emotion of graduation to the animated delivery of our historic Bicentenary year Roscoe Lecturers – I’m excited for people to see these vibrant works for themselves.”   

In bringing the exhibition to fruition, Julia has worked in collaboration with the Bluecoat’s Director of Cultural Legacies Bryan Biggs, one of LJMU’s Bicentenary Honorary Fellows, and final year History of Art and Museum Studies student Madeleine Pedley, brought onto the project through an innovative internship opportunity through the university’s on-campus recruitment agency Unitemps.  

Bicentenary year Artist in Residence, Julia Midgley, said: “It’s been a real privilege and delight to record the events of LJMU’s Bicentenary year in my sketchbooks through drawing.  Although very familiar with the School of Art and Design the project has introduced me to the many-faceted world of the whole university. Staff and students warmly welcomed me, a professional fly on the wall in their workplaces, and with great courtesy they inspected the sketchbooks. Hopefully the drawings will help others to enjoy the journey.”   

Final-year student and exhibition intern, Madeleine Pedley, said: “It’s been a really great opportunity and it’s always amazing to learn and grow both personally and career-wise. Throughout my internship I’ve been put in a professional environment, and it’s been nice to have professional expectations of your work too. Please do come to the show!”  

Bluecoat’s Director of Cultural Legacies, Bryan Biggs, said: “We did the internship interviews and Madeleine really shone. We’ve been very pleased to work with her and to give her an insight into how you not just organise an exhibition, but how you promote it and that’s something that Maddy is particularly interested in and maybe further down the line she might well go into that area of work. 

“It’s also very special for me to get to collaborate with Julia and LJMU on this exhibition. I got the fellowship in the Bicentenary year – I think there’s even a drawing of me among Julia’s work – and I’ve known Julia for a long time. Encapsulating these moments in drawing, combining accuracy with spontaneity, is a highly skilled practice, one in which Julia excels, and this exhibition demonstrates the continuing vitality of that process.”  

Exhibition opening times and location  

Visit the exhibition from Monday 18 to Sunday 24 March, open to the public from 10am to 4pm, at LJMU’s John Lennon Art and Design Building, Duckinfield Street, Liverpool L3 5RD.  

An acclaimed Liverpool musician has launched a new album inspired by an Edwardian era fantasy novel.

Neil Campbell‘s new album, ‘The Smoky God‘, was released on the 8th of March and is based on Willis George Emerson’s 1908 book of the same name.

Emerson’s ‘The Smoky God, or a Voyage Journey to the Inner Earth’, is a story presented as a true account describing the adventures of Olaf Jansen, a Norwegian sailor, who sailed with his father through an entrance to the Earth’s interior at the North Pole.

Their journey spans across their lifetime and for two years the sailor and his father lived with the inhabitants of an underground network of colonies; described by Emerson as ’12 feet tall and whose world was lit by a “smoky” central sun – the ‘Smoky God’.

At the end of the story our protagonist Olaf Jansen returns, via a South Pole passage, to the surface world but nobody believes his fanciful tale and he is institutionalised for many years in an asylum. Only on his deathbed is his personal testimony transcribed by Emerson in the book.

Most of the music for ‘The Smoky God’ was recorded at the end of Campbell’s work with Joey Zeb, Andy Maslivec and Marty Snape in the band Bulbs around 2013.

Campbell recommenced pre-production of this recording in 2016 with Marty Snape in order to perfect the electronics. After moving the project across to Liverpool’s Crosstown Studios with Roger Gardiner on bass and Viktor Nordberg on drums Campbell pulled together all the additional tracking, which involved a great deal of overdubbing.

A continuation of this work with engineer/co-producer Jon Lawton, they have brought to this album many production and arrangement techniques developed across recordings made together over the last five years, culminating in an album that melds progressive rock with systems (minimalist) music in equal measure.

The Smoky God can be ordered as a CD or in digital format now via https://neilcampbell.bandcamp.com/album/the-smoky-god

Jazz Saturdays at Ma Boyle’s Alehouse and Eatery is back with its next of shows at the intimate hideaway in Liverpool, featuring some of the leading lights from across the jazz spectrum.

At Liverpool’s longest running jazz weekly, a kaleidoscopic range of jazz sounds grace Ma Boyle’s, inspired by the magic of New Orleans and Brazilian beats to the simmering back streets of Paris, with shows packed out for each date. 

Proudly working with Parrjazz, this new run is particularly special with a true legend performing at Ma’s on Saturday 30th March. The American icon Sid Jacobs is joining up with the UK’s Tom Remon for what promises to be a unique Liverpool show. Further guests include Neil Yates, Blind Monk, Cuba Vida Band, Dean Masser and the Perri Alleyne-Hughes Ensemble.

Ma Boyle’s founder Iain Hoskins says: “We’re very proud of the next round of Jazz Saturdays here at Ma Boyle’s. The team at Parrjazz have once more curated a wonderful range of guests and we are really lucky to have the legendary Sid Jacobs joining us on Saturday March 30th. He’s one of the true American jazz legends on guitar and has performed with some of the greats including Brad Mehldau, Eddie Harris, Larry Goldings, Harold Land and Joe Diorio. And with him, Tom Remon started out with the Tomorrow’s Warriors with Gary Crosby, Binker Golding, and Nathaniel Facey. He’s toured across the UK with MOBO award nominated jazz drummer David Lyttle and regularly performs with artists including Neil Yates, Soweto Kinch, Jonathan Gee and many others on the UK scene. This date is going to raise the roof at Ma’s.”

Tucked away off Water Street and nestled by the beautiful St Nick’s church gardens, Ma Boyle’s has seen the city change all around it whilst staying true to its historic maritime roots. It caters for breakfast brunchers and liquid lunchers to brilliant bistro food with a wonderful range of drinks and irresistible cocktails and is a fabulous hideaway from the city’s hustle and bustle.

In January 2024, the team celebrated 50 years since Ma Boyle’s first relocated to its current home in the Tower Building, years ago famous for its oysters – Ma’s really is a Liverpool institution and part of this ongoing story is Jazz Saturdays. 

All Jazz Saturdays events are completely free and start at 8pm – table can be reserved here 

 

Italian musicians will present two contemporary music concerts as part of a multi-arts spectacular in Liverpool this Friday.

Angel Field Festival returns to Liverpool Hope University’s Creative Campus this week and next with an action packed line up of art, mythology, theatre, film, music, magic and more.

The festival is an annual celebration named after the farm which was originally located on the site of the current Creative Campus, and brings together an exiting and diverse programme of entertainment. Rich in culture, there’s something for everyone and all the family.

On 8th March at 7:30pm, Roberto Fabbriciani, flautist and composer, presents a concert for the centenary of the birth of Luigi Nono, as a tribute to the composer’s desire to experiment and innovate. Featuring the premiere of a new composition for flute and electronics by Stephen Davismoon, Roberto Fabbriciani – Omaggio a Luigi Nono (2006) for small flute and tape, and Das atmende Klarsein, fragmente (1980/87) for bass flute, tape and live electronics.

At 6.45pm, before the concert, there will also be a pre-concert interview and Q&A with Roberto Fabbriciani himself.

Immediately following the show at 9pm, Florence Acousmatic Music will see a series of recent acousmatic works representing Florence’s influence in bringing together music and new technology. The show will outline a cross section of this educational path, of the professional environment and of the cultural heritage of the city.

For more information, visit the festival’s website here.

John Lewis has unveiled a mural depicting a vibrant collage featuring three influential makers of past and present – from the late textile designer Lucienne Day to present day icons Charlotte Tilbury and Yvonne Telford – on Liverpool’s Bold Street, as part of a new campaign.

Created by a talented anonymous female artist, who is part of Mural Republic, the mural is being painted to have a bold and empowering look with vibrant colours and striking portraits of these iconic women.

Painted over the course of a week and due to be unveiled in line with International Women’s Day this year, the mural celebrates three women who are part of the fabric of John Lewis’ history.

The John Lewis store in Liverpool is celebrating International Women’s Day with a live event, offers and treats for customers shopping on the day (Friday 8th March); including performances from famous female talent, such as Gemma Cairney who will be DJing in the store.

John Lewis’s new campaign, which launches ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8th, is inviting makers – designers, producers and emerging women-led brands – to join ‘John Lewis & Sisters’ and have their products stocked for Christmas.

Changing its name to reflect the new campaign on social media (from 4-10th March), ‘John Lewis & Sisters’ will be a platform for women to share their talents, stories, and ideas with buyers, as the brand searches for more makers.

Any brand can put themselves forward with details on how to apply on the International Women’s Day hub. Shortlisted businesses will move through to a second pitch-style round before the final line up is chosen. Finalists will have the opportunity to become a stockist in John Lewis stores for Christmas.