Community Post Type: News

DaDaFest International Festival returns this autumn with a fantastic and fascinating programme showcasing the talents of disabled, Deaf and neurodivergent artists and performers.

This year’s festival, with the theme and title Hybrid, runs over six weeks from 26 October to 3 December at venues across the city and beyond including the Unity Theatre, Bluecoat, Museum of Liverpool and St Helens Library as well as online.

The 2022 event features the work of three DaDa Fellows who have received creative bursaries from DaDa to enhance their creative practice, build confidence, and develop skills to drive change for disabled people in the arts and our communities.

They are Kadisha Kayani, Rhiannon May and Amina Atiq.

The first festival week of events and performances all take place at the Unity Theatre, opening on Wednesday, 26 October when Rosa Faye Garland presents Trash Salad, co-produced by DaDa and Homotopia.

Rosa Faye Garland is a performer, clown and maker who trained at Ecole Philippe Gaulier. Trash Salad, a genre-bending burlesque adventure using lip sync, strip tease and song, is her solo comedy debut which became a cult hit at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

The programme continues on Thursday, 27 October with 24, 23, 22, ‘a little earthquake’ of a gig-theatre show produced by Nottingham-based theatre company Chronic Insanity.

On Friday, 28 October, Kadisha Kayani performs Sunshine and Shadows. Kadisha is a queer, neurodivergent artist and performer from Liverpool who focuses on work to stimulate socio-political change in the community.

It’s mid-covid and 19-year-old Estelle is feeling alone and reflective. When her relationship between her best friends is put to the test, and in the era of social media, will she feel like this forever or will she begin to face the fears of her inner child?

And on Saturday, 29 October, Deaf actor, theatre and textile designer Rhiannon May presents Crash Landing: A Theatrical Sensory Experience which invites its audience to plunge into the chaotic world of Planet Zoe.

All the first week of events will be filmed and will be available on demand from 31 October to 18 December.

The second week of the festival takes place online and on demand until 18 December and features Hera’s We Ask These Questions of Everybody, Past Life by Alice Christina-Corrigan, Flight Paths by Extant, the UK’s leading professional performing arts company of visually impaired artists and theatre practitioners, and Rachel Parry’s MALPER.

Intersectional feminist opera company Hera celebrates and shares music and stories you haven’t heard before. We Ask These Questions of Everybody, from joint artistic director Toria Banks and composer Amber Skuse, is an encounter between two women, an audience and a riotous chorus of disabled voices in a 50-minute digital operatic event sharing disabled people’s experiences under austerity in the UK and performed by an exceptional all-disabled ensemble.

Alice Christina-Corrigan is a visually impaired and neurodiverse actor, theatre maker and creative captioner. Past Life is a one person show underpinned by a unique sound score, audio descriptive language and creative captioning.

Meanwhile Flight Paths invites audiences to journey from medieval times to the contemporary world with the Goze blind storytellers of Japan, creating their own unique story through interactive navigation and encountering aerial performance, animation and song.

And Rachel Parry is a UK based interdisciplinary visual artist, curator and producer, whose experimental approach to their practice blends the use of live performance art, installation, traditional fine arts, writing and texts, body-based movement, sound, creative and digital technologies, to constantly dissect and retell their own living history.

In MALPER, embark on a weird and wonky web-based, interactive multiple-choice, clickable experience, resulting in a whimsical yet disastrous choice-driven experience, replicating their ADHD storytelling and lived experiences.

Keep Clear, an exhibition of photography by Mark Peachey is at St Helens Library from Monday, 7 November to Friday, 2 December. Mark captures locations with a strong sense of place, especially urban places including his home town St Helens where he finds the changing post-industrial landscape particularly engaging.

And DaDa Academy Digital Showcase is an online exhibition of work created by talented young people as part of the Alder Hey Project, a collaboration with Alder Hey Children’s Hospital which allows patients to establish their own voice and express themselves creatively, and the Young Musicians Ensemble. It also runs from Monday, 7 November.

The Museum of Liverpool is the location for an exhibition of work created as part of Shielded in the Community, a disabled-led project that gathered artistic responses to shielding from disabled people in the North-West responding to prompts from professional artists. It will open on Wednesday, 16 November to coincide with the start of Disability History Month.

Meanwhile The Bluecoat will host Amina Atiq on Wednesday, 23 November. Amina is a Yemini-Scouse poet, award-winning activist, performance artist and creative practitioner whose previous work for DaDaFest includes Broken Biscuits.

The Bluecoat will also be the venue for a DaDa Ensemble Concert on Friday, 25 November, featuring disabled, Deaf and neurodivergent musicians aged 12 to 25. Both events will be filmed and available on demand from 28 November to 18 December.

Pen Pals launches online on Monday, 28 November. The British Council-funded cross-cultural and cross-art form project brings together disabled artists associated with three international disability arts festivals in Liverpool, Indonesia and Nigeria.

And this year’s Edward Rushton Lecture takes place at the Museum of Liverpool on Saturday, 3 December, which is International Day of Disabled People. This year’s lecture, named after the blind poet, activist and abolitionist, will be given by writer and artist Khairani Barokka and will also be live streamed and then made available on demand.

Jakarta-based Khairani Barokka is editor of Modern Poetry in Translation. Her work has been presented widely internationally and aims to centre disability justice as anticolonial praxis. She is the author-illustrator of Indigenous Species (Tilted Axis), author of Rope and co-editor of Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back (both Nine Arches). Her latest book, Ultimatum Orangutan, is shortlisted for the Barbellion Prize.

DaDa, founded in 1984, develops and presents excellent disability and Deaf arts through a multi-art form artistic programme that includes high quality festivals, interventions and events, fed in to by a year-round programme of engagement work with developing and established artists, young disabled, Deaf and neurodivergent people, their families and the wider community.

DaDaFest International festival operates a ‘pay what you decide’ pricing with tickets for individual events ranging from a suggested £10 general admission to £8 concessions, £5 half price, and free.

There are also week tickets costing a suggested £20 general admission/£16 concessions/£10 half price/free, and festival passes which give access to events across the entire six weeks and which cost a suggested £40/£32/£20/free.

For full details and tickets see here

 

Our Place in Space: Church Street to Otterspool, Liverpool (14 October — 6 November 2022).

Liverpool has been announced as an additional stop on the UK tour of Our Place in Space, a recreation of the solar system as a stunning 8.1 km sculpture trail designed by artist Oliver Jeffers, astrophysicist Professor Stephen Smartt and a creative team led by Nerve Centre.

Following popular visits to Derry-Londonderry, Belfast and Cambridge during 2022, where it has been experienced by more than 300,000 people, the trail will touch down in the city from 14 October to 6 November, before returning to Northern Ireland in February 2023 at the Ulster Transport Museum.

Beginning on Church Street in the heart of the city centre and running along the riverside all the way to Otterspool, Our Place in Space is free to visit and features scale models of the Sun and planets, recreated as contemporary art sculptures. Colourful arches house each planet with an arrow and the name of the planet lit up in Las Vegas style lights.

At a scale of 591 million to one, the Sun is 2.35 metres across, Earth is 2.2 centimetres and Pluto just 4 millimetres. The Our Place in Space trail will run until 6 November with events and creative education programmes taking place across the city.

Our Place in Space, part of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, invites participants to consider how we might better share and protect our planet in future and what is the difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’? The project aims to bring our solar system down to Earth and send us soaring into the stars to find new perspectives and reconsider what it means to live life on our planet.

The trail is accompanied by the free Our Place in Space augmented reality app, available on Apple and Android, which allows users across the world to take a journey through the solar system, experiencing the planets in augmented reality and considering 10,000 years of human history on Earth. On the trail, users are invited to collect space souvenirs, including characters from the world of Oliver Jeffers, as well as launch a personalised star into space.

Oliver Jeffers, internationally renowned artist and author said: “For centuries, we’ve defined ourselves by who we are and who we’re not. Which side we choose, on what ground we stand, who and what we fight for. A human story, that lives merely in human minds. But with distance comes perspective – and what happens to our perspective on everything when we look back at Earth from space? Our Place in Space is a playful experiment that asks: What is the difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’? Which side are we on, and if we look back at ourselves from vastness of outer space – alone on our tiny planet, the only one that can harbour life – should there be any ‘sides’ at all?”

Our Place in Space has been designed by Oliver Jeffers with leading astrophysicist Professor Stephen Smartt and a creative team led by Nerve Centre, Northern Ireland’s leading creative media arts centre. Local partners helping to bring Our Place in Space to Liverpool include Culture Liverpool, Liverpool City Council, Liverpool BID Company and Canal & Riverside Trust.

Our Place in Space in Liverpool coincides with the launch of a new children’s book by Oliver, Meanwhile Back on Earth (HarperCollins). Inspired by the themes of Our Place in Space and available from 4 October, the book features a father who takes his two squabbling children on a journey into space to show them what binds us together matters more than what might set us apart. Oliver will be signing copies of his new book at Waterstones, College Lane, Liverpool on Saturday 15 October at 12 noon.

Our Place in Space is one of 10 major creative projects commissioned as part of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, a celebration of creativity taking place across the UK this year. UNBOXED features free large-scale events, installations and globally accessible digital experiences in the UK’s most ambitious showcase of creative collaboration.

There are opportunities for local people to become trail guardians while the trail is in Liverpool, helping enhance and support visitors’ experience. For more information visit www.ourplaceinspace.earth.

Our Place in Space is commissioned by UNBOXED and Belfast City Council. Led by Nerve Centre, the project is a collaboration between Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen’s University Belfast, National Museums NI, NI Science Festival, Big Motive, Taunt, Microsoft, Jeffers & Sons, Dumbworld, Live Music Now, Little Inventors, and Urban Scale Interventions.

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK is funded and supported by the four governments of the UK and is commissioned and delivered in partnership with Belfast City Council, Creative Wales and EventScotland.

For more information visit https://ourplaceinspace.earth/trail/liverpool

Liverpool Irish Festival – 20 – 30 October, Various venues across Liverpool and Wirral

10 days of 50+ outstanding Irish arts and cultural events celebrating the connections between Liverpool and Ireland.

The Festival, a highlight of the UK cultural calendar, includes an array of Irish artists and contributors from across the worlds of music, theatre, film, spoken word, visual arts and academia.

Alternatively get your walking shoes on for the ever-popular walking tours, linking the Irish community’s stories of settlement in Liverpool.

Takes place at venues across Merseyside from Thursday 20 to Sunday 30 October 2022.

Full details for each event can be found on Liverpool Irish Festival’s website: www.liverpoolirishfestival.com or follow them on social media @LivIrishFest #LIF2022 for festival updates and announcements.

An incredible quilt hand-stitched by 60 women survivors of modern slavery from across the UK will go on display at the International Slavery Museum from 14 October 2022.

Representing a powerful story of reflection, growth and empowerment, each square on the Freedom Quilt was made by participants and graduates of the Sophie Hayes Foundation employability programme. Created using iconic fabrics supplied by Liberty, every square made by the participating women represents their past and future hopes and dreams.

Each square – 247 in total – has been stitched together to form three distinctive regional quilts from London, Birmingham and Manchester. In total, the quilt uses almost 21,756 square inches of Liberty fabrics, creating a total surface area of almost 14.9 square yards. The piecing together of the squares embodies a poignant message of strength and unity.

Paul Reid, Head of the International Slavery Museum, said: “The Freedom Quilt is an incredible representation of liberation and hope, that we’re pleased to be welcoming to the museum in October. Each square within the quilt represents a very particular and personal story of overcoming struggle and looking ahead to a brighter future. The sheer scale of the quilt also acts as a powerful reminder of the scourge of modern slavery – the devastating effects of which are often hidden in plain sight.”

The Sophie Hayes Foundation is a manifestation of the ripple effects from one survivor, Sophie – a British girl trafficked to Italy for sexual exploitation, who founded the organisation in 2011. The Freedom Quilt is the culmination of the many successes and achievements of the Sophie Hayes Foundation during the past ten years. It is the starting point for the next decade of working towards sustainable freedom and independence.

Red Godfrey-Sagoo, CEO Sophie Hayes Foundation said: “For ten years, Sophie Hayes Foundation has helped women survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking in their fight for sustainable freedom and to be visible in a world where they are invisible.  The Freedom Quilt is their voice. Only by spreading this information can we raise awareness to the suffering that modern day slavery and human trafficking brings and help women create a new future of sustainable freedom.”

Sophie Hayes Foundation is aiming to raise £120,000 through Freedom Quilt donations.  100% of money raised through the Freedom Quilt goes towards Sophie Hayes Foundation programmes, providing coaching and education for survivors of modern slavery that leads to employment. To donate please visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/freedomquilt

The Freedom Quilt will be on public display at International Slavery Museum from 14 October. Find out more at https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/international-slavery-museum/exhibition/sophie-hayes-foundation-freedom-quilt

BlackFest – Liverpool’s grassroots Black arts festival – has revealed a packed line-up of multi-arts festivities taking place across the city in September and October.

The award-winning organisation is celebrating their recent double prize at the Merseyside Women of the Year Award as well as 5 years of platforming Black artists across Liverpool and beyond, by creating a festival programme that spans ten venues, showcasing art exhibitions, music nights, spoken word and poetry, theatre shows and much more.

The Liverpool grassroots organisation prides itself on nurturing a vibrant arts community throughout the year via educational and empowering projects, and Director, Jubeda Khatun is delighted to be able to finally reveal the lineup of events – kicking off with their biggest opening event ever at the Pierhead.

The Pierhead show on 24^th September will feature acts such as Afrodance Academy bringing AfroAmpiano dance piece and fierce drumming troupe Katumba bringing fusions of UK big beat Carribean Calypso and Carnival of North East Brazil.

Some of the brightest up-and-coming musical talent and poets in the city will also feature on the line-up, including Shak Omar, AMBA, Lumenaates, Bluboy, Pari, as well as returning artists from BlackFest’s nationwide creative pool such as Sarah Louise, Vivi and more.

Between the live acts, beats will be provided by Papu Raf; a renowned DJ, producer, event manager at Cool It, and Co-Founder of House of ZuZu. Expect afrohouse, afrobeats, funk, bass, kuduro, garage, house & more.

Local traders will also be providing Afrocentric handmade goodies, cards and prints, jewellery and fashion throughout the opening event.

Jubeda said: “We are thrilled to be celebrating our award win and 5 years of BlackFest. Liverpool is a vibrant port city with so much to offer from local talent as well as taking pride in welcoming new works into the city from the North West and nationally. There’s so much to choose from over the festival period and there really is something for everyone. And so much of it is free entry too!”

The theatre offering this year features an unflinching and thought-provoking piece from Zimbabwean writer, Mandla Rae at the Unity Theatre on 26th September, entitled As British as a Watermelon, fresh off a critically acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Emerging musical artists have always been at the forefront of BlackFest’s artistic output and the 2022 festival is no different with this year’s ‘Riddims Night’ at the Philharmonic Music Room on 27th September featuring the likes of young Liverpool rappers P3Lz and Koj, along with singer-songwriter, Shoa Osborne and multi-artist, Tee.

BlackFest’s much-loved spoken word and poetry night returns on 28th September, with The Hope Street Theatre showcasing a range of local poets and wordsmiths, who will also take part in a post-show discussion following their performances with an open mic for audiences to participate in too. The night will feature Spoken word poets, Samuel Ameiza-Djabli AKA ChiefUncleSam, Tahja Edwards and will also welcome talent from Manchester Poetry Place, Gabriel Oyediwura and Cherelle Anne.

Granby Winter Garden will welcome BlackFest on World Heart Day on 29th September for an educational workshop with themes of environmental responsibility and sustainability, in collaboration with BayTree Cookery Academy. BayTree will explore how to reduce single use plastics and create dishes accessible to low income families, whilst B4BioDiversity will be holding a beeswax candle workshop, giving insight into supporting the bee population in your areas.

Independent film returns to the festival for 2022 as FACT will screen ‘Displaced’ – the cinematic reimagining of Akeim Toussaint Buck’s one-man dance theatre show, Windows of Dispalcement, on 30th September.

Akeim himself will also be holding a workshop on voice and movement at VideOydyssey Studio Toxteth TV on 1st October.

Gallery 455 on Smithdown Road will play host to BlackFest’s visual arts offering this year, featuring work from the likes of Leroy Cooper and Jioni Warner, along with returning artists Layla Gibiliru (2019) and – after an acclaimed showcase last year – Gold Akanbi.

All four artists will also be hosting workshops as part of the festival in October as part of Black History Month.

BlackFest’s annual discussion panel also makes a welcome return, rebranded as Diasporic Dialogues, and will take place at the Museum of Liverpool on October 2nd. Hosted by prolific L8 activist, Ray Quarless, the panel this year will also feature Jimi Jagne, Professor Stephen Small and more talking heads to be announced very soon.

Many of the festival events are free to attend (with donations hugely appreciated) and those wanting to attend all the ticketed events can save up to £50 by purchasing a Festival Pass.

BlackFest 2022 runs from 24th September until the 29th October and tickets for all events are available now via Eventbrite.

For more information on this year’s festival line-up visit their Eventbrite or email info@blackfest.co.uk.

National Museums Liverpool have announced a series of special events and activities to commemorate Black History Month.

From life drawing at Walker Art Gallery designed to celebrate the power and strength of Black women, to crafting for all the family, NML’s annual Black History Month programme is an integral part of the calendar. Black History Month is the annual nationwide celebration of African and Caribbean culture, arts and history, which recognises the achievements and contributions of Black people to British society.

Standouts of this year’s programme include a special after-hours event at the Walker Art Gallery on 14 October, developed in partnership with The Goddess Projects. The event will encourage visitors to consider some of the artworks in the Walker’s collection and how we can reclaim the space today through life drawing.

Using the 18th Century room as inspiration, participants in the event will take part in life drawing sessions with models who are more representative of contemporary bodies and society – aimed at reflecting the power and strength of Black women. The event will challenge outdated views of what it means to be Black, working class, or a woman.

Other events include family crafting across Museum of Liverpool and Maritime Museum, an inspirational new exhibition of artwork by Merseyside schoolchildren celebrating great Black Britons at International Slavery Museum, and explorations into medical racism at Museum of Liverpool.

Matt Exley, Participation Producer at National Museums Liverpool, said: “Our yearly celebrations for Black History Month are an important part of NML’s calendar and help to continue building on year-round activism – from work on Slavery Remembrance Day, to LGBT+ History Month, to International Women’s Day, it is of the utmost importance to NML that they continue to advocate for and represent voices that often go unheard.”

NML’s October events programme includes thought-provoking displays, topical talks and discussions, alongside events for all the family. Year-round, visitors to the National Museums Liverpool website can explore stories, interviews, collections and features on Liverpool’s Black community on their Black History Month hub, which includes stories from collections across NML and the city.

Discover National Museums Liverpool’s programme for Black History Month below:

Diasporic Dialogues with Blackfest: Museum of Liverpool – 2 October 

Join Blackfest at Museum of Liverpool for a fascinating discussion of topics affecting the community today. Hosted by Ray Quarless, Co-Chair of NML’s RESPECT Group, participants will discuss a range of subjects around Liverpool L8 in the 20th Century.

After Hours with The Goddess Projects: Walker Art Gallery – 14 October 

In this special after-hours event, The Goddess Projects will consider the type of art in the collection of the Walker Art Gallery, why it’s there, and how we can reclaim the space today. This workshop is suitable for anybody, you do not need to be an experienced artist to participate. Taking time out to draw in a relaxing environment has been linked to greater wellbeing. This event will empower, inspire, and contribute to the wellbeing of participants in a safe, friendly, and welcoming environment.

Great Black Britons: International Slavery Museum – 4 October – 31 October 

Winning artworks by primary school pupils from across Merseyside will be displayed at the International Slavery Museum to help us reflect, understand and celebrate Black History Month.

Jupiter’s Song: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Building until 30 October 

Jupiter’s Song is an exhibition exploring perspectives and experiences inspired by the Earle Collection of documents at the International Slavery Museum. Focussing on these documents, international artist Khaleb Brooks brings a new perspective and greater visibility of the Liverpool history archive. The installation explores perspectives, exchange and humanising experiences, through music, dance and sculpture.

Inspirational Black Scousers: Museum of Liverpool – 6 October, 13 October and 20 October, 1:30 – 2:30pm 

Join the Participation Team as they guide you through the stories of some of the many inspirational Black British people connected to Liverpool.

Inspiring Liverpool People: Museum of Liverpool – 8 October and 16 October, 11am – 4pm 

Join them in finding out about the many inspirational people from Liverpool in this fun, family crafting session. Sessions at 11am until 12noon and 1:30pm until 4pm.

Joseph Johnson’s Hat: Maritime Museum – 8 October, 9 October and 23 October, 11am – 4pm 

Joseph Johnson was a Black sailor in London in the early 19th century who was a famous sight at the docks, wearing his enormous sailing ship hat. Drop in to find out more about Joseph and to make your own version to take home. Sessions at 11am until 12noon and at 1:30pm until 4pm.

No One’s Listening – Raising Awareness of Sickle Cell and Thalassemia: Museum of Liverpool – 15 October, 1pm 

This event will explore the All-Party Parliamentary Group inquiry into the “avoidable deaths and failures of care for Sickle Cell Patients in Secondary Care”. The report, made in collaboration with the Sickle Cell Society, found serious care failings and evidence of attitudes underpinned by racism.

John James OBE and CEO of the Sickle Cell Society will join Andy Houghton, Haematology Advanced Clinical Nurse Specialist and Dr Jessica Sandham in giving talks to explore the report, inform of the latest medical advances and raise awareness of Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia.

Portrayal After Frederick Douglass: International Slavery Museum – 27 October, 9:30am and 1pm 

Learn more about the life of famed African American abolitionist and social reformer Frederick Douglass (1818-1895). In partnership with Liverpool Irish Festival, participants will talk through some of Douglass’s experiences; learn about his connections with Liverpool and Ireland and see what form his actions against racism took. In doing so, we can learn something about our image, what a selfie says about us and how we identify with our representation.

Douglass was also a master at using early photography to aid representation. At the workshop, there will also be the opportunity to sit for your very own sepia portrait, amidst items that represent you.

Explore NML’s full programme for Black History Month at liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/black-history-month

Museum of Liverpool’s Story Tent is being given a special makeover for World Alzheimer’s Day (21 September) to coincide with House of Memories’ 10th anniversary.

The takeover, which will run until Sunday 13 November, is part of House of Memories’ award-winning programme to help people living with dementia, their families, friends and carers.

Usually reserved for storytelling sessions for younger visitors, the Story Tent on the first floor will be transformed into a living room from days gone by to help people living with dementia rekindle cherished memories.

Visitors will be able to settle into cosy armchairs to watch a new film on a vintage-style television set which looks back on a decade of House of Memories and can add drawings or words that help trigger memories to a special memory tree.

The tent takeover also offers visitors an opportunity to delve into a decade of House of Memories from its humble beginnings in Liverpool to the launch of the first foreign-language version of its My House of Memories app in Singapore and the first co-produced version with the Yemeni community in Liverpool.

If you are a child of the 1960s, be sure to visit Museum of Liverpool on Saturday 1 October for Up Close with the 1960s for a chance to reminisce with real and replica items from the 60s including clothes, household items and toys and games such as Spirograph, Fuzzy Felt and Etch-a Sketch.

You can also take a trip down memory lane, well from Dingle to Seaforth: the Overhead Railway actually. Join ticket inspector Billy Alexander, on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 October for a pictorial performance looking at the history and the stories of the first overhead railway in the world.

Director of House of Memories, Carol Rogers MBE said: “While people living with dementia often struggle holding on to short-term memories, retro-styling, object handling and memory trees are all useful reminiscence tools to help people access long-term memories. They can be used to start conversations with their families and carers, making them feel important and valued boosting their sense of belonging.

“We are all part of a rich history that needs to be shared and preserved. The stories we tell about our lives are important sources of self-identity and enable us to explore and relate our past to the present. Older people often lose what has defined them, be it their spouses, careers or homes, so they need to remember who they were to help define who they are today.”

Since its inception in 2021, House of Memories has engaged with over 100,000 people, connected digitally with more than 36,000 app users and trained over 12,500 caregivers across the UK and internationally.

For more information, visit www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/house-of-memories

A historic moment has taken place in the world of music. Two iconic music cities have collaborated for The Liverpool International Song Contest — with The Road To Nashville linking Liverpool and the Tennessee city — and as part of this, a Beatles ‘Mic Of Unity’ has been presented to the people of Nashville from Liverpool.

In an act similar to the passing of the Olympic torch, Dr. Shamender Talwar, FRSA, Co-Founder of charity TUFF.earth, has presented the ‘Mic of Unity’ for The Road to Nashville – Liverpool International Song Contest (TRTN-L) to Nashville Vice Mayor Jim Shulman and the Metro City Council via Council Member Jeff Syracuse.

The presentation took place at the Nashville Metro City Council meeting on the evening of July 19, held at the Historic Metro Courthouse and the microphone serves as a symbol of hope and unity between the two music centres. It gives a voice to not only aspiring talent, but also offers help to those in need of mental health services via the TUFF charity’s complimentary mental health counselling services.

Storyhouse will be open to all this coming Monday 19 September, from 9.30am to 7pm. They will be screening the day’s events including the Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the big screen in The Kitchen, their main public space.

If you and your friends or family would like to join them, they’d love to see you. They’ll be dispensing free tea and coffee throughout. They understand the nature of this historic national event and recognise their role as a major public building at times like these.

They’d particularly encourage anyone alone in the city at this time, or those who feel that they would like to share their personal experience of the day with others, to join them. You can find out more about this here.

They will be pausing all of their other events that day, however their main public spaces will be open, meaning that access to the library, other public spaces and IT will be as normal although services on offer may be reduced.

Liverpool charity Mandela8 have announced a legend of the UK Black music scene as their newest trustee.

Les Spaine emerged as one of the most important British club DJ’s of the 70’s with residencies at The Pun Club and the legendary Timepiece Club in Liverpool before moving onto a career in the music industry working for EMI and Motown.

In the 70’s and 80’s he worked with such legends as Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Ritchie, The Commodores, Rick James, Jermaine Jackson, Smoky Robinson, Billy Preston, Syreeta & many more before transitioning to Capital Records.

Here he continued working with the top of the industry, including artists such as Melba Moore, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Frankie Beverley & Maze, Dr Hook, Craftwork, Bob Segar & The Silver Bullet Band to name a few.

He then left to set up his TV and Radio Promotion Company, LSP Promotions, which promoted hits by Five Star, Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five’s, Sophia George, Phyllis Nelson, Pavarotti, Man to Man meet Man Parrish, Atlantic Starr, Phil Everley, Johnny Nash, Coolio & many other pop, soul and reggae hits in the UK charts in the 80’s and 90’s.

Best Sounds Management followed, which guided & managed Aswad throughout their most prolific period of hits such as ‘Don’t Turn Around’, ‘Give a Little Love’ and the best-selling album, ‘Distant Thunder’.

More information on Mandela8 can be found at mandela8.org.uk.