Event type: Talk

Modern Music Cities Conference

After the record-breaking success of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, hosted by the UK city of Liverpool, on behalf of last year’s winners, Ukraine, a new one-day event, Modern Music Cities, has been announced. 

On Friday 14 July, this seminal event will ask what contemporary music cities look like presently and need to look like in the future, with a dynamic programme of insightful discussions, engaging panels, and thought-provoking presentations.

Industry experts, music creatives, cultural leaders, and policymakers will explore the significance of music cities, their cultural impact, the role of technology and industry organisations, diversity and inclusion efforts, and future prospects for the music industry within these cities.

A presentation by award-winning author and thought-leader Seth Godin will Reimagine Music Cities, exploring opportunities for them and their leaders, whilst Jamaican author, essayist and literary scholar Professor Emerita Carolyn Cooper will share the journey of Kingston as a leading music city.

Sound Diplomacy’s Shain Shapiro explores the definition of a music city and the steps involved in creating one, whilst expert panellists from around the world delve into the influence and impact on culture and industry.

A discussion on how tech is transforming music scenes and impacting creators features Spotify’s Bryan Johnson, visionary musician Gaika, Metaverse expert Des Agyekumhene, and DJ / thought-leader Elijah Cushnie. And Music Week’s Ben Homewood hosts a panel on the role of frontline industry organisations in fostering growth and sustainability in music cities, featuring Scott Lewis of EMI North and CEO of Soundcity Becky Ayres, amongst others.

Chair of the UK Music Diversity Task Force, Ammo Talwar MBE highlights the efforts in promoting diversity and inclusion in the music industry, and the Launch of the Liverpool City Region ReMap Report on Black Music, will be presented by Chair of the Liverpool City Region Black Music Action Group, Jennifer John.

Looking to the future, emerging music creator Ni Maxine hosts a roundtable discussion on the needs and aspirations of the next generation of music creators and professionals, whilst UNESCO City of Music Officer for Liverpool,  Kevin McManus explores the impact of major events like Eurovision in elevating a music city’s brand while supporting the local music sector.

Tickets are available now. 

 

An Audience with the Mandela Family

In celebration of Nelson Mandela International Day, Mandela8, Liverpool BID Company, Torus Group and The Big Help Project welcome the Mandela Family for an event exploring how the city’s business community can become more diverse, and how the qualities Nelson Mandela exemplified can be part of the city’s business culture.

This event marks the tenth anniversary of the death of the visionary leader, will also explore business partnerships between Liverpool and South Africa.

Nelson Mandela International Day, on Tue 18 Jul, shines a light on the legacy of a man who changed the 20th century and helped to shape the 21st. The day is used as a moment to renew the values that inspired Nelson Mandela, and to examine how his values should inspire us to take action and make a change.

We are proud to present, in partnership with Mandela8 and Liverpool BID Company, An audience with the Mandela Family. A public event and panel discussion hosted by Marcus Ryder MBE and featuring Nelson Mandela’s daughter and granddaughter, Dr Maki Mandela & Tukwini Mandela.

An Evening with Deborah Morgan

Join Waterstones in Liverpool for a fantastic evening with local author Deborah Morgan.

Hear all about her most recent novel, “Imagine Living” – the long-awaited sequel to her best-selling debut novel “Disappearing Home”.

The evening will be in conversation with local and bestselling author, Jeff Young.

With For About 2023: Care and the Comm...

For this year’s sixth With For About, Merseyside-based community arts organisation Heart of Glass is inviting artists, activists and community practitioners to come together (outdoors) to reflect on the interconnectedness between humans, nature, place and land within the context of the conflicting climate crises.

Key speakers include artist and researcher Youngsook Choi and collaborator Wendi Sia, socio-environmental artist Kerry Morrison and social justice activist, writer and thinker Radha D’Souza.

Conversations  will  be  facilitated  by  local  and  national  artists  with interests in climate crises, local and indigenous ecologies and slow, interspecies practices. They include Sean Roy Parker, Fran Disley, Grace Collins, and more to be announced.

With For About is Heart of Glass’s alternative take on a conference. Our venue is a community allotment in a park. Attendees will need to bring suitable clothing for spending the whole day outside. There will be some warm, dry spaces to escape to if necessary.

Ilya Kaminisky – Poetry in a tim...

The Poetry Society Annual Lecture will this year be given by Ilya Kaminisky on poetry in a time in crisis.

The lecture is free to attend and will take place at the Yoko Ono Centre in Liverpool at 7.30pm on the Monday 15th of May. Focusing on poets from Ukraine, and including examples from many of the poets writing out of the current conflict, Kaminsky will also draw on a wider historical context (discussing poets such as Paul Celan) as well as poems that touch on contemporary crisis in the West (referencing poets such as m nourbeSe philip).

Selected by the BBC as ‘one of the 12 artists that changed the world’, Kaminsky is author of the award-winning collections Dancing in Odessa and Deaf Republic – poems which confront the atrocities of our time and our collective silence in the face of them. Born in Odesa, Ukraine in 1977, he’s lived in the United States since 1993 when his family was granted asylum. He is Professor of Poetry at Princeton University.

Tickets can be booked through their website. The online event will stream in unison with the in-person lecture and you can book to attend here.

Beyond the label: you’ve seen th...

Join curator Karen O’Rourke as she delves into the fascinating story of 12 lesser-known Liverpool creatives whose stories are explored in Museum of Liverpool’s Wondrous Place gallery.

You’ll discover that Liverpool music is much more than just the Beatles and that Liverpool sporting legends hail not only from Liverpool or Everton Football Clubs!

Liverpool Botanic Gardens – What...

Join the discussion at The Athenaeum for an important evening raising the importance of the Liverpool Botanic Collection which is now at risk.

There are growing concerns about the safety and long-term future of the Liverpool Botanic Collection currently at Croxteth Hall. It was nearly closed for good in 2014 and is now in the spotlight again.

The Athenaeum’s connection to the botanical collection dates back to its inception by William Roscoe. Roscoe was a founding member of the Athenaeum in 1797 and about half of the subscribers to the Botanical Gardens were also members of the Athenaeum.

The level of concern has been brought to the attention of the Library Advisory Committee, and as part of our outreach into the community we are holding an event at the Athenaeum to raise awareness of this amazing collection and the importance of its history and heritage. It dates from 1803 when William Roscoe set it up and was the first of its kind in the UK.

Speakers for the evening are Raoul Curtis-Machin, Director of Horticulture at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, he will give a wider viewpoint of the importance of botanic gardens. Steve Lyus, local botanical historian, will review the long history of the Liverpool Botanic Garden. Stephen Guy will give a short talk on the West Derby Society and Friends of Croxteth Hall.

The Pioneering Monks of Birkenhead

Join local historian Dr Stephen Roberts and find out more about the history of Birkenhead Priory, the oldest standing building on Merseyside.

It was said that visitors to the remains of the once glorious Birkenhead Priory would not have been aware of its former power and influence:

“They could scarcely recall now the beauty of its former setting. These folk as they stood there looking about them with eyes of interest., could have no idea what the Priory had once been as it stood on its beautiful peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water, a headland of oak and birch and meadow crowned with red sandstone”.

Dr Roberts’ talk will cover the fascinating history of Birkenhead Priory and the influence of the founding fathers, whose estates once extended across the Wirral Peninsula for several miles and included the ancient manor of Claughton.

An event from Wirral Archaeology.

Exhibition Tour of They Think They Are...

Join the Williamson’s curator Niall Hodson for a guided tour of the exhibition and discover more about the artist’s ideas and techniques.

About the exhibition:

Kowal Post’s work considers the relationships we build with the natural world, other creatures, and each other. We are comfortable with embracing our shared physiology with animals, and have never considered ourselves physically superior to other members of the animal kingdom.

Yet we cannot help looking for traits which make us not just unique within nature, but exceptional. So we imagine ourselves as intellectually exceptional, disconnected from other beings and with the right to dominion over nature.

Exhibition Tour of “The Encircle...

Join the Williamson’s curator Niall Hodson for a guided tour of the exhibition and discover more about the artist’s ideas and techniques.

About the exhibition:

“The Encirclement Of Space” charts the influence of Lace on Michael Brennand-Wood’s work from the earliest examples made as a student in the 1970’s to his most recent commission. The exhibition contains the largest collection of his lace works ever shown together, representing all stages of his lace research.

Many of the works are of a very large scale, in a wide range of media: paper, fabric, thread, metal, mosaic, wood, slate, wax and resin. The works are monumental, exploratory and designed to challenge our perception of what we understand and associate with lace.