culture - Uncover Liverpool

BlackFest 2024

Black Arts is needed now more than ever. BlackFest is back, despite the state of the country, and they are moving with LOVE.

They are unapologetically going to showcase their programme working with fantastic Black artists, unfiltered and uncensored. They have beautiful events lined up this year!

16 BIG EVENTS A WHOLE VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION AND PROGRAMME!
23rd September – 31st October 2024

Their award-winning festival programme spans iconic venues and community spaces across Liverpool, that will showcase music, spoken word and poetry, new works theatre and BlackFest Fashion Fest finale!

They are bringing special House of Legends Jazz concert headlined by the phenomenal King Courtney Pine marking his 60th Birthday.

Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to connect with and show solidarity and support to Black artists and performers and celebrate the beauty of Black culture.

Artists include:

Ash Nugent -Writer, rapper, Director of RiseUp CiC

Joe Taylor – Spoken word artist and performer

Pari Richards – Actor, Spoken word Poet

Niloo Sharafi – Writer and Videographer

Dayzy – Day Seb is a Rapper, Poet, Songwriter and Performer

Maureen Amadi – Maureen Chioma Amadi is a spoken word poet

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FULL Festival PASS – Looking to attend several BlackFest 2024 events?

This SPECIAL ticket gets you access to all their events. Enjoy and SAVE
OVER £50!

Screening: Fantastic Planet (La Planè...

Join Bluecoat for a captivating journey into the surreal world of Fantastic Planet (La Planète Sauvage), the critically acclaimed 1973 animated science fiction film directed by René Laloux. Known for its imaginative visuals and thought-provoking themes, Fantastic Planet has earned its place as a classic in animated cinema.

Set on the distant planet Ygam, Fantastic Planet explores the lives of the tiny, human-like Oms and their giant alien oppressors, the Draags. The film follows Terr, an Om who escapes with advanced Draag technology and uses it to ignite a rebellion. However, this technology brings unforeseen challenges and dangers, all within a visually stunning and imaginative alien world.

This screening is a part of Bluecoat’s Weird Futures season. Their current exhibition, Let Your Ideas Come Back As Children, by artists Roxy Topia and Paddy Gould, explores how children navigate a world dominated by technology and what this means for their future. Advances in artificial intelligence and technology have rendered some occupations obsolete, potentially limiting future career options. However, this exhibition suggests that human creativity is an irreplaceable skill that will become increasingly important in the years to come.

Don’t miss this opportunity to visit their current exhibition and watch one of the most visually and thematically distinctive animated films ever made. Mark your calendars and join them for an unforgettable screening of Fantastic Planet.

This film features French audio with English subtitles.

Fantastic Planet (La Planète Sauvage) 1973
Sun 15 Sept, 2.30pm

1hr12min
Rated 12A

Dial M For Mayhem

Middle Ground Theatre Company Ltd is delighted to present the World Stage Premiere of Dial M For Mayhem, a brand new charming farcical comedy drama from the author and director of the hugely successful courtroom phenomenon The Verdict.

A rollicking comical and poignant yarn set in 1991 of a group of travelling actors from south of the Scottish border as they conquer the beautiful unforgiving landscape of the Highlands and Islands village hall circuit to bring those remote tranquil communities Frederick Knott’s classic 1950’s thriller Dial M For Murder.

Matinee shows are held on selected dates, visit here for details

Trapped! (in Williamson Art Gallery)

When you’re trapped, the morning can’t come soon enough!

A group of friends think it’ll be a great idea to hide in the gallery and sleepover. After dodging security and the building being locked down the friends begin to explore. Darkness soon gets the better of them, and they decide to tell some tales to keep themselves from being scared. Will they survive the night, and more importantly, will they set off all the alarms?Head along and help the friends tell their stories and delve into the magical worlds that they create amongst them!

The Wirral Monster

The friends are having a sleepover…

…and all is going well. There are marshmallows and Maltesers, and monster stories to tell. But more and more as things get strange and their favourite things are plundered; could there be some truth to these tall tales, could there be, we wonder…

Trauma Informed Practice for Participa...

Although it’s very important to maintain the distinction between art and therapy, participatory artists are often in positions where they need to support their participants’ mental health.

This training is specifically for artists and facilitators and takes a person-centred approach to understanding trauma and incorporating this understanding into your creative practice.

This training will:

Provide an overview of the physiology of trauma and an insight from the perspective of a clinical psychotherapist;

Unpick popular perceptions and misuse of language around trauma and PTSD;

Offer practical tips for creating safe spaces for participants and avoiding practices which may retraumatise participants;

Create a space to explore problem solving using real-life scenarios.

This event is aimed at artists working in communities, theatre-makers and activists interested in using the arts as a tool for positive change.

For attendees supported by their organisations the full price of a ticket is £55.00 For freelancers and individuals from non-regularly funded organisations attendees the price of a ticket is £35.00

For those on low or no income the ticket price is £18.00. They also have a small number of bursary places available for those with limited funds, please email info@collective-encounters.org.uk

Please Note: Ticket sales will end 24 hours before this event is due to start.

The Threads That Bind Us

A group of young people from Tiber on Lodge Lane, L8 neighbourhood, have collaborated with photographers, fashion stylists and designers to create an exhibition of style and fashion photography showcasing garments designed and made themselves, styled with fashions from CRICKET.

The free exhibition challenges fast fashion and our disposable, environmentally unfriendly culture. Well worth exploring and deserving of support.

The results will be shown when the group takeover a shop in the Metquarter with an exhibition titled The Threads that Bind Us from 12noon – 4pm each day between 22 August to 28 August.

The exhibition features portraits of Tiber young producers wearing their designs, created with the support of fashion designer Andrew Ibi, and includes reflections on their experiences of community, what it is like to be a young person in 2024 and creating positive change.

There will also be documentary photography of their journey on the project and a behind-the-scenes film, as well an audio commentary and preparatory work like moods boards and other inspiration, for the public to enjoy and be able to follow the full creative process in making the clothing and images. Their work will now sit alongside the Metquarter’s beautiful boutiques and iconic brands.

Tiber young producers are a group of young producers, artists and curators aged 13-18. Over the last few months they have been able to learn from industry leaders and pioneering artists to inspire them as they explored creativity, fashion and style through their own designs and photography. This has been led by Stef Bradley, Curator, Learning at Tate Liverpool and producer and photographer Emma Case who have worked with the group throughout the project.

The young people made their fashion garments using upcycling techniques to create something fresh, inspired by the sustainable fashion movement. The group were given unparalleled access to Liverpool’s ultimate luxury retailer, CRICKET, working with their stylist to select high fashion clothes to pair with their own creations for a photo shoot at Yeti Creative which they art directed.

Applying For DYCP Funding

Develop Your Creative Practice (DYCP) funding from Arts Council England (ACE) supports cultural and creative practitioners who want to take time to focus on their creative development.

Join this free workshop to gain insights into successful applications and discover resources to assist you in drafting your own.

A representative from the Arts Council and artists who have received DYCP funding will be on hand to offer valuable advice and guidance on both DYCP and Project Grants, with plenty of opportunities for questions.

Find out more about DYCP funding

Artists Choice: Belly

FACT invited exhibiting artist R.I.P. Germain to guest curate a season of films that have influenced his creative practice.

For his final film, R.I.P. Germain has chosen acclaimed music video director Hype Williams’ only feature film to date, 1998’s influential crime drama Belly. The film stars New York hip-hop legends NAS and DMX in their debut roles, alongside T-Boz of TLC and Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man. The story revolves around crime lords Tommy (DMX) and Sincere (NAS), who lead a group of criminals encountering difficulties while expanding their drug-dealing business. Throughout the film, the pair begin to realise that their lives are headed towards a dead end and start to consider taking different paths.

R.I.P. Germain’s immersive exhibition “After GOD, Dudus Comes Next!” (2024) is on display at FACT from Friday 5 July to Sunday 13 October 20204.

Artists Choice: The Thing

FACT invited exhibiting artist R.I.P. Germain to guest curate a season of films that have influenced his creative practice. R.I.P. Germain’s second selection is the 1982 cult sci-fi horror film, The Thing.

Directed by John Carpenter from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster, the film combines Kurt Russell’s outstanding performance with incredible visuals to create a chilling adaptation. Based on the 1938 John W. Campbell Jr. novella Who Goes There?, the film tells the story of a group of researchers in Antarctica who encounter the eponymous “Thing,” an extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates and then imitates other organisms.

The group is overcome by paranoia and conflict as they learn that they can no longer trust each other, knowing that any one of them could be the Thing.