Interest area: culture

Britain’s Brown Babies Panel

Join author Lucy Bland and Philomena Harrison as they discuss Bland’s book Britain’s Brown Babies.

They’re hosting a panel discussion around the theme of looked after children past and present, with a specific focus on how black children experience the care system.

The panel will include Lucy Bland, whose book Britain’s Brown Babies: The Stories of Children Born to Black GIs and White Women in the Second World War won the 2021 Social History Society book prize, senior lecturer in social work at Hope University Philomena Harrison, and two former residents of the Fazakerly cottage homes, Jim Howard and Brian Lawrenson.

Join them for what promises to be an insightful and compelling evening, in which these contemporary stories connect to those of the looked-after children from the Bluecoat’s history.

Worlds of Wonder: Alfred Wallace

The science storylines and character creation within Doctor Who have always taken inspiration from the natural world.

Join Dr John James Wilson, Curator of vertebrate Zoology at World Museum as he introduces us to Alfred Russel Wallace, natural history collector, his expedition to South East Asia in 1854 and his ideas about evolution. This 8-year stay was to be a turning point for Wallace personally, but also humankind’s collective understanding of the natural world.

Supported by teams of local people Wallace amassed the largest natural history collection ever assembled, which he sold on to British museums, including World Museum, to fund his travels. Wallace’s observations in South East Asia led him to independently originate the theory of evolution by natural selection, which he later published conjointly with Charles Darwin.

Wallace’s famous account of his travels in “The Malay Archipelago” had a profound influence on contemporary fiction but to Victorian society, the unfamiliarity of the “Far East”, and the wonderful animals Wallace encountered could easily have passed for science fiction. This next generation’s own travelogues reveal how their ‘scientific collecting’ intersected with the myths and legends of the local people.

Event takes place in our Treasure House Theatre.

BlackFest 2022 Grand Launch

Following their amazing open-air event in 2020 outside the Palm House, BlackFest are heading back to the iconic venue, bigger and better, indoors and outdoors, with their Grand Festival Launch!

Head along and check out their full festival line up and what they have planned for this year’s festival and how you can get involved and be a part it!

They’re delighted to welcome back artists from our collective and some new emerging artists.

Enjoy some LIVE Music, Poetry, Mini-Fashion Show, Afrodance Workshop, Yoga with Nu and Community Performances.

LINE-UP INCLUDES:

Poetry from 5 amazing local poets – Naami Jane Soya, Addae G, Gerry Clarkson, Lizzie Lumenates and Cassius James.

LIVE Music and DJ Zeke – Starkey The Messenger, LeeTz, Nicaise Kanga, international artists Nazeem (Gambia), Yilly Ruel (Angola). And performing with us for the first time we have Andre Jahnoi decolonial Hip hop artiste, and Keith Cocker.

AfroDance and Yoga workshops – Join Afrodance Nation who are set to bring high energy ampiano beats and afro fusion street dance for audiences to get involved in learning cultural dance, rhythm (indoors).

And – weather permitting – they will head outdoors to experience zen and mindfulness through Yoga with Nu (please bring your own mats).

Throughout the day they will also have a Family Fun Workshop in Creative Writing and Story Telling through African Fabrics and a mini fashion show by Seven Streets Fashion by Tayamaeca Hughes. Local Traders will be selling jewellery arts, crafts and artisan goodies for you to buy and enjoy.

Workshops are suitable for all ages.

PLUS: Community Performances

Empowering Women’s Project performances – a celebration of some of their Empowering Women’s Project alumni. They ran the project earlier this year, bringing Queen vibes with creative writing pieces with Mahsa Mojarad and Samira Persia Kamali.

The Wavertree Community Choir headed up by the award-winning choir director and vocal coach Hayli Kincade; bringing the local community together through uplifting gospel songs.

To end the day they welcome Batala Mersey – an upbeat and energetic community drumming group bringing the rhythms of Afro-Brazilian samba! Light and dark illuminate each other in an exciting fusion of samba.

They have limited Spaces for stalls left- if interested please get in touch on info@blackfest.co.uk.

Reel Tours Presents: An American Werew...

Join Reel Tours at the Playhouse for a screening of the John Landis Cult 1981 Classic An American Werewolf in London.

Two American college students are on a walking tour of Britain and are attacked by a werewolf. One is killed, the other is mauled. The werewolf is killed but reverts to its human form, and the local townspeople are unwilling to acknowledge its existence.

The surviving student begins to have nightmares of hunting on four feet at first but then finds that his friend and other recent victims appear to him, demanding that he commit suicide to release them from their curse, being trapped between worlds because of their unnatural deaths.

Your ticket includes a pre-show intro from Reel Tours and a post-show discussion at the end of the screening of 7pm performance of The Blues Brothers. The best fancy dress will be judged on the day, with a prize for best in show.

Reel Tours Presents: The Blues Brother...

Join Reel Tours at the Playhouse for a screening of the John Landis Cult 1980 Classic The Blues Brothers.

After the release of Jake Blues from prison, he and brother Elwood go to visit “The Penguin”, the last of the nuns who raised them in an orphanage. They learn the Archdiocese will stop supporting the school and will sell the place to the Education Authority.

The only way to keep the place open is if the $5000 tax on the property is paid within 11 days. The Blues Brothers want to help and decide to put their blues band back together and raise the money by staging a big gig. As they set off on their “mission from God” they seem to make more enemies along the way. Will they manage to come up with the money in time?

Your ticket includes a pre-show intro from Reel Tours and a post-show discussion. The best fancy dress will be judged on the day with a prize for best in show.

Black Hole – End of Time

Black Hole – End of Time is a large format immersive spatial light art experience. Using spectacular lasers, lighting, projections and special effects, synchronised to a striking, ear-tickling soundtrack.

Back by popular demand, Black Hole – End of Time 2022 is still the same amazing, immersive multimedia laser filled, mind-popping experience but returns with:

  • New spectacular projections
  • More immersive lighting effects
  • A blacker black hole
  • A meteorite from outer space

Discover or re-discover the story of Jim, his experiments and the black hole that blinked into existence behind his grandfather clock. Walk through time and orbit the black hole whilst it consumes your time, surrounded by stars that burst into colour, lasers in every direction, swirling white clouds at your feet and epic, kaleidoscopic projections of clocks and galaxies.

Enter space through the new star portal, a projection mapped colonnade of kaleidoscopic stars and galaxies. Walk through the spectacular cosmos and event horizon to reach a real black hole on the other side, floating in space above swirling white clouds of fog and below a sky full of colour-bursting stars and meteors.

In 2021, in just one night, their black hole consumed 6,000 minutes of your time. Whilst audiences orbited the black hole, walked on clouds and looked up to a spectrum of bursting stars, the black hole floated, motionless, but slowly eating time. And now it’s back to eat more of your time and all you’ll have left is a memory.

Visible only by an absence of light, the black hole confuses your sense of depth and space. Looking like a flat 2D disc from every angle, this floating, light-absorbing celestial object draws you in and starts to eat your time, bursting into life with lasers to a distorted and foreboding soundtrack.

Over three nights, Black Hole – End of Time will again mesmerise and enthral and if you felt like you were in Blade Runner in 2021, in 2022 you can add 2001 A Space Odyssey to the list!

Charity 1: Backup Tech (Company No. 1159168)

During Covid, when the live events industry was brought to a halt and to raise awareness of the UK’s 1,000,000 highly skilled industry professionals; all the technicians, designers, operators – the behind the scenes people who make live events happen.

The #WeMakeEvents charity raises awareness and vital funds for hardworking industry professionals and their families in times of financial hardship and ill health. Backup Tech is We Make Events’ chosen charity as the charity that provides financial and wellbeing support to technical industry professionals.

For more information, visit: www.wemakeevents.com and www.backuptech.uk

Charity 2: Friends of Old Christ Church (The Churches Conservation Trust Registered Charity No. 258612)

Old Christ Church is a volunteer-run community venue (saved from demolition in 1999), providing a space for everything from exercise classes and functions to beer festivals and model railway exhibitions – and now black holes and laser shows. During Covid, it, like many other venues had been unable to open and host events and yet still has bills to pay and fund repairs to the building.

For more information, visit: visitchurches.org.uk

The performance runs every 30 minutes and tickets are issued on a 30 minute time slot. For health and safety reasons, at certain points in the performance, audience may be held outside until the next cycle and audience within the venue will have their movements restricted for a short period of time.

One ticket per person (Eventbrite only permits one ticket per order, so for more than one ticket you need to make separate ‘purchases’).

Please present your ticket at the door and arrive 15 minutes before your alloted time.

Covid-19

All Covid restrictions have now been lifted in England. However, this performance operates on a one-way system, allows for social distancing and mask wearing is personal choice. At the venue, hand sanitiser is available as well as NHS Track & Trace QR codes.

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/black-hole-end-of-time-2022-tickets-331410486687

Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/black-hole-end-of-time?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=20220727_&mi_u=52800276&mi_ecmp=LFCCFUK_Day1_SDNonActive

Silent Adventures

Royal Albert Dock Liverpool is excited to bring Silent Adventures, the UK’s latest craze which takes attendees on a silent walking and dancing disco tour, to the dock for two days on the bank holiday weekend, Friday 26th August and Monday 29th August.

Specially themed to tie in with the dock’s summer campaign, The Great British Seaside, Silent Adventures will take visitors on a disco tour around the dock passing through some of the most scenic spots on the estate, with iconic musical moments planned throughout.

Each of the tours are carefully planned out with a surprising amount of psychology running through their foundations. At the beginning, each participant will be made to feel at ease with their fellow adventurers and given a pair of high-tech headphones for their soundtrack, before their hilarious, neon leg-warmer wearing host will enhance the experience with instructions for choreographed dance moves to match the music.

With barriers broken down and the combined confidence of the group at the ready, participants will begin their silent disco adventure at Anchor Courtyard outside Madre before they embark on their singing and dancing adventure around the dock. The upbeat soundtrack has been carefully curated to cover a mix of genres and eras, to ensure the highest level of participation.

Three tours are available on each of the days, two family-friendly daytime sessions and an adult session. The family sessions will finish at Tate Liverpool, where children will be treated to a complimentary little takeaway bag including crisps, fruit and a piece of cake from the Tate Cafe, whilst the adult route will finish at Madre where participants can choose to keep the party going with an extended happy hour offering their renowned Margaritas for just £6.

Silent Adventures founder, Alan Cross, comments, “We’re so excited to bring Silent Adventures to Liverpool’s iconic Royal Albert Dock. It’s such a unique, mood-lifting experience that allows participants to lose their inhibitions and try something completely new, and this paired with the stunning setting of the dock will deliver a truly memorable experience that promises a feel good factor that will last for days on end”.

The family tour tickets are priced at £12.00, and the adult tour tickets are priced at £16.95, pre-booking is essential and tickets can be bought from:

Family tour (1 & 2pm) – https://bit.ly/3AxTzwN

Adult tour (6pm on 26th, 3pm on 29th) – https://bit.ly/3pqxHNm

La Feria – A Festival of Latin A...

An exciting, colourful and magical festival of Latin American Arts & Culture is coming to Liverpool, with innovative and diverse events, performances and activities that will give all audiences the chance to experience the power of Latin American Arts & Culture in different settings.

La Feria, which runs from 16th to 18th September 2022, is a festival run by Liverpool’s own LUMA Creations, funded through Granada Foundation, Arts Council England (Artists’ Commissions), LCCG, Community fund and the organisation’s own raised funds.

The line-up features award-winning quintet Camila y Silvio from Chile at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall; street performance by the colourful Colombian company Cusan Theatre; dance showcases at the Liverpool Central Library with Colibri from Mexico and Caporales San Simon Sucre from Bolivia; and a day of amazing mouth-watering array of cuisine from Latin American countries such as Peru, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Cuba & Mexico and much more at District in the Baltic Triangle.

Liverpool extravaganza

Join Museum of Liverpool to celebrate 815 years since the signing of the Letters Patent that brought Liverpool into existence with activities for all ages.

From Liverbirds to Lambananas, castles to cathedrals – celebrate the things you love about Liverpool and maybe learn something new about this incredible city!

Clement Atlee

A new play documenting the fascinating time in post-war history when Government changed in power from Conservative Prime Minister Winston Churchill to Labour’s Clement Attlee comes to Liverpool’s Epstein Theatre this Autumn. 

The play arrives in the city to coincide with the Labour Party Conference, being held in Liverpool the same week – a deliberate and clever move by playwright and author Francis Beckett. 

Clement Attlee runs for two shows at The Epstein Theatre on Monday 26 September and Tuesday 27 September, at 8pm each evening. Tickets are on sale now. 

The Epstein Theatre is Grade II Listed and located in the heart of Liverpool city centre, it was named after the legendary gay Beatles’ manager and ‘Fifth Beatle’ Brian Epstein. 

Playwright Francis Beckett brings the new play to the city asking some pertinent questions – Clement Attlee was Labour’s greatest PM, is Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer a Clem Attlee figure; how does he match up; is he another Attlee?  

Francis Beckett is an author, journalist, playwright, and contemporary historian. He was the 2009 winner of the Ted Wragg Award for lifetime achievement in education journalism. He has a degree in History and Philosophy from Keele University and has written 17 books mostly on contemporary history, including a much praised biography of Clement Attlee – Clem Attlee, Labour’s Great Reformer by Haus Publishing.