Arts and Culture
Discover the best of arts and culture in Liverpool, featuring exhibitions, interviews, and cultural events celebrating the city’s creative spirit.
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52 For 26 Poetry Project: Pete Scott
Everyday life, mental health, and the rhythms of the city captured in verse Pete Scott is part of the quieter but no less vital strain of voices on Liverpool’s poetryscene. An autistic poet, he draws much of his inspiration from the observations ofeveryday life, from the rhythms of a city and its people, and from the challenges andcomplexity of mental health. He’s taken to open‐mics around Liverpool to share hiswork, and is currently working on…
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Creative Studio Dorothy Launch Alternative World Cups Tournament
Liverpool based creative studio Dorothy has launched an Alternative World Cups tournament to coincide with FIFA’s own World Cup 2026 competition. From seeding and cup draws to commentary, league tables and knockout rounds, Dorothy playfully combines a love of football with cup kitsch to create a tournament with a twist. 48 cups (and countries) from around the world are participating in the competition. Cups from as far afield as Australia to Uruguay are going to…
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Drag Feast: The New Liverpool Drag Showcase Celebrating the City’s Queer Talent
Liverpool has always been famous for its drag. From Lily Savage to Danny Beard, from Lavinia to The Vivienne, Liverpool has produced some of the most iconic British drag performers of all time. Liverpool’s LGBT quarter is known for its rainbow street signs and vibrant bars, where glittering drag queens usher eager party-goers inside packed out bars to dance the night away. Recently, however, the mood has been more subdued. Many venues are closing down…
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Through the Roof: Exploring a Forgotten Liverpool Building
An empty building with its roof missing is a striking sight. Standing just outside Liverpool city centre, this neglected property is a reminder of how quickly once-useful spaces can fall into disrepair. While its future remains uncertain, the building now offers a fascinating glimpse into the beauty and intrigue that can emerge from urban decay. Sometimes, when a building is so severely damaged, it is cheaper to knock everything down and start again, build something…
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52 For 26 Poetry Project: Irene Stuart
A personal journey from trauma to creative expression, told through poetryLiverpool has long been a city shaped by the voices of women who had to speak up long before anyone thought to listen. Irene Stuart is one of them. A playwright and poet who came to writing later in life, she discovered the power of the written word after decades spent raising two children, five grandchildren, and now four great-grandchildren. What followed was a creative…
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Alan Blundell: The Man Capturing Liverpool’s Grassroots Arts Scene
Alan Blundell. Photograph by Lisa Blundell Alan Blundell is one of Liverpool’s finest photographers, who is capturing so much of Liverpool’s grassroots arts scene at the moment. Catching up with Al and talking about his favourite memories, photographs and gigs has been fantastic and we’re delighted to shine a spotlight on his amazing work and everything that he snaps behind the scenes… How did you get into photography? When I was 11 or 12, I…
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Strawberry Field To Open Commemorative Sir George And Lady Judy Martin Rose Garden
Strawberry Field will unveil a new commemorative rose garden later this month, celebrating the lives and legacies of legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin and his wife, Lady Judy Martin. Opening on 27 June, the Sir George and Lady Judy Martin Rose Garden will become a permanent feature of the iconic Liverpool site, creating a space for reflection and remembrance inspired by two figures who played an important role in both music and charitable work.…
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52 For 26 Poetry Project: Melissa Grindon
Melissa Grindon is a Liverpool-based writer, originally from Ireland. Her backgroundblends dance and literature — she holds a First Class MA in Writing from Liverpool JohnMoores University and a First Class BA in Dance from Liverpool Hope University. Overtime she has moved from movement to the written word, drawn to the power ofstorytelling grounded in truth. Her debut poetry collection, Everything Grows When YouBury It, self-published in September 2025, is already circulating in local Liverpoolbookshops…
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Liverpool’s Ni Maxine Launches ‘The Common Room’, a New Community Listening Experience at The Black-E
Liverpool-based neo-jazz artist and curator Ni Maxine is inviting audiences to slow down, switch off and connect through a new community-focused listening event – The Common Room – taking place at The Black-E this June. The Common Room, which arrives at The Gallery at The Black-E on Tuesday 30 June, offers an alternative to traditional nightlife, bringing together music, conversation and community in a relaxed, sober-friendly environment centred on deep listening and shared experience. Running…
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Liverpool Book Festival summer special coming to BOXPARK this August
Liverpool Book Festival is returning with a Summer Special at BOXPARK in Liverpool this summer.The packed event will feature over 60 authors selling their books directly, artisan stalls, street food, talks, live music and a kids zone — with free entry for Under 12s. This third Liverpool Book Festival event comes after receiving a runners up prize for Event of the Year at the Liverpool City Region Tourism Awards and being featured on national news. The event offers more…
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Creative Spotlight: In Conversation with Ali Harwood
Ali Harwood – Keeping stories alive Creativity rarely sits still in the hands of Ali Harwood. Across poetry, storytelling, visual art, performance and education, the Liverpool-based artist has spent decades building connections between disciplines that many practitioners might keep separate. Rather than seeing poetry as distinct from visual art, or storytelling as different from community learning, Harwood treats them as parts of the same creative ecosystem, each informing and strengthening the others. That approach has…
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52 For 26 Poetry Project: Ali Harwood
A Sonnet for the Flock: Voice, Community and the Call to Gather Poetry that’s meant to be heard carries a different kind of charge, and Ali Harwood’s We Bards are Birds arrives with its voice already tuned to the room. Written for performance at Liver Bards – the regular spoken-word gathering Harwood has hosted for over a hundred months in the basement of Ma Boyle’s Alehouse – this English sonnet is rooted in Liverpool’s live poetry…
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Women’s Fund Investment Supports Dancing Queens Carnival Collective to Take Centre Stage at Africa Oyé
The Black Women’s Health Forum has announced funding from the Women’s Fund, delivered by the Community Foundation for Merseyside, to support the development of Dancing Queens, its intergenerational dance, wellbeing and carnival collective, ahead of this year’s Africa Oyé Festival. Artistically directed by Ithalia Johnson and based at the African and Caribbean Centre in Liverpool 8, Dancing Queens brings women together through African and Caribbean dance, music, creativity and cultural celebration. The collective creates opportunities…
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52 For 26 Poetry Project: Angie Woolfall
Angie Woolfall – words as refuge, resilience, and reclamation Angie Woolfall — known to some as “Ange (Woolf)” — arrives in the 52 for 26 Poetry Project carrying the weight and brightness of a life lived on her own terms. A Liverpool native, Angie once studied philosophy at Sandown College, where the question “why” found its lifelong home. Words have always been her havens and weapons — not just on the page, but in the world beyond it. Her…
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On The Lookout For LOVE In Liverpool
Whenever anyone mentions the word “love”, it does not necessarily mean the ensuing conversation will suddenly turn into a five-minute melodramatic monologue about someone who has recently fallen in head over heels. In all seriousness, whenever visiting Liverpool, it is incredibly difficult to escape the embrace of love. A city known not only for its unique friendliness but also as a place where you can observe the street artist LOVE’s creative works floating around the…
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52 For 26 Poetry Project: Anthony Johnson
Anthony Johnson: A Voice Forged in Truth, Tenderness and Relentless Wit There are poets who ask you to look at the world differently, and then there are poets like Anthony Johnson—writers who insist you feel it differently. A stand-up comedian and poet from Birkenhead, Johnson has long balanced the sting of reality with the sweetness of humour, often with a playful nod to the absurd. But for the 52 for 26 Poetry Project, he steps into deeper waters,…
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52 For 26 Poetry Project: Nicola Hardman
Nicola Hardman – Power, Performance and the Cost of Staying Quiet Nicola Hardman’s These Pandas Want You to Die arrives like a pressure valve finally giving way. Furious, funny, confrontational and painfully recognisable, the poem channels the exhaustion of existing within systems that continually demand more whilst offering less in return. Written originally as a journal entry, the piece grows out of Hardman’s frustrations around the misuse of power — particularly within the creative industries, where conversations around fairness, opportunity…
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Creative Spotlight: In Conversation with Kenneth Hesketh
Where Sound Becomes Structure — Kenneth Hesketh on architecture, atmosphere and the strange emotional power of composition. For Kenneth Hesketh, music was never simply something he did — it was an environment he inhabited. Born in Liverpool in 1968, his earliest formative experiences came as a chorister at Liverpool Cathedral, where sound itself became something physical, architectural and psychologically charged. Reflecting on those years, Hesketh says becoming a chorister at nine placed him inside “an…
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Walker Art Gallery: Sir John Akomfrah and Gender Stories Exhibitions Open This May
Two major exhibitions exploring identity, memory and belonging are set to open at Walker Art Gallery this summer, bringing internationally acclaimed contemporary art and deeply personal stories to the heart of Liverpool. Opening on 16 May 2026, Listening All Night To The Rain by Sir John Akomfrah and Gender Stories will run side-by-side until 31 August, transforming the gallery into a space for reflection, conversation and cultural dialogue. Originally commissioned by the British Council for…
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Close to Home: Liverpool Exhibition Creates Space for Conversations Around Suicide
A ground-breaking exhibition exploring stories and the impact of suicide is to open in Liverpool’s historic Cunard Building this September. Developed in collaboration with Merseyside-based community arts organisation Heart of Glass, Close to Home, is more than an exhibition. It is an act of witness, inviting audiences into a space of contemplation, of reflection, of quiet assembly. Built upon lived and living experience of suicidal thoughts and attempts, and of bereavement by suicide, it has been…
Liverpool has long been recognised as one of the UK’s most creative cities, with a thriving arts and culture scene that continues to inspire, innovate, and attract visitors from across the globe. From world-class art galleries and museums to grassroots exhibitions, community-led projects, and bold new work from emerging artists, the city offers an ever-changing landscape of creativity.
Our arts and culture in Liverpool section celebrates everything from major cultural moments to intimate creative experiences. Here, you’ll find coverage of the city’s most exciting art exhibitions, from Tate Liverpool’s thought-provoking contemporary shows to Bluecoat’s pioneering visual arts programme and FACT’s boundary-pushing exploration of digital culture. We also shine a spotlight on independent galleries and artist-run spaces, such as Output Gallery and dot-art, which champion local talent and give a platform to Liverpool’s diverse artistic voices.
But arts and culture in Liverpool is about more than exhibitions. It’s also about the stories behind the artists, curators, and cultural leaders who shape the city. Through interviews, features, and opinion pieces, we explore the inspirations, challenges, and creative journeys of those contributing to Liverpool’s cultural life. Whether it’s an established painter, a theatre director, or a multidisciplinary artist experimenting with new forms, we share their perspectives and amplify their work.
Liverpool’s cultural calendar is packed with must-see events, and this section keeps you up to date with the highlights. From visual arts festivals like Liverpool Biennial, to multi-arts celebrations such as Africa Oyé and Homotopia, we cover the festivals and events that bring people together and reflect the city’s spirit of creativity and inclusion. Alongside these larger-scale happenings, we also look at grassroots cultural activity—pop-up exhibitions, open studios, and collaborative community projects that keep the city’s cultural identity vibrant and alive.
The city’s strong cultural foundations, built on its history as a UNESCO City of Music and European Capital of Culture 2008, continue to fuel innovation. Today, arts and culture in Liverpool is about creating accessible, inclusive, and exciting opportunities for everyone to experience creativity. Whether you’re interested in traditional painting and sculpture, cutting-edge digital installations, performance art, or cultural heritage, Liverpool offers something for every taste.
By exploring this section, you’ll discover not only what’s on, but also gain insights into why the arts matter here and now. Liverpool’s artists and cultural organisations are shaping important conversations about identity, diversity, community, and the future—and we’re here to share their stories.
So whether you’re planning your next gallery visit, looking to discover a new artist, or simply want to stay connected with the heartbeat of Liverpool’s creative scene, this category is your guide to everything happening in arts and culture across the city.