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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Joe Campbell On Culture City, Creative Relationships and Why Good People Remain At The Heart of Everything
There was a point in Joe Campbell’s life when the future of Culture City had to compete with the considerably more immediate demands of stacking shelves in Morrisons. University occupied the daytime, supermarket shifts took care of the evenings, and whatever remained belonged to the increasingly consuming business of filming bands, interviewing artists and discovering, largely by doing it, how to make the kind of work he wanted to make. Then The Anfield Wrap came…
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Comedian Alex Tighe On Anxiety, Second Chances And The Strange Magic of Making Strangers Laugh
Long before Alex Tighe thought seriously about becoming a comedian, he discovered what it felt like to make a room laugh entirely by accident. He was around 14, sitting in a Spanish lesson, a painfully shy teenager who reckons half the class had probably never heard him speak. Somewhere next door came the sudden crash of a table. Before he had time to stop himself, Tighe announced: “Sounds like Miss next door has fallen over…
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52 for 26 Poetry Project: Toni Burns
Toni Burns – Stars, Self-Worth, and the Space We All Deserve to Shine In In There Might Be Others (and still, I’m here), Toni Burns traces a quietly luminous line between the cosmic and the personal. The spark arrives in an unlikely moment: a priest at Liverpool Cathedral wondering aloud about life beyond Earth, and whether the presence of “others”—whoever they may be—would diminish the goodness of God. His answer is a gentle, resonant no.…
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Exhibition Honours Chinese Medical Pioneer Dr Yan Fuqing in Liverpool
A new exhibition exploring the life and legacy of Dr Yan Fuqing, a University of Liverpool alumnus and a pioneer of modern Chinese medicine, opened at Liverpool Medical Institution on 22 September 2026. Dr Yan: A Pioneer – A Bridge of Sino-British Medical and Cultural Exchange is the exhibition’s first European presentation, following its debut in South Africa. Jointly presented by Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Jiefang Daily and the University of Liverpool, it…
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Becky Beasley’s A Gentle Man (Part II) Comes To The Bluecoat
An exhibition that begins beneath your feet and eventually arrives at the subject of dying is clearly asking rather more of its audience than simply to look… Opening at Bluecoat this September, Becky Beasley’s A Gentle Man (Part II) (1975– 2029) brings together photography, sculpture, ceramics, furniture and moving image within an installation that transforms the gallery into what Bluecoat describes as a “contemplative and immersive landscape”. It is an ambitious proposition, concerned not only with the…
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Liverpool Independent Art School At 10: This Is What Art School Was Supposed To Be Like
There is a story about Liverpool Independent Art School (LIAS) that probably tells you more about its philosophy than any mission statement ever could. It involves two artists, a load of drawing equipment, Sefton Park and lots and lots of rain… Founders Paul Gatenby and his colleague Tony O’Connell had been teaching at what was then the Community College for almost twenty years when they began to feel increasingly uncomfortable with the direction education was…
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Poetry on the Fringe: Give Poetry A Chance Returns to The Ship & Mitre
Give Poetry A Chance (GPAC) began, by Dan Cullinan’s own admission, without any grand plan to become a Liverpool poetry institution. He started writing poems as thoughts in the notes section of his phone and had never intended to become a poet, let alone an event organiser. Yet since 2019, Give Poetry A Chance has developed into a regular platform for Liverpool’s poetry community, bringing together established voices, emerging writers and audiences in an environment that feels deliberately different…
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Milap Unveil Autumn 2026 Season in Liverpool Featuring The World’s Finest Indian Artists
The UK’s leading Indian Arts organisation Milap continue to pave the way for Indian live music and dance in Liverpool this Autumn, announcing a fresh roster of the world’s finest Indian musicians, unique collaborations and rare instruments. Kicking things off in October, Milap’s very own ensemble Tarang present bespoke arrangements of new contemporary Indian music, as part of The Tung Auditorium’s lunchtime concert series on Wednesday 7 October. Tarang at The Tung Auditorium. Credit: Alan Blundell Tarang is an innovative…
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Homotopia Festival 2026 Returns to Liverpool with ‘We Come Together’
Liverpool’s Homotopia Festival is back this autumn, bringing more than six weeks of LGBTQIA+ arts and culture to venues across the city. Returning for its 22nd year from 17 October to 1 December 2026, the UK’s longest-running LGBTQIA+ arts and culture festival will present We Come Together – a programme spanning theatre, performance, visual art, film, music, club nights and conversation. This year’s festival will open with a celebration of another major milestone in Liverpool’s…
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Steve Reich’s Different Trains Returns to Liverpool 10 Years After Landmark Edge Hill Performance
A landmark piece of Liverpool’s recent musical history will be revisited this October as Steve Reich’s Different Trains returns to the city, ten years after an extraordinary performance at Edge Hill Station. On Saturday 10 October 2026, Metal and Liverpool Philharmonic will mark the anniversary with a special performance at the Tung Auditorium, presented in partnership with Liverpool Philharmonic’s contemporary music ensemble, the 10:10 Ensemble. The event comes exactly a decade after Metal partnered with…
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52 for 26 Poetry Project – Paul Reid
Speaking out when silence feels safer… Paul Reid’s route into writing has taken in school classrooms, punk rock stages, spoken word performances and creative writing groups across Liverpool. Throughout those different chapters, one thing has remained constant: a desire to connect with people, whether through humour, observation or reflections on the world around him. Writing has remained a constant presence since childhood, when he enjoyed reading his stories aloud in class. In his younger years,…
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52 for 26 Poetry Project: Michelle Wright
Michelle Wright – After Eden: A Poetic Journey Into What Remains When Paradise Falls Silent In The Caretaker, Michelle Wright turns her gaze toward one of the oldest stories we inherit: the Fall, the moment when Eden’s perfection collapses and humanity is cast into a world forever changed. But rather than retell the familiar account of Eve, desire, and punishment, Wright positions her poem in the uncanny stillness after the exile. Eden remains, but its…
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Creative Spotlight: Caroline Gorick
Caroline Gorick – Holding onto the moment… Caroline Gorick has been painting for as long as she can remember. There is no neat moment of discovery in her story, no sudden realisation that art might become a career, because painting was never really something she decided to do. It was simply there, embedded in her life from childhood onwards, becoming more serious and more demanding as the years passed. “I haven’t stopped painting since I…
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Beckett in the City: Liverpool Welcomes the Return of an International Festival
For many people, the name Samuel Beckett immediately conjures images of two men waiting beneath a lonely tree, hoping against hope that someone called Godot might eventually arrive. Others picture stark stages, long silences and plays that carry a reputation—often unfairly—for being difficult, enigmatic or intimidating. This September, however, Liverpool invites audiences to look at Beckett rather differently. Returning for its third edition, Beckett: Lieben is far more than a celebration of one of the…
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Adrian Dunbar on Beckett, Liverpool and the Power of Feeling
Samuel Beckett has been part of Adrian Dunbar’s creative life for more than four decades. His first encounter came in 1981, when, as a student at the Guildhall School, he saw Waiting for Godot and became fascinated by a writer who was already something of a legend: an Enniskillen schoolboy who had gone on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and create work that seemed to resist easy understanding. That fascination has endured, and…
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Hot Pink, J-Pop and No Regrets: The World of MARiMARi
Creatives of the City Series by Grace Stokoe Japanese-British, hyper-pop diva MARiMARi has taken the North West music scene by storm. Gaining recognition through relentless TikTok posts, showcasing her unique sound and style, the 23 year old singer-songwriter played her first festival in August 2026, ticking it off as one of her main goals. “Y Not Festival was the biggest stage I’ve played, which was really cool,” she tells Liverpool Noise. MARiMARi describes her aesthetic as “2000’s nostalgic, bubbly,…
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52 for 26 Poetry Project: Don Brookes
Don Brookes : A Lifetime of Observing Nature, Language, and the Quiet Comedy Between Them In Talk To The Animals, Don Brookes invites us into a gently comic, quietly reflective world where the familiar sayings we attach to creatures great and small are turned over, examined, and playfully unsettled. The poem has travelled a long road to reach its final form—one that began back in the 1990s, when Brookes was working as a Laboratory Technician. A…
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Liverpool Arab Arts Festival Appoints Sioned Jones as New CEO and Artistic Director
Liverpool Arab Arts Festival (LAAF) has announced the appointment of Sioned Jones as its new Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director, as the organisation prepares to celebrate 25 years since its first festival. Jones brings almost 30 years of senior-level experience in the not-for-profit sector to the role, having previously served as CEO of women’s rights organisation The Circle, founded by Annie Lennox, Director at the Tax Justice Network and Deputy Director at Oxfam GB.…
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New Open Eye Gallery Exhibition Explores Journeys, Identity and Home Across Liverpool City Region
A major new touring exhibition exploring stories of journeys, identity and home through photography, art and museum collections will open at Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool this September. New Faces, New Focus: Stories We Share brings together artists, local communities and museums from across the UK, placing personal experiences at the heart of the exhibition. Opening at Open Eye Gallery on 18 September 2026, the exhibition will run until 20 December, with related displays also…
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52 for 26 Poetry Project: Moon
The Power of Performance – why Moon’s poetry truly comes alive when spoken aloud. Project 52 For 26 has always been about voices – singular, striking, often surprising – and this week’s featured poet, Moon, brings all three in abundance. Their chosen piece arrives as an excerpt from a much larger meditation on gender, though it has long since taken on a life of its own. What began as a section within a broader work…
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.