Eurovision 2023: Education programme, EuroLearn, launches at Liverpool schools

Following the announcement of EuroFest – a two-week cultural festival that will run alongside the competition – Liverpool’s education programme, EuroLearn is now getting under way and will offer youngsters from early years to secondary schools a chance to be inspired by Eurovision.

Led by Liverpool City Council’s Culture Liverpool team, alongside a wide range of creative partners, this is the first time a host city has offered an engagement programme of this scale and was an integral part of Liverpool’s successful bid to host the song contest on behalf of Ukraine.

EuroLearn has three main components – music, visual arts and storytelling – and schools across the city region will be supplied with resource packs which they can use to bring Eurovision into the classroom.

Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson said: “Making sure that the whole of Liverpool and the wider region can get involved in Eurovision is very important to us.

“EuroLearn is about Culture Liverpool supporting our youngest citizens to join in the fun in a meaningful way and to embrace the Eurovision family of countries and we are very grateful to our funders The National Lottery Heritage Fund, DCMS, Spirit of 2012, and the government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund for supporting us.

“As always, partners have jumped at the chance to be involved in what could be a once-in-a-lifetime event and we’ve been overwhelmed but not surprised by the ideas and passion which have emerged so that we can do Liverpool and, above all, Ukraine proud.”

Music education includes an emerging singer-songwriter festival for schools in June, a project for children and young people with special educational needs and more.

The visual arts strand takes its inspiration from the tradition of egg painting, known as Pysanka in Ukraine, with an online artist-developed resource pack made available via the Culture Liverpool website to allow not only schools but people of any age to get involved.

Working with Liverpool ONE, artists have also been commissioned to work with schools across the city region to decorate giant eggs that will feature as a public art display in Liverpool ONE from March 31. Each local authority will select schools to decorate an egg with a seventh egg being decorated by members of the Ukrainian community.

The Liverpool Learning Partnership will co-ordinate the storytelling strand by focusing on the folk tales of Eurovision countries, and there will also be a “twinning” of Liverpool Central Library with Odesa National Scientific Library.