Lights Up on Liverpool: New exhibition puts the spotlight on city’s history
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Long before Liverpool dominated pop music, the city's theatre scene was once the envy of all the world. Current and former theatres spanning 250 years are being put under the spotlight together in a new exhibition at Liverpool Central Library.
ArtsGroupie CIC has partnered with Liverpool Libraries and Information Services for Lights Up on Liverpool.
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Hide AdCo-Director at ArtsGroupie CIC, Mikey Garland, told LiverpoolWorld: "There were over 100 theatres that have existed in Liverpool. Due to space, we couldn't get them all in, so this is just a snapshot of the history. It begins from the 1700s right up to the present day. What's really fascinating about the exhibition is that you get a real sense of the social fabric (of the city) changing through its theatres."


The public exhibition of Liverpool's theatre history from the archives looks at the city's groundbreaking, radical, and experimental approaches to theatre, particularly working-class contributions to UK theatre.
Mikey tells us: "Less than one in 10 people working in the arts, that's across music, dance, film, television and theatre, are working class. This exhibition is being supported by Liverpool legends Alan Bleasdale and UK theatre legend Zoe Wanamaker. I really feel that people are understanding that it's mission critical that we change access to the arts now."
The exhibition is a response to the decreasing number of working-class professionals in the performing arts. ArtsGroupie hopes to expand the work around the exhibition in what will be a large-scale effort to tackle the issue.
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Hide AdArtsGroupie started this summer with a tie-in Arts Council England funded project Emerging Voices, which included drama workshops for children aged 8-13, play-reading sessions at Liverpool Central Library, and free theatre heritage walking tours, all targeted for communities in high deprivation areas of the Liverpool City Region.
Co-Director at ArtsGroupie CIC, John Maguire, told LiverpoolWorld: "As part of this exhibition, we've got free heritage walking tools around Liverpool showing you the locations of the theatres that are currently still there and those that are not there."
Lights Up on Liverpool runs until March 2025 in the Hornby Library in Liverpool Central Library.
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