Funding boost for Liverpool's cultural sector
Larry Achiampong, Pan African Flag for the Relic Travellers' Alliance, 2021. Installation view at the Cunard Building. Photograph: Mark McNulty
Larry Achiampong, Pan African Flag for the Relic Travellers' Alliance, 2021. Installation view at the Cunard Building. Photograph: Mark McNulty
Today (Friday 4 March), Cabinet has given the green light to award £2.712 million to 27 cultural organisations as part of the Culture & Arts Investment Programme (CAIP). The city council funding will be invested in theatre, music events, festivals, visual arts and neighbourhood programmes that are representative of, and engage with, Liverpool’s diverse communities.
This means that the vital sector – which boosts the local economy by around £30 million – has experienced no reduction in city council funding and can move forward with delivering events, exhibitions and shows which will help them recover and aim to get back to operating at pre-pandemic levels.
Latest figures presented as part of the Cabinet report show just how hard-hit the city’s art scene was by Covid-19. In 2019/20 the funded organisations reached an audience of 2.7 million, dropping to just over 260,000 in 2020/21. Last year, recovery was slow but venues attracted around 1 million visitors.
During the height of the pandemic the economic impact dropped by almost £5 million and nearly 100 jobs were lost.
The organisations receiving funding for 2022/23 are:
20 Stories High, Africa Oyé, The Black-E, Collective Encounters, Comedy Trust, DaDa Disability & Deaf Arts, FACT, First Take, Homotopia, Liverpool Irish Festival, Liverpool Biennial, Everyman & Playhouse (LMTT), Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival, Metal Culture, Milapfestival Trust, Merseyside Dance initiative, Open Culture, Open Eye Limited, Pagoda Arts, Royal Court Theatre, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Squash Nutrition, Tate Liverpool, The Bluecoat, Tmesis Theatre, Unity Theatre, Writing on the Wall
The CAIP programme contributes to a number of priorities outlined in the Council Plan which aims to make the city culturally diverse, internationally ambitious, empowered and authentic.
Liverpool Biennial is incredibly grateful for Liverpool City Council’s ongoing support which enables us to continue delivering dynamic visual arts programming for the city and its visitors.
During 2020-2021 funding enabled our Learning and Programme teams to forge deeper connections with new partners and community organisations across the city and facilitated the delivery of an ambitious public programme for our 2021 edition comprising performances, tours and community workshops.
Find out more here
