Liverpool to host a cultural festival to run alongside Eurovision

Calling all performers, Liverpool has announced the city will host a major cultural festival that will run alongside Eurovision.

Artists and creatives from all the competing nations are being encouraged to take part.

Liverpool was named as the 2023 host city for the Eurovision Song Contest in October, staging the global event on behalf of Ukraine, beating Glasgow.

Now the Culture Liverpool team is issuing a call out to artists, creatives, musicians and performers for ideas towards an entertaining and diverse cultural festival in the lead up to the event. 

The festival will include a series of commissions, events and installations which will celebrate UK music, Eurovision and most importantly, act as a platform for showcasing modern Ukraine.

Applications are welcome from creatives who live in the nations competing in Eurovision 2023 and in particular from artists from Ukraine and from the Liverpool City Region. 

Culture Liverpool say the deadline for expressions of interest is midday Monday 12 December 2022. Those successful in this first stage will be given an initial £2,000 funding to formally develop their proposal.  

Mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson, said “The cultural festival was one of the highlights of our bid. Liverpool’s track record of curating innovative, high-quality artistic events combined with our ambition and determination to pay tribute to our Ukrainian friends stood out to the judges."

“Launching the culture commissions call-out is a huge milestone in our planning process.  This is a city that thrives on creativity and is willing to push boundaries, so we are excited to unleash the potential of artists from across the world.

Eurovision Minister Stuart Andrew has reacted saying:

"We are supporting Liverpool's Eurovision Cultural Festival to generate a wave of exciting arts projects and installations across the city as it prepares to become host city and leave a legacy that will endure long after the contest ends. I encourage fantastic artists from all the nations competing to get involved." 

One of the aims is to showcase Ukranian arts and culture, Volodymyr Sheiko is Director General of the Ukrainian Institute, he says:

"The Cultural Festival to take place alongside Eurovision in Liverpool is a major opportunity to showcase Ukrainian culture to UK and global audiences.

"I hope the commissions will reflect the resilience, creativity, hope, and diversity of today’s Ukraine and the powerful voices of its artists and creatives."

Director of Culture Liverpool, Claire McColgan CBE, says: “These commissions will fulfil our promise to Ukraine and also enable artists to engage in Eurovision in a completely new way.

"We always wanted to do more than what you see on screen and this free festival will give thousands of people the opportunity to engage with brilliance from artists around the world.”

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