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Culture
New book tells the story of Liverpool’s oldest building, the Bluecoat
4 years ago
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The fascinating story of Liverpool’s oldest city centre building and its evolution from charity school to arts institution is now told in a new book, Bluecoat, Liverpool: The UK’s first arts centre.
In this online event the book’s editors Bryan Biggs, Bluecoat’s Artistic Director and John Belchem, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Liverpool, and one of the contributing writers, art historian Dr Anjalie Dalal-Clayton, will be in conversation with writer Laura Brown.
The panel will discuss how the book came about and explore some key strands: Bluecoat’s early eighteenth-century origins as a school, the building’s architecture, how it developed as an arts space where ‘village hall meets the avant-garde’, and its exhibitions history and impact, in Liverpool and beyond.
They will consider Bluecoat’s cultural legacies, the relationship to its founding in the port’s religious and maritime mercantile environment three centuries ago, the importance of diversity in creating an inclusive arts centre, and the role of the arts in Liverpool’s regeneration.
There will also be an opportunity for the audience to ask questions.