Discover amazing food, music and art of Mallorca with a free event at INNSiDE Liverpool

Mallorca’s known for its amazing food, music, and art – now all of those things are coming to Liverpool in one free event.

INNSiDE Liverpool on Old Hall Street is opening up its event spaces, bedrooms and the gorgeous Secret Garden on the first floor terrace, to host a unique Live For The Arts event.

There’ll be live music, live art, food demos, poetry, workshops and film screenings on Saturday June 17, merging the best of Mallorcan and Liverpool culture, celebrating differences and the things that connect us.

Gonzalo Hevia, Marketing Manager from Meliá Hotels says this is the latest event of its kind to be organised by the global group. The first was in Magaluf two years ago, and last year saw one in New York and a second one in Leipzig, Germany.

He explains: “In 2021 we held the Expanded Literature Festival of Magaluf in one of our newest hotels there. It was over three days with a lot of artists, musicians, writers, and it was a huge success so we decided we wanted to do something similar, in a more intimate way, in different destinations.

“Our goal is to connect the two different cultures in a way that combines artists to create a unique experience.”

Live For The Arts takes place on Saturday afternoon and early evening, from 3.15pm to 8pm at INNSiDE Liverpool.

Here are 6 reasons to check it out …

Watch delicious authentic dishes being cooked

La Pajarita, a historic shop in Palma which specialises in gourmet charcuterie, is more than 150 years old and a real landmark for foodies in the city. Chef Pau Barceló and Pep Mulet from La Pajarita will host A Bite of Mallorca: Gastronomic experience. They’ll be giving live demos showing how to prepare one of the most traditional dishes in Balearic gastronomy ‘Cocarroi’ – a popular savoury pastry that’s Mallorcans’ favourite mid-morning snack – accompanied by live music.

The event has a Beatles theme

That might sound unlikely, but there’s a good reason for it. Gonzalo says: “We were considering which topic to have and when we started digging we discovered lots of examples of how The Beatles affected Mallorcan culture. For instance the first time that a Beatles song was played in Spain was in Majorca. Also, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were arrested in Majorca in 1971 for attempted kidnapping of Yoko Ono’s daughter, named Kyoko. We’ll be screening a documentary about that followed by a conversation with film director Marcos Cabotá and historian Tomeu Canyelles.”

Liverpool street artist Paul Curtis will be creating a mural

Paul Curtis, who’s behind so much of Liverpool’s well-known street art, will be creating a live urban art mural. Once it’s completed, the end result will go on display at the hotel. Liverpool illustrator Jess Hanko will also be doing live portraits of other artists taking part throughout the day.

There’ll be lots of live music including in the Secret Garden

Secret Garden Credit: Gino D'Acampo Old Hall Street — Secret Garden Credit: Gino D’Acampo Old Hall Street

INNSiDE Liverpool’s first-floor terrace Secret Garden is stunning and it’ll be the venue for the event’s finale at around 7pm – an outdoor performance by Malloran-born singer Aina Zanoguera accompanied by pianist Gori Matas. Earlier in the evening there’ll also be a collaboration with a performance by Mallorcan musician L.A. and LIPA musicians.

Poetry and painting will come together

English poet and author Robert Graves fell in love with Mallorca and lived there for almost 60 years. Actress and musician Clara Ingold will give a recital of his poetry while Pau Aguiló paints live in one of the hotel rooms.

It’s all free!

There’s so much happening and it’s all free. “We want to reflect that everyone is welcome when it comes to culture and this is a really fun way of doing it,” adds Gonzalo.