Finalists in the Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Awards have been announced

Judging has taken place on more than 300 entries to the inaugural Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Awards, with the finalists now revealed.

Watch as we meet the People’s Choice Finalists to help you cast your vote.

The awards have been created by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to celebrate outstanding contribution and commitment to art, culture and creativity across Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.

Entries came in from a wide variety of organisations. A panel of judges headed by Phil Redmond the Chair of the Culture Partnership, chose the finalists as well as bestowing the Inspiration Award for Lifetime Achievement which will be presented on the night.

Six of the finalists – those for the People’s Choice award – will now go to a public vote.

They are:

1 – Africa Oyé

2 – Imaginarium Theatre

3 – Jennifer John

4 – Fiona Philpott for Terracotta Warriors

5 – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

6 – Wirral Council’s Culture and Visitor Economy team

The details of each of the projects and how you can vote for them are available here.

In addition to an award, winners will be offered the services of a film maker to develop a three minute bespoke film tailored to the audience that the winner wishes to reach, providing an advocacy tool for future progression.

Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram said: “Congratulations to all of the finalists. We’ve been delighted to see so many organisations from across the Liverpool City Region engage with us and enter the first ever Culture and Creativity Awards. As the first Combined Authority to have powers over culture in our devolution deal, I believe we can have a massive impact across the Liverpool City Region as a whole.

Culture and the creative arts are an incredibly important part of our identity. We are hugely proud of our cultural heritage and want to celebrate what makes all of our areas special to the people who live and work within them.”

Jennifer John (Pic credit Rivercool)

The Culture and Creativity Awards are part of the Metro Mayor’s Culture Programme for the Liverpool City Region which includes investment in key cultural projects such as £10.55m for the construction of the Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot and £5m support for the Liverpool 2018 celebrations, which brought the Giants back to the city region for the final time.

This investment is in addition to the activity around the yearly Borough of Culture title and the 1% for Culture initiative, where the equivalent of 1% of the £30 million annual devolution funding is used to stimulate cultural and creative opportunities.

Ian Maher, Leader of Sefton Council and Portfolio holder for Culture, Tourism and The Visitor Economy said: “Culture and creativity is so valuable when it comes to achieving positive outcomes and I’m pleased to see a diverse range of organisations from the Liverpool City Region being included in the finalists. Our city region is filled with culture and this event is a fantastic way to recognise all that hard work so get voting for your favourite project.”

The red carpet ceremony will be hosted by award-winning actor, screenwriter and recent BAFTA Cymru winner, Celyn Jones who will be joined by a number of guest presenters.

The finalists for each of the awards categories in full:

People’s Choice Award (Outstanding Contribution to Culture)

Africa Oyé
Imaginarium Theatre
Jennifer John
Fiona Philpott & National Museums Liverpool, Terracotta Warriors
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Wirral Council’s Culture and Visitor Economy team
Artist/Arts Organisation of the Year

20 Stories High
Heart of Glass
Vasily Petrenko
Student Inspiration Award

Grace Bell & Michaela Munden
Karl Shaun Thompson
Nadia Atique Mohamed
Impact Award (Health and Wellbeing)

Comics Youth CIC
Jay McWinen (Royal Court Theatre Community Choir)
National Museums Liverpool – House of Memories
Human Library Project
Impact Award (Environmental Sustainability)

Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse
Rose Davies (The Hippy Rose)
We Make Places
Impact Award (Improving Education and Learning)

Caroline Williams (The Spider Project)
MakoCreate
Savera UK Youth
Impact Award (Improving community Cohesion)

Africa Oyé
LCR Pride Foundation with Nonconform
Mandela8
Impact Award (International Reach)

Africa Oyé
National Museums Liverpool (International Slavery Museum)
Prof. Caroline Wilknison. – Face Lab
Impact Award (Future World of Work)

Andy Dockerty – Adlib
Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse (e&P)/YEP
St.Vincent’s School for sensory impairment
Unity Theatre / 20 Stories High
Impact Award (Sustainable Business in Arts)

David Owen
Dot Art
Make CIC
Borough of Culture ‘Star of the Year’

Wirral Borough of Culture Volunteers
Craig Pennington – Future Yard
Paul Askew – Ambassador
Sue Higginson – Wirral Met College
The judging panel were:

Phil Redmond – Chair of the Culture Partnership
Alison Clark – ACE North Director
Lucy Barrow – Assistant Director, Wirral Borough Council
Alastair Machray – Editor in chief, Liverpool Echo
Claire McColgan – Director, Culture Liverpool
Professor Dinah Birch – Pro-Vice Chancellor for Cultural Engagement, University of Liverpool
Alan Higgins – Head of Programme, LCR Public Health England North West
Michelle Charters – CEO, Kuumba Imani Centre
Sponsors of the event:

Liverpool John Lennon Airport
USP Creative
The Handmade Gin Company
Paddock Johnson

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Sponsored by Paddock Johnson Partnership, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, The Handmade Gin Company and USP Creative, the awards will take place on 28th November 2019 at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in the 2019 Liverpool City Region ‘Borough of Culture’, Wirral.

Find out more about the LCR Culture and Creativity awards here.

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