New Sefton Cultural Strategy gives an exciting opportunity to build on what we have

What would you like to see in a new Cultural Strategy for our area? 

The plan to showcase Sefton as a “cultural leader” within the Liverpool City Region is about to take shape, on the back of last year’s Sefton Borough of Culture. 

Discussions will soon take place about exactly what should be in it. What do you think should be in? 

During lockdown, we have certainly missed our cultural offer! The sooner our local arts venues and events are back up and running again, the better. 

We have much to build on – Southport must be one of the few towns in the country to be able to support three theatres! 

The Atkinson on Lord Street and the Little Theatre on Hoghton Street have a rich history in our town, presenting a whole host of theatre shows, live music, comedians, art exhibitions, poetry readings and much more. 

The Atkinson has recently been shortlisted for two prestigious awards in the Liverpool City Region Culture Awards, which is a testament to the high quality of the offer there. 

Our much-loved Southport Theatre sadly closed last March as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic – but there is much determination to see it reopen. 

Rebuilding a new waterside events centre, fit for the 21st century, is the main proposal contained in the £50million Southport Town Deal which was submitted to the Government on 31 October last year. 

How the new waterside events venue in Southport could look

If Sefton is to build a reputation as the cultural leader of the Liverpool City Region, then this is something that has to be successful. 

Estimates suggest that the new venue would attract 455,000 day visitors a year, including 172,000 from outside the Liverpool City Region. 

There would be the capacity for lots of new attractions, including the growingly popular e-sports phenomenon, and a determination to attract younger audiences among guests of all ages. 

Outside the centre would be a walk-on pier in the Marine Lake, where people could enjoy spectacular immersive light and sound shows in the lake. 

On the other side of the Marine Lake, Southport Pleasureland is developing extremely exciting plans to become an all-year round attraction with a new offer that will attract visitors from around the UK. 

Our borough’s impressive events programme is one of the best in the UK. 

Southport Air Show brings the best aircraft in the world to Southport Beach; Southport Flower Show is the biggest (and best) independent flower show in the UK; Southport Food and Drink Festival gets bigger every year; the British Musical Fireworks Championship brings the best pyrotechnic firms in the UK to compete in Southport ever October; and Southport Comedy Festival brings top comedians from around the world to venues around town.

Southport Air Show

Victoria Park is now creating new events this year, including its Comedy in The Park showcase and its Smoke and Fire Festival. 

Formby Festival and Formby Christmas Light Switch On get better every year.

Sefton Borough Of Culture has helped to spark people’s imaginations and get more people involved with culture through some truly eye-catching events during 2020. 

It started with the Constellations event at the Marine Park in Waterloo, before A Nightingale’s Song saw a story of Sefton projected into the front of Waterloo Town Hall, Bootle Town Hall and The Atkinson in Southport over three consecutive nights. 

Acclaimed street artist Paul Curtis created a four-storey mural dedicated to champion Southport racehorse Red Rum on a building at Scarisbrick Avenue / The Promenade. 

The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic put some of the best-laid plans of Sefton Borough Of Culture on hold, but also saw some fast thinking create some innovative online events such as Comedy Bingo (via Zoom), the Origami Pulse Squirrel Project and the Words Of Wisdom project which continued through lockdown as a “pen pal” project, supported by a programme of acts of kindness for older citizens. 

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia features in the Brick Wonders exhibition at The Atkinson in Southport

A true Cultural Strategy will only succeed if it can spark ideas and encourage people to get involved, and it is good to see that happening. 

In the south of the borough, the new Bootle Festival Of Ideas has seen Sefton Council has sought to inspire local people to share ideas related to five themes – making and selling; food and growing; music and culture; health and wellbeing; and spaces for change. 

Paul Curtis’ Red Rum mural has sparked a new wave of stunning street art in Southport. Robert Newbiggin’s three-storey tributes to Captain Sir Tom Moore and our NHS heroes on either side of the Anthony James Estate Agents building on Hoghton Street in Southport town centre is one example of that. Watch out for more very visible works of art which are being planned to appear in Southport this year. 

Sefton – the Borough of Culture. It was a programme which was originally intended to last for just one year, in 2020. 

But with the spark it has created, exciting plans for a new events centre and a bigger and better Pleasureland, new events, new street art and new ideas, there’s no doubt it’s a reputation we should be able to make as our own. 

As we look to emerge gradually from lockdown, there is lots to look forward to. 

Do you have any stories for Stand Up For Southport? Please message Andrew Brown via Facebook here or email me at: mediaandrewbrown@gmail.com