Lunar New Year 2024
Taking place from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 February, for the first time the FREE activities will not only take over the Chinatown area, but they will also bring a festival of colour and sound to the Bombed Out Church (St Luke’s), Liverpool ONE and the Royal Albert Dock Liverpool.
As well as the usual Chinatown takeover which includes traditional dragon, lion and unicorn parades, firecracker displays, family workshops, Tai Chi demonstrations, live music, a fairground and food and craft stalls – Culture Liverpool has commissioned brand new cultural pieces to celebrate Europe’s oldest Chinese community. These will take place in the run up to the main day of celebration on the Sunday, and on the day itself.
9 - 11 February - Bombed Out Church - 6pm - 9pm
From Friday 9 to Sunday 11 February, the traditional Chinese story of the Boy and the Pearl will come to life as it’s projected on the Bombed Out Church. Taking place from 6-9pm each night, the projections will transform the building with captivating animation and a newly composed soundscape. The show, which lasts for ten minutes, will run on a loop each evening. The work has been created by Focal Studios, in collaboration with Pagoda, the Bombed Out Church and local artists. To add to the atmosphere, around the church will be wooden dragon installations designed by local schools and community groups.
9 - 11 February - Royal Albert Dock - 5.30pm - 9pm
Culture Liverpool has teamed up with outdoor art experts Walk The Plank and fiery thrill-seekers Bring The Fire to stage three nights of entertainment at Royal Albert Dock Liverpool. This will see a 25-metre, illuminated dragon floating through the dock system, an exciting fire street theatre featuring dance and martial arts. All activities will run from 5.30-9pm each night – more detailed timings will be announced on Culture Liverpool’s social media channels nearer the time.
11 February - Great George Square - 4.30pm
Bring The Fire will also showcase its stunning skills at Chinatown on the Sunday with a mesmerising, fire-finale at 4.30pm on the stage at Great George Square.
11 February - Bombed Out Church
Due to popular demand, even more free family friendly workshops will be available on Sunday 11 – from lantern making sessions, traditional arts and crafts including dragon shadow puppetry, candle making and storytelling – and lots more! Each session will see local artists sharing their skills to inspire creativity. The Mersey Forest team is also getting involved in the workshop action and will stage activities at the Bombed Out Church.
9 February - Liverpool Philharmonic - 8pm
The Philharmonic Hall’s Music Room will play host to Harmony of the Dragon: A Chinese New Year Gala - an enchanting musical performance including a rendition of ‘Great Race’, a delightful tune associated with the CBBC programme of the same name. This is a ticketed event and all the information can be found on the venue’s website.
11 February - Great George Square - 11am - 5pm
Activity will take place from 11am to 5pm in and around the Great George Square area, and all the information about what to expect can be found on the official Lunar New Year website.
Thousands of lanterns will adorn the city centre streets around Chinatown and Liverpool ONE from the beginning of February, and a number of buildings will be illuminated in red in honour of the new year – signifying good fortune and joy to everyone. Some of the locations include Sefton Park Palm House, the Mersey Gateway Bridge, Cunard Building, Liverpool Town Hall, St George’s Hall, the Martin Luther King Building at the Royal Liverpool Albert Dock, Steve Prescott Bridge. Liverpool ONE and the Rotunda.
On Saturday 3 February, excitement is set to build as the Liverpool Hung Gar Kung Fu Friendship Association and award-winning dance company Movema lead a lion parade through the city centre. It will start from Bold Street around midday, travel to Liverpool ONE and then finish at the Royal Albert Dock Liverpool.
LGBTQ+ History Month returns to National Museums Liverpool
With events ranging from panel discussions on the art of drag, to family pantomime with the fabulous Mama G, National Museums Liverpool aim to highlight key issues and stories from across the community. The Museum of Liverpool will host the fabulous mosaic “Dip into Pride Bath”, first exhibited in the lead up to Pride 2023, in the main entrance.
The LGBT+ Histories hub on the NML website gives visitors the chance to delve into insightful interviews, opinion pieces, art history and hidden stories – from interviews with RuPaul’s Drag Race star Sister Sister, to the hidden history of voguing and how LGBTQ+ people have left their mark on the world of science and technology. For further informational and for online content including pride stories, interviews, past collections and LGBTQ+ stories from across Liverpool, visit
Free Thursday Night Jazz
Thu Feb 01 2024 at 08:00 pm to 10:00 pm
L'Aperitivo, 112 Bold Street
Live Jazz from one of Liverpool's Best every Thursday @ L'Aperitivo
Get free tickets here:
Elevate your pranayama practice and align your chakras in our free class. Explore the power of yoga breathing and improve your well-being.
Choose a date and save your spot here:
7 - 8 September 2024
Girl Power! Spice Girls at 30* is a temporary exhibition charting the history of the most important girl band in British history. In March 1994 an ad was placed in The Stage asking "Are you street smart, extrovert, ambitious, and able to sing and dance?". The rest is history. The Spice Girls debut single Wannabe topped the charts in 31 countries in 1996, they sold 80 million records and had nine UK Number One singles. The exhibition celebrates the story of how Sporty, Baby, Scary, Ginger and Posh became one of the most successful girl groups ever and enjoyed phenomenal global success.
Girl Power! Spice Girls at 30 tells the band’s story through outfits from the extraordinary collection of independent curator Liz West, who is the foremost collector of Spice Girls memorabilia and merchandise in the World. Liz’s Guinness World Record breaking collection boasts many iconic costumes all beautifully hand-made by international designers or specially commissioned by the Spice Girls themselves.
Liz began collecting Spice Girls memorabilia in 1996 when the girls first launched themselves onto the pop scene. As an impressionable 11-year-old, she was hooked as soon as they released their first single 'Wannabe'. At that age all her friends and family would buy Spice Girls items for Birthday and Christmas presents. Initially Liz just collected albums, magazines and sticker books but after a year of chart successes she started buying singles and masses of official merchandise. Everything was kept pristine in the packaging unlike her contemporaries who would use the items. Liz had a collector’s instinct from an early age, she would arrange and showcase proudly the boxed memorabilia on her bedroom shelves as a teenager. Liz did not buy her first museum worthy piece until at Art School in Glasgow, armed with a student loan she purchased a top worn my Melanie C at the age of 19 via eBay. After graduating from the Glasgow School of Art in 2007, Liz pursued her idea of exhibiting her ever increasing Spice Girls collection in museums nationwide.
The outfits on display will be complemented by audio visual elements, including a stage show montage of Spice Girls hits and listening stations. We have a season of activity planned to support the exhibition including film screenings, conversations, acoustic music and a special quiz night. Finally, the Museum’s merch store will be selling a range of Spice Girls apparel and giftware.
*Girl Power - Spice Girls at 30 is a collectors event and not an official Spice Girls exhibition.
Ticket's £10 Book here:
LOOK Climate Lab is a biennial programme exploring how photography can be a relevant and powerful medium for talking about climate change.
Once again we’ll transform the gallery into a lab: bringing together researchers and artists to test their ideas and encouraging our audiences to discuss systematic changes needed for dealing with the climate crisis.
This year we’ll show projects working with the topics of rewilding and industrial heritage, growing food and regenerative farming, transport, pollution, and impacts of war. The events programme includes sustainable photography and eco-poetry workshops, artist talks, poetry readings and panel discussions. All the events are free.
Gallery 3 will be turned into a cinema, showing Grow to Eat, Imagine Bamboo and The Balance Garden – short films about community growing, sustainable building and gardening to promote mental health.
Open Eye Gallery, 19 Mann Island, Liverpool Waterfront, Tel: 0151 236 6768
More opportunities coming soon!