A BID to stage a Capital of Culture event funded out of £20 donations from the public is being organised via social networking website Facebook.
Internet users say they want to set up a not-for-profit “culture cafe” to act as a platform for talent in Liverpool in the run-up to and during 2008.
The highly ambitious idea was spawned after creative consultant Mark Bowness from Wirral started a group on the Facebook.com website titled Liverpool Capital of Culture ‘08.
The 28-year-old said he wanted to gauge the opinion of the public ahead of next year’s official celebrations being organised by the Liverpool Culture Company.
Already 221 people have signed up and a core group have held meetings in city bars and cafes, during which the idea of the culture cafe was first mooted.
Organisers want 25,000 people to sign up to support the website. Only when that number is reached, each member will be asked to make a £20 donation.
If the target is reached, Mr Bowness says the pooled funding would kick-start a foundation to fund the cafe, and provide grants for community organisations.
“The cafe will be a bistro in the day and a bar at night and a plat-form for talent, providing space for musicians, comedians and other artists,” said Mr Bowness.
“All of the profits will go into a foundation and will be a source of funding which will permanent-ly invest into the future of Liverpool. We want this to be what the Capital of Culture was supposed to be.”
Mr Bowness says the cafe would eventually provide train-ing and employment opportuni-ties for 12 disadvantaged young people. The 25,000 paid investors would have access to an online social networking site specifi-cally developed for the project.
Mr Bowness founded tribewanted.com – a project to build an eco-community in Fiji, filmed as a documentary and is due to air on BBC2 this autumn.
“Liverpool is a city that has a lot of culture and Capital of Culture is the one opportunity to show that off,” he said.
Last night Liverpool Culture Company welcomed the idea of a “people’s project” for 2008. A spokesman said: “Anyone who adds to the creative mix and any-thing that enriches the city is to be welcomed.
“It is the role of the Culture Company to ensure the festival is as well support-ed as possible, it is unfort-unate we don’t have an unlimited amount of money to be able to fund every event.”
The Culture Company says it will have helped more than 300 organisations stage more than 3,000 between 2003 and the end of 2008, investing more than £11m into the city.
Mr Bowness added: “After learning about the cultures of Fiji and bringing employment and investment to an area, I became passionate about doing the same in my home city. I believe there are 25,000 people who will help to create a people-led project which will be a first of it's kind for the city and will leave a lasting legacy for it's future.”
The aim is to launch the Liverpool Culture Cafe on January 1, 2008.
Plans for the project so far are available on the website www. liverpoolculturecafe.com
vickyanderson
