SPECIALLY commissioned “pavilions” and a programme of winter lights are among the 2008 attractions promised for Liverpool’s communities.
Projects are also planned involving college students, people with disabilities and whole neighbourhoods taking part in what has been dubbed “creative regeneration”.
The Liverpool Biennial is behind the three pavilion installations which will be created for and by the people in Kirkdale, Garston and Kensington throughout 2008.
It is working with Rotunda College in the north, Metal in the east and Garston Cultural Village in the south.
All three sites have been selected as representing a focus for transforma-tion and change for those areas.
Organisers have described them as “awe-inspiring structures” which will show residents’ creativity as they work on them with international artists and architects.
Karenza Hines, of the Biennial, said: “We’ve been working on this with our partners for a year and we’ve done a lot of consultation events and put plans out into the communities.
“The idea comes from Lille, when it was Capital of Culture, and had its les maisons folies.
“There they took 15 buildings in neighbourhoods and turned them into cultural centres.”
The Culture Company has pledged community engagement will be a key element of the 2008 public art programme.
Claire McColgan, who is heading the Creative Communities programme, said: “Communities are absolutely central to Capital of Culture, and the majority of the Liverpool programme is being delivered by around 80 local arts organisations.
“The Creative Communities programme was the real success story of the bid and there’s been a developing relationship across the city since we won the title in 2003.
“Hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in projects since then.”
Four new World In One City initiatives will take place in January including Caribbean Islands –Beauty of Culture which willexplore the unique Caribbean culture alive in Liverpool.
The Winter Lights programme, also part of the Biennial’s work with neighbourhoods, will be held this November and again from November, 2008, to February, 2009.
It first took place over last winter, animating the southern, northern and eastern gateways to the city with three light works from artist Ron Haselden called Animal.
These will be re-installed in November together with a fourth new Animal in the Baltic area. French artist Franck Scurti has also been appointed to create a new series of temporary light works for three neighbourhood locations.
At the end of 2008, these will be joined by the final winter light commission for 08/09 resulting in a minimum of 10 light works around the city centre periphery.
Meanwhile, Out of the Shadows, a city-wide reminiscence project recording the experiences of older people with a range of physical and mental disabilities, will run from April to September at St George's Hall.
And there will be a finale to the ongoing Four Corners city-wide crea- ive neighbourhoods regeneration programme on European Neighbours Day, at the end of May, with a major exhibition planned for June.
The culture year will finish with Portrait of a Nation, a Heritage Lottery Fund-backed picture of a country – told by the communities hidden in cities and towns across the nation.
