Borough of Culture launched in style at packed activity event at World of Glass
St Helens officially launched its role as the Liverpool City Region's Borough of Culture in style with a packed day of family activities featuring some of the very best local and regional artistic and cultural talent.
The FREE special launch event at the World of Glass on Saturday 4 March saw a host of talented local performers providing entertainment for visitors throughout the day showcasing what everyone can look forward to this year, with theatre, cabaret, music and art all playing a special part in the activity programme which will offer something for all ages.
Running Order
Teatro Pomodoro - The Running Showers
UC Crew performer breakdancing @ St Helens Library
Natasha Moonshine - 5 times World Record holding Hula Hoopist
Foyer - 10.30am: Teatro Pomodoro - The Running Showers. Splish-splashing through the foyer of the World of Glass for a sudsy interactive performance!
Library - 10.30am: UC Crew. St Helens' very own UC Crew performed head-spinning, body popping, break-dancing!
Mezzanine - 11am: St Helens Singers. We enjoyed the vocal harmonies of St Helens Singers for half an hour of musical favourites.
Library - 11.30am: North West Miners Banner & Three Sheets. An excerpt of award-winning playwright Christine Marshall's new work set in St Helens Hospital during the 1984 miners' strikes.
Mezzanine - 12.00noon: The Pilkington Choir. The Pilkington Choir serenaded us with a series of songs from their repertoire.
Library - 12.30pm: Family Variety Cabaret. We joined host & compare Sister Sister from RuPaul's Drag Race UK for colourful costumes, lots of laughs & a special storytime. There were fantastic unicycle performances from Velma von Bon Bon & dazzling hula-hoop routines from Marawa's Majorettes' very own Natasha Moonshine - 5 times World Record holding hula hoopist.
Foyer - 1.00pm: Teatro Pomodoro - The Running Showers.
Library - 1.30pm: Cut Glass Writers Group - Open Mic. St Helens Library's writers group provided an open mic performance
Sankey Suite - 1.30pm: Borough of Culture Community Grants Launch. Our various grant streams were launched to help atists of St Helens (or artists with a connection to St Helens) create something brilliant for St Helens Borough of Culture 2023.
Foyer - 2pm: Teatro Pomodoro - The Running Showers.
Mezzanine - 2.30pm: The Haydock Band ended the fantastic day with a performance of a very special set of songs.
Throughout The Day
Glass blowing demonstration at The World of Glass
St Helens Singers
Cone: Rebecca Ainsworth - Days in the Life of... Artist Rebecca Ainsworth had been working with a group of Visually Impaired people at the Millennium Centre since 2021 - as you entered The World of Glass, you could listen to the soundscape they had made together.
Mezzanine: St Helens Archive Service, Saints Heritage Society and the Sankey Valley Project talked about the heritage of the Borough, displayed historic items and talked about future events.
Pilkington Gallery/Gallery One: Recharged. There were opportunities to look at artefacts and images from the creative underground of St Helens from the years 1982-95 when there was a surge in interest in creativity, music, dance, film, drama and visual arts in the town, as well as talk to the organisers of Recharged - a Heritage Lottery funded project that aims to capture people's experiences of those years with audio, video and artefacts.
Library: 10 Years to Save the World. A comic art anthology exhibition by Lakes International Comic Art Festival in response to the climate crisis.
Library: Eco Art Installations. 3 new commissions from the Cultural Hubs - Arts in Libraries programme by St Helens artists - Stephen Banning, Benjamina Abanese and Claire Eddleston.
Café: Family Art Club. As part of our ongoing Arts in Libraries activities, we launched our Family Art Club - a place for everybody to get involved, regardless of your age, ethnicity or where you grew up.
Pilkington Gallery/Gallery One: Artists Together - 'RESIDE'. Led by St Helens artist Claire Weetman - our Artists Together participants took over the Education Suite to host workshops, and share a pop-up exhibition.
Glassblowing Studio: Glassblowing Demonstrations. 4 great glass artists were in the studio, and spent the day creating and playing with hot glass.
The event launched a programme of official Borough of Culture events which will take place in St Helens during the coming months, highlights of which so far include:
- Tate on Tour Truck which visits St Helens in (March) and Newton (April),
