August Newsletter

Over summer we’ve been having so much fun being part of all the biggest arts moments in the city including Liverpool Arab Arts Festival last month, FACT’s Cinema in the City this month and Liverpool Biennial until 14th September. It’s been so exciting seeing the library’s place in all of these cultural highlights, as a site for experimentation, collaboration and collective learning.

Summer isn’t over yet and we’ve got loads happening in August across the libraries from screenings to new young people's programme in Netherton including sound recording, clay sculpting, filming, writing and collaborating with more local partners.

LAAF: Palestinian embroidery and screening at the Plaza

We were delighted to have brought Liverpool Arab Arts Festival back to Sefton, celebrating Arab arts and culture with a special screening of family friendly animated films at the Plaza Cinema. Seeing families playing and watching together was a moment that perfectly capture what The Colour of Pomegranates programme is all about and why we love collaborating so much (honourable mention to two regulars who danced by the screen together).

The day after we hosted Tatreez Collective who led a Palestinian embroidery workshop. As well as practical learning about the different techniques, Dina gave us an incredible talk about the political and cultural history of embroidery in Palestine and the resonant stories told by each of the different designs. Not only do these different motifs tell us about the women who have made them, and which part of Palestine they have come from, they continue to be a method of resistance, telling the story of Palestinian oppression and displacement.

These were the only two in the festival programme happening outside of the city centre and it was wonderful to bring the festival back to Crosby and Bootle again!

Hurly Burly joined us for a second short residency at Crosby Library, developing their new show 'After Party', with families in the library, which which you'll be able to see as part of its tour early next year. Hearing the library filled with song throughout the week was a wonderful experience for everyone and was so exciting to see the ideas coming together and watch parents and babies' responses to the work in progress showing.

Hannah Fincham was back in Crosby and Bootle as part of her 'Seasoning' residency in our Kitchen Library, exploring the wild spices that grow in our local areas around the libraries through foraging, making and tasting. With summer in full swing we collected yarrow, water mint, pineapple weed and rose in Rimrose Valley Country Park before making our own seed screens to use next month! Find out more about 'Seasoning' and the Kitchen Library here.

This summer we've got lots of special summer programming happening across the libraries for young families and young people as Squish takes its summer break.

We've partnered with FACT to bring their Cinema in the City to Bootle Christ Church, showcasing a range of family-friendly films that relate to this year's Summer Reading Challenge of 'Story Garden'.

We'll be working with young people in Netherton for New Lore Just Dropped, finding out about Netherton's urban legends and making up our own with writing, sound recording, filming and clay sculpting. To take part - if you're local to Netherton, and have a child going into years 6,7 or 8 this September, please email hello@atthelibrary.co.uk with your child's name, age and first three letters of your postcode!

In Crosby, we're hosting workshops with artist Ellie Towers inspired by Heaven in the Ground by DARCH, our Liverpool Biennial co-commission by DARCH, exploring and making our own underground creatures, and imagining the conversations they might have with with us and each other, facilitated by our very own Sara Wolff.

While Squish takes its summer break, we have a series of workshops for soon-to-be school starters with artists Abi Lake and Emma Hirons 

The library is always busy in the best way during the summer holidays and we can't wait to do some experimenting within the programme and with new audiences as we move into the next season.

You can find everything that's on over August on our website here. All bookings are now available there for everything.

Do you have music for children to squish things to? We're building a soundtrack for our Squish workshops because we've noticed how music can be used to change the space, create different atmospheres and focus on play during the workshops.

If you have existing music or sound pieces that you think would suit our playlist, please email hello@atthelibrary.co.uk.

Please note this is not a commission for new works but a call for submissions for existing ones. We want to meet new musicians and sound artists in the city and build a mixtape with you! Please email with any questions or details.