Wake up to summertime!

by Emma Casey and Barbara Talent

“One of the most important things about working in the arts,” says Brian, “is to make sure that there is easy access to what is going on. This partly explains why we have three Arts Centres, one Civic Hall and a first rate Art Gallery in Sefton. It means that local people can walk to the nearest centre and be familiar with the area in which the centres are based.”

Brian and his team of nine people also take the arts out into the community, visiting residential centres, adult training centres, homes for the elderly and schools.

Throughout the year, Netherton Arts Centre is home to a huge variety of “happenings”.

Contemporary and classical performances are put on by both amateur and professional artists and companies. A whole range of workshops take place at the centre each week and people get the opportunity to work with professional artists, dancers or writers. Painting, photography, poetry readings, drama, weaving, singing, line and tap dancing are also some of the activities that people can get involved in.

Often the problems associated with poor housing, unemployment and drugs misuse are issues which are addressed and expressed through art forms such as music, drama and literature. Brian is very keen to point out that, in his view, a rich supply of arts activities is vital to any community not only because it can serve to focus on social problems and enable local people to find out more about what’s happening in the world at large, but also because, quite simply, art and culture enhance the quality of local life. “Imagine,” he says, “life without music, without films, without television drama, without books to read, without pictures to look at. What a grey old world we’d have then!”

We wanted to know what would be happening this summer: The Arts Development Team will be closely involved with the second Bootle Festival of Arts, organising arts events to take place in and around the Bootle Strand Shopping Centre in August 1996. Buskers, jugglers, dancers and poets - these are just a few of the artists that will be taking part.

There is also Youth Arts Express, a package of arts activities designed to interest young people between the ages of 13 and 25. Then there’s a project called Arts for Older People, a package which will interest those elderly people who are now living in residential centres and sheltered accommodation. “These,” says Brian “are the people we must not forget.”

For more information about Sefton Arts Development or about the activities taking place in and around Netherton Arts Centre, call Brian Wake on (0151) 525 0417.

Back