Bluecoat

Our opening hours are a little different for the next couple of weeks. Please make sure you check our website if you’re joining us at the Bluecoat over the festive period. Open every day: Mon 16 - Mon 23 Dec Closed: Tue 24, Wed 25, Thu 26 Dec Open: Fri 27 - Mon 30 Dec Closed: Tue 31 & Wed 1 Dec Open as normal from Tue 2 Jan Building open from 10am, except Sundays open from 11am Gallery open 11am-5pm

Since 2009, the Bluecoat has celebrated the life and work of Wirral-born author, Malcolm Lowry (1909-57), through Lowry Lounge, an annual programme of talks, walks, performances, publications, and more. The annual event was created in collaboration with Liverpool John Moores University’s Research Institute for Literature and Cultural History, and you can browse the full online archive about the project on our website: https://lnkd.in/eKWsAgJd Visit LJMU's website to read a new feature on Lowry Lounge by Dr Helen Tookey: https://lnkd.in/edswJsW9 Image: Dr Helen Tookey and Bryan Biggs, Lowry Lounge 2024

We're delighted to be shortlisted as a finalist for the People's Choice Award (Outstanding Contribution to Culture) at Liverpool City Region's Culture & Creativity Awards 2025. We're also thrilled to share that Blue Room artist Tess Gilmartin is a finalist for Artist/Creative of the Year! Huge congratulations to Tess, she's had an incredible year with new projects, commissions, and much more. To see the full list of finalists, visit: https://lnkd.in/eTczi3Rj Voting opens on Wed 8 Jan.

This Giving Tuesday, you can help shape the future of art and culture at the Bluecoat! Your support keeps our galleries free, preserves Liverpool’s oldest city-centre building, and champions emerging artists. Whether you donate, play our charity lottery, or become a member, every act of generosity makes a difference. https://lnkd.in/eJvBGsS5

Get into the festive spirit at the Bluecoat this December! Join us for a new exhibition reflecting back on our 2024 gallery programme, pick up the perfect gifts for your loved ones at our winter markets, enjoy a delicious 2 course festive lunch in our upstairs restaurant, Christmas treats in our cafe and more! Visit our website to find out more: http://thebluecoat.org.uk

‘The Bluecoat: A Cultural Heritage for Liverpool’ is our latest project funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund exploring how the Bluecoat’s rich heritage can be used to tell the story of Liverpool, its artists, and its people. As part of this current project, we expanded Blue Room and created a new group for learning disabled and neurodivergent adults aged 16-15. Young Blue Room has focused on our building’s architecture, using printmaking and drawing to create artworks inspired by aspects of our building, like our iconic windows and cherub statues. The work was exhibited in a display during the autumn. We also started a print club for young people aged 14-18 to learn all about printmaking and develop their creative skills. They’ve been trying out a range of different print techniques, including screen printing and etching. You can find out more about the project here: https://lnkd.in/eaNqxva5 This current project has not only given us the chance to explore our heritage and understand our audiences better, but also given local young people opportunities to develop their creative skills and practices in ways they might not have been able to before. Without the National Lottery Heritage Fund, none of this would have been possible, and we can’t thank them enough. #NationalLottery30

In 2020 we launched ‘Echoes and Origins’, a heritage participation project for young people in Liverpool, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project explored two themes from the Bluecoat’s origins as a charity school, ‘Colonial Legacies’ and ‘Looked After Children’. Colonial Legacies focused on the origins of the Bluecoat building and its connections to the transatlantic slave trade. This was followed by Looked After Children, which aimed to commemorate the lives of the children who were students in the Bluecoat building when it was used as a residential school for destitute children. The Echoes and Origins project had a significant impact on the young people involved, and gave them “direct access to history, rather than it being filtered or owned by academia, for people who don’t usually feel included”. Find out more about the project here: https://lnkd.in/eBZMETbf #NationalLottery30

In 2019-2020, Future Arts Centres led Here and Now, a celebration of arts centres and community creativity to mark the National Lottery’s 25th birthday. In November 2024, on the National Lottery’s 30th birthday, we’ve been looking back at our favourite memories and asking Future Arts Centre members to reflect on the lasting impact of the project. Collected via stories of Most Significant Change, you can read more about the impacts that Here and Now had on artsdepot, Bluecoat, and Lawrence Batley Theatre here: https://lnkd.in/eRVrjJph 'The biggest long-term impact was that it’s been an inspiring model of work of best practice. Even yesterday I cited it to artists as the clearest example of the way we want to work with our communities.' (Louisa Bartlett-Pestell, artsdepot) 'Here and Now has really changed Bluecoat. We wouldn’t have known that immediately after the project but, looking back, it’s increased our public impact, relationships with stakeholders and our ambition to influence this city in ways we didn’t see at the time.' (Mary Cloake, Bluecoat) 'There were conversations about how we could re-open and been seen to be visible – lots of that still applies in a different way now. Now we use the courtyard quite frequently.' (Jenny Goodman, Lawrence Batley Theatre) Here and Now showed the impact of the National Lottery on community life and arts as they celebrated their 25th birthday, and we're delighted to see National Lottery players helping this to continue as they mark 30 years of game-changing impacts. National Lottery Promotions Unit #NationalLottery30 #ThanksToYou

Celebrate in style this Christmas. Book now for a festive two course meal in our beautiful Grade I listed building, prepared by our in-house chef. £26pp 🎄 Book here today- https://lnkd.in/d6BPsDH3

We’re excited to celebrate 30 years of The National Lottery Heritage Fund! In honour of this incredible milestone, our Director of Cultural Legacies Bryan Biggs has written a new blog looking back at the impact the Heritage Fund has made to the Bluecoat over the last 30 years. Read the full blog here: https://lnkd.in/eRBBwdUQ The support we’ve received from NLHF has been vital for our organisation, from funding large-scale structural projects to heritage-based participation projects. There’s no doubt this funding has helped us strengthen the building's prominence within the cultural life of Liverpool. #NationalLottery30