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2020 Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Awards
After a challenging year for arts and culture, The Atkinson is proud to be nominated twice in the 2020 Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Awards. The multi venue arts organisation in Southport is a finalist in The People’s Choice award for Outstanding Contribution to Culture as well as the Impact Award – Covid-19 Creative Response.
The Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Awards celebrate outstanding contributions and commitment to art, culture and creativity across Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. The 2020 awards received over 700 nominations in a huge show of support for the cultural sector across the whole city region, which has suffered a massive impact in the face of Covid-19.
The judging panel, including Chairs of the Culture Partnership, Phil Redmond and Maggie O’ Carroll; met to consider nominations from across the city region to decide the list of finalists. It’s your decision who will be named the winner of The People’s Choice award for Outstanding Contribution to Culture. The vote closes on 26 January 2021 when the results will be totted up and the winner announced at a digital ceremony on Friday 19th February. You can place your vote here: liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk/peoples-choice-2020
The Atkinson is Southport’s home for music, theatre, art, literature and history and offers an exciting and varied destination for families, cultural tourists and arts enthusiasts alike. The Atkinson has offered hope to people across the Liverpool City Region during the Covid-19 pandemic. Whatever the challenge they responded with imagination, creativity and determination.
In the week before lockdown back in March 2020, The Atkinson was the site of the spectacular building-wide projection ‘A Nightingale’s Song’ celebrating the whole of the Sefton coast in collaboration with Sefton Borough of Culture 2020. During the first lockdown The Atkinson continued to share content and stories from their collections and programmes, as well as ways to engage online.
After reopening on 27 July, they welcomed over 37,000 visitors who enjoyed some truly outstanding exhibitions from their collections, contemporary artists, The British Library as well as the local community, which then became hugely popular online, immersive presentations for those unable to visit.
During the second lockdown, artist David Ogle’s sculptural installation ‘First Light’ of a rising sun, radiated positivity and the hope of The Atkinson’s re-awakening. This was just one of a series of Hope Street projects commissioned by The Atkinson’s Young Producers. Some were delivered live, like the Bootle ‘Skate Paint’ project, others digitally, such as ‘Butterflies in the Chaos’.
Working closely with LHK Productions, The Atkinson delivered a ‘sold out’ socially distanced pantomime over the Christmas period and was awarded the Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre’s ‘See It Safely’ mark. In the New Year, The Atkinson will stage new exhibitions on the connecting theme of ‘Inspirational Journeys’.
The Atkinson will continue to champion the enjoyment of arts, culture and heritage, where residents, visitors and communities can be entertained, inspired, continue learning and improve their wellbeing.