Wirral Borough of Culture 2024: Music festival and arts projects revealed

A giant globe will be displayed in Birkenhead Park

A music festival, a huge globe display and art projects have been revealed as part of plans to highlight "the very best of the Wirral" in 2024.

The events were announced after it was confirmed that Wirral was to be this year's Borough of Culture.

Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram said it was an opportunity for Wirral to forge its own identity, with a year focusing on culture.

"Let's put Wirral back on the map," Mr Rotheram added.

The Borough of Culture title rotates between the different boroughs making up the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, with the aim of celebrating areas outside Liverpool.

Wirral last held the title in 2019.

Previously released plans showed an arts festival would be held in New Brighton with funding of £145,000, while £120,000 would be spent on two celebratory events in the spring and autumn.

Plans are also in place for a heritage festival, events held in libraries across Wirral, a gallery in the Bloom Building, and events at Eureka! Science and Discovery.

Mr Rotheram said it was an opportunity for Wirral to forge its own identity

For the last Borough of Culture year, a festival run by Birkenhead music venue Future Yard was held in front of the Town Hall

But Craig Pennington, who runs Future Yard and who has helped shape the new programme of events, said he planned to host performances in several venues across the town.

They would take place on the August bank holiday weekend and would be called Future Now, he said.

Mr Pennington added: "It will be about encouraging people to get lost in Birkenhead and exploring new music and exploring the likes of the town as well."

Meanwhile, Patric Rogers, from Rock Ferry, will run 30 artist-led events called Into the Wild over five months.

The events would be based around Wirral's connections to the medieval tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Mr Rogers said.

"It feels like at the moment Wirral is ambitious culturally and taking a risk on the type of work we are creating. It feels like a breath of fresh air for our area," he said.

Patric Rogers will lead the Into the Wild project

For the second time, Alison Bailey Smith will run the Wirral MakeFest during the Borough of Culture year.

She said the festival would promote science, technology, engineering, maths and the arts and would be based at Birkenhead Central Library and the Williamson Art Gallery.

It would include crafts, virtual reality and different sessions, with more than 50 makers involved, Ms Bailey Smith said.

"I do not think people realise how much happens on the Wirral in terms of history and heritage, and I think it's interesting the programme is shaped a bit more by the community," she added.

Wirral South MP Alison McGovern, who previously worked for the charitable Art Fund before becoming an MP, said she hoped the year would showcase a different side of Wirral.

She said: "I feel like everywhere has got problems, but we have a really great culture and history. All those stories deserve to be told too, not just the negatives.

"I think this is a good opportunity for discovery."

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