art05 is the second annual NW Arts Council event. The first was in Manchester last year.
Information overload
From 10.30-16.30 there was the art05 x.change in the Coach Shed in Greenland St. Over 70 organisations and individuals were involved all with their own table full of stuff. Lots of familiar faces from the local galleries, theatres etc. and some not so familiar from Manchester, Cumbria, Preston, Cheshire etc.
Surprisingly (or perhaps not) no sign of anyone from the Capital of Culture dept.! Will I ever get to meet these guys? Have to go and bang on the door of their ivory tower I suppose.
I returned with a large pile of literature and intend to read every word. Also pictured here are people from Catalyst Media and GoldFishGallery
Party Time
There were debates in the afternoon at FACT in association with the BBC about Arts Council work in the NW and ‘Can you buy Culture?’. I missed these, I didn’t have a ticket.
The awards party was in the evening at the Blade Factory (Jump Ship Rat). We were presented with lots of food and drink and these ribbons which were part of the installation commissioned from artists Maddi Nicholson and Stuart Bastik.
Eddie Berg snogs Tracey Emin and gets a big gong
Arts Council NW Chair, Tom Bloxham, presented John Fox with the award for a Lifetime’s Contribution to the Arts. John Fox, amongst many things, founded Welfare State International in 1968.
Then Tracey Emin presented the two £10,000 awards. The organisation one went to ‘Quarantine’ from Manchester, creators of new theatre. The individual award went to Eddie Berg, founder and executive director of FACT Eddie couldn’t make much of a speech because he said he was dying to go to the loo, should have left the heavy drinking till after the awards.
Tracey says she is a big fan of Liverpool and its Culture and had one of her best orgasms here. I’d like to take the credit but modesty forbids.
Oh How We Danced
The excellent music and dancing went on till midnight. These are dancers (not wrestlers) ‘Dansarota Barred’ and outside was Walk the Plank’s ‘Garden of Fiery Fabulousity’ which was indeed fabulousitous.