The dates have been announced and submissions are open for Shout Liverpool.
Shout Liverpool follows the success of Shout London, the mental health and arts festival from Ashford Place.
The Irish World was there as big names like Gail Porter and Ashford Place patron Michelle Collins launched Shout London in late 2022.
In October last year the festival returned to The Kiln in Kilburn and The Crown Hotel in Cricklewood having grown from its first year.
It was at that festival that the plans for a Liverpool event were first made known. A Belfast event is also being planned.
The inaugural Shout Liverpool festival will take place 18- 19 April 2024 at Bluecoat, Liverpool’s contemporary arts centre.
The ticketed free-to-attend event encompasses film, music, theatre, dance and poetry and the festival is calling for submissions for original artistic content across film (features and shorts), theatre, dance, spoken word, music and other art forms.
Applications are welcome from Liverpool and across the UK and should be sent to [email protected] by Monday 18 March.
Shout Liverpool especially welcomes submissions from people with lived experience of mental health issues.
The festival will be curated by Festival Director Carey Fitzgerald, CEO of Silver Mountain Productions who, along with the Arts Council England, the Department of Foreign Affairs Ireland, Irish Community Car, i2i Media and Flannery Plant Hire will act as sponsors.
Actor Michelle Collins will continue as Festival Patron as will actor, dancer and writer Maria McAteer accompanied by Alice Beadle on the violin.
Shout Liverpool will open with a scene from award-winning writer Maria McAteer’s play The Guinness Girl, which was a huge success at the London Irish Centre and is soon to be made into a feature film. The moving, humorous and provocative play follows the story of a young black girl growing up in Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1974 with an Irish mother. At a time when racism was rife, putting on her Irish dance shoes and dancing was her only escape.
Maria McAteer is also collaborating with mental health campaigner Jon Salmon and WHAT’S GOING ON IN YOUR HEAD? whose mission is to explore the secret inner workings of the mind through live performance and discussion.
Ashford Place CEO Danny Maher, who has worked closely with Fitzgerald in developing Shout Liverpool, highlighted the success of the London events, which opened the conversation on poorly understood mental health issues and provided a platform that encouraged publicly focused conversation, inspired by honest depictions of mental health in film and the creative arts.
Maher commented: “We are realising our long-term vision of building SHOUT LONDON into one of the most diverse cultural annual events in the calendar and bringing it to audiences outside of London. The festival celebrates the artistic expression of people with experience of mental health issues, exploring the relationship between creativity and the mind, while promoting positive mental health and well-being.”
Fitzgerald added: “I am delighted that we are beginning our SHOUT tour in Liverpool. Exploring the subject of mental health with expression through the arts has proved to be empowering for the performers and audience and it has been wonderful to see how everyone was so comfortable in discussing and embracing their lived experiences.”
Details of the full programme will be announced shortly with tickets being available from 10 March from the website.