Art Valley Day in north Liverpool

A community project in association with Liverpool’s Everyman and Playhouse theatres will be running a fun-packed afternoon in north of the city next week.

Art Valley Day was created as a programme of arts activities across the Alt Valley ward for people to get involved with both their community and in the city centre. For the last seven months the joint arts project has worked across the Alt Valley wards of Norris Green, Fazakerley, Croxteth, Warbreck, County and Clubmoor.

Liverpool’s two city centre theatres have been working alongside the arts centre Bluecoat, under the Alt Valley Arts Outreach programme, in a partnership with Liverpool City Council and social registered landlords.

For instance, in February this year, Alt Valley Skills Centre in Croxteth and Alsop High School in County staged a performance of the Everyman and Playhouse community touring production of new Liverpool play Billy Wonderful, with post-show sessions for the audience to take part in looking at the themes of the play.

On Saturday 22 August, Art Valley Day will feature its very own scarecrow trail between 12-4pm, starting in Blackthorne Road, off Walton Hall Avenue, next to Walton Sports Hall and Walton Hall Park.

As part of a project known as Four Corners, young people from across the Alt Valley ward have worked with artists Kevin Hunt and Jemma Egan to create scarecrows in response to the question: ‘What would you like to ward off or attract to the area?’ Young people from 506 Detached Youth Centre, Clubmoor Youth Centre, Croxteth Gems and Rice Lane City Farm have transformed their unwanted clutter and waste into unique scarecrows.

A touring bus will be in operation visiting all the different scarecrow locations.

Paul Gould, a parent of a participant at Clubmoor Youth Centre, said: “I think more parents within the local community should be involved with these projects. It raises the awareness of local groups and helps the younger generation socialise, coming together in a safe learning environment. I’ve actually learnt quite a bit myself from being a part of this project such as identifying the need for projects which are community based extending out to the wider audience.”

Art Valley Day is jointly funded by Alt Valley Neighbourhood Management Services, Cobalt Housing, Liverpool Mutual Homes and Liverpool Housing Trust.