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Theatres' Cash Boost
LIVERPOOL City Council today agreed a £250,000 increase in funding to the city's Playhouse and Everyman Theatres.
The funding, which is in addition to the £800,000 grant which the Council currently gives to the theatres, is to expand their artistic programme of productions and writing
The cash injection will be used for the development of a single new box office for cultural venues throughout the city. The City Council and Culture Company are developing a one-stop service for people to buy tickets for the whole range of theatres and other cultural venues in the city with a 24/7 phone booking system.
The new centralised box office will be located in the forthcoming 08 Place in Whitechapel.
"There are great advantages in having a single point for selling
tickets", said Councillor Mike Storey, leader of the City Council.
"It means people can book tickets for a concert at the Philharmonic Hall at the same time as booking for a play at one of the theatres. It will be a one-stop shop for ticketing.
There are great opportunities for cross marketing and sales by the various venues - often they have the same audience and it will be easier for them to reach new audiences and hopefully, increase attendance.
This will be one of the major legacies of our Capital of Culture programme. We will be the only city in the country to offer this kind of all-embracing service.
We want to help them build on the success they are enjoying. Our increased funding will help the Liverpool Playhouse and Everyman become Britain's top regional theatres."
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LIVERPOOL CELEBRATES YOUNG POETRY TALENT SIXTEEN promising poets from Liverpool's secondary schools have clinched Poetry of
Place awards as part of a literacy initiative with friendly society Royal Liver Assurance and Liverpool City Council.
The children were invited by Angela Heslop to read their poems on BBC Radio Merseyside on National Poetry Day earlier this week. They were also awarded book vouchers and certificates at an awards ceremony attended by over 100 parents, pupils and teachers at the Royal Liver Building.
Three of the children were singled out for special commendation. Phillip Roberts (13) of Fazakerley High School took first prize for his poem 'The Second Liver Bird'. Phillip brought the bird to life by describing its feelings about Liverpool.
Zaid Razman of Campion High School became runner-up with second prize for his poem on the Albert Dock and Amy Howarth of St. Hilda's High School won third prize for her poem about the city's famous landmarks.
The Poetry of Place competition began three years ago by Liverpool Education Committee's Literacy Centre to support the work of Liverpool's schools in improving reading and writing skills. Royal Liver Assurance has sponsored the competition since it began.
Steve Burnett, chief executive of Royal Liver Assurance, said:- "This year's Poetry of Place awards attracted over 1,200 entries, making the task of choosing the finalists harder than we ever imagined.
We left it to the people of Liverpool to decide on the final winners by placing email votes on our website - and we had an incredible turnout.
The Poetry of Place awards are invaluable to the City's secondary schools. They help teachers to raise literacy standards and give Liverpool the chance to celebrate the city's extra special young talent."
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