Capital of Culture 2008
Already renowned for its maritime, heritage, architecture, music, literature and sport, Liverpool staged the Capital of Culture party of a lifetime and placed the city firmly on the global map as a premier European city.
Liverpool Culture Company worked closely with the city's cultural organisations, creative industries, artists, schools and businesses, and its aim was for 2008 to leave a lasting and positive legacy for the people of Liverpool which included more jobs, a stronger economy and a better place to live.
Programme
The 2008 programme celebrated all aspects of Liverpool's identity; it used the city as a backdrop which staged world-class events including highly successful performances such as the Leap Festival, Three Sisters on Hope Street, One Step Forward, One Step Back, Into the Little Hill, Viennese Balls, The Shankly Show and many more. Event and exhibition highlights included Streets Ahead, The Tall Ships' Races, Mathew Street Music Festival, Liverpool Sound, La Machine and Gustav Klimt: Painting, Design and Modern Life in Vienna 1900.Integral parts of the programme included a Creative Communities programme, which was Europe's biggest programme of public and community art, this ran from 2003 and is continuing beyond '08.
The Liverpool Commissions was also a central part to the programme. Fourteen independent Merseyside producers created a special piece of work for '08 that responded to the city with the aim of giving visibility to the city's vibrant independent creative sector. They included projects such as Spirit on the Water, Babul and the Blue Bear and Twilight City.
For more information on Liverpool's Capital of Culture year please visit www.liverpool08.com.
![(PDF [11.5Mb] opens in new window)](/images/PDF.gif)