Echoes from the Islands is a multimedia exhibition featuring three high-profile and successful UK reggae icons in a twenty-minute film that takes the audience on a journey through their musical careers. From starting out as the children of the Windrush generation – to taking their music to a global audience – the exhibition shares fascinating stories from Macka B, Tippa Irie and Sandra Cross, shown within a vintage Jamaican Sound system with the public listening to the films via headphones.
The Exhibition has been created by Liverpool based artists Whispered Tales and launched at Africa Oyé Festival on Windrush Day. It has toured three public libraries across Liverpool and was accompanied by a programme of schools workshops. Funded by Windrush Day and Liverpool City Council UKSPF.
Beyond the Bassline is a national exhibition highlighting 500 Years of Black British Music. The first major exhibition about Black music in Britain, it shines a spotlight on different voices and perspectives to celebrate Black British music as a form of entertainment and vehicle for community, as well as a source of liberation, protest and education. Stepping into carnivals, clubs and record shops across the country, Beyond the Bassline draws on different places that have cultivated creative expression and inspired a number of Black British music genres.
We’re delighted to present a selection of pieces from Beyond The Bassline at Toxteth Library. This exhibition has been curated by the British Library for member libraries in the Living Knowledge Network and celebrates Black British music over 500 years, from carnival and community to politics and protest.
‘Beyond the Bassline’ provides an opportunity to look at our archive and library collections and to reach out to local organisations to curate exhibition content. If you would like to learn more about what we hold please visit our archive catalogue.
Liverpool Library Services: www.liverpool.gov.uk/libraries
Liverpool: Next Stop New York is an evolving social archive – initially established to explore the ways in which Black American music found it’s way to Liverpool, and how it inspired and was expressed by local musicians and performers – and now encompassing the history of Black music in Liverpool, including it’s unsung performers, forgotten recordings and lasting impact.
Selected photographs from the Liverpool: Next Stop New York archive are available to view at Toxteth Library through October – including pictures of Earthbeat, The L8 Defence Committee and Somali Centre.
Your memories and souvenirs are an important part of social history, and should be documented for future generations. The history of sound systems is also a story of joy and community cohesion, which, in the current climate, is something that needs to be remembered, and celebrated. To help us preserve this history for future generations:
1st October 2024 – 31st October 2024
Toxteth Library, Windsor Street, Liverpool, L8 1XF
Monday to Wednesday (10am-6pm) and Saturday (10am-4pm)
Black Music Exhibitions Collection Available to View Throughout October as part of Liverpool’s Black History Month Celebrations - Monday to Wednesday and Saturdays
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WoW have been invited to deliver The National Archives impact seminar and to present WoW’s unique Creative Heritage model and approach to curating archives.
Date: October 3, 2024
1:00 pm
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The Great War to Race Riots tour, delivered since our first Black History Month festival in 2016, explores anti-black race riots that occurred in Liverpool and other seaports across the country in 1919.
Date: October 6, 2024
11:00 am
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The Dorothy Kuya Walking Tour explores the impact of Dorothy Kuya's anti-racist activism in modern Britain as we explore the Liverpool and the L8 area.
Date: October 13, 2024
11:00 am
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Join us in Black History Month for a powerful event featuring a documentary by local filmmaker Bea Freeman, exploring the causes and aftermath of the 1981 Toxteth Riots.
Date: October 16, 2024
7:00 pm
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Your Local Arena special screens Rudies Come Back, the energetic 1980 BBC Arena film made by Jeff Perks right at the moment that 2-Tone was emerging, capturing its unique blend of 1960s blue beat and ska with 1970s reggae, soul and punk.
Date: October 17, 2024
7:30 pm
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The L8 Activism Walking Tour invites you to take a stroll down the beautiful tree-lined Victorian Boulevard and explore the history of Liverpool 8, the traditional home of the black community since the mid 20th century.
Date: October 19, 2024
11:00 am
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The George Garrett Walking Tour explores the life, writings and activism of George Garrett a 'militant advocate of tolerance' who travelled the world and whose work explored the poverty and struggle of the working class in the 1920's and 1930's.
Date: October 20, 2024
11:00 am
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We're thrilled to welcome Diane Abbott and Gary Younge to BHM 24 to discuss Diane's new book: A Woman Like Me
Date: October 23, 2024
7:00 pm
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In Babylon’s Burning author and activist Rick Blackman explores impact and connections between three musical movements
Date: October 24, 2024
7:00 pm
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Join us in remembering and celebrating the impact and legacy of sound system culture in Liverpool, with an evening of discussion, deejays and dancing. Featuring music from the original Strugglers' Sound System, from the days of The Frontline.
Date: October 26, 2024
6:30 pm
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The Liverpool & Slavery Walking Tour was developed and inspired by our Dorothy Kuya Archive Project, in collaboration with National Museums Liverpool. The Tour explores the many sites with direct links to the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Liverpool city centre
Date: October 27, 2024
11:00 am
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Join us for the fourth session of the Writer’s Bloc 2024! IMPORTANT: Please do not turn up to a Writer’s Bloc session without registering and being invited. Numbers are limited and session attendance is by invite only. We are unable to allow entry if you have not been accepted onto the session.
Date: September 6, 2024
11:00 am
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Join us for the fourth session of the Writer’s Bloc 2024! IMPORTANT: Please do not turn up to a Writer’s Bloc session without registering and being invited. Numbers are limited and session attendance is by invite only. We are unable to allow entry if you have not been accepted onto the session.
Date: August 16, 2024
11:00 am
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Join us for the second session of the Writer’s Bloc 2024! We are thrilled to welcome acclaimed Liverpool novelist and poet, Ashleigh Nugent. Ashleigh will be talking about his debut novel, Locks and sharing his journey of turning personal experiences into compelling stories. The session will take place on Friday 14th June at Toxteth Library. Please sign …
Date: June 14, 2024
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Date: May 13, 2024
11:00 am
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Tony Wailey's latest book, Lights Bearing West, is about memory, place and distance, messages sent, delivered, picked up, put down, kept or discarded. Going away, having adventures and coming home, whether these adventures are first hand or tenth hand, is part of everyone’s trilogy in Liverpool – even for those who have never left the river.
Date: May 22, 2024
7:00 pm
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Date: May 23, 2024
7:00 pm
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