Eurovision: looking back at campus United by Music
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Last week Liverpool celebrated the interim results of what the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 achieved for the city.
An independent evaluation commissioned by Liverpool City Council found that hosting Eurovision delivered a £54 million economic boost to Liverpool City Region.
The University played a key role in compiling and contributing to the Council’s research which you can read all about in Professor Rhiannon Corcoran’s latest blog here.
Our campus was also United by Music back in May when we presented an exciting programme of Eurovision activities.
Here we look back at just some of the ways the University was United by Eurovision.
On campus
Alumnus, Paul Curtis set to work creating a new commission resulting in a vibrant mural on campus that called for peace in Ukraine and symbolised the University’s pairing with Sumy State University. Read more about Paul’s work here and find out more about the University’s relationship with Sumy State here.
The University’s educational activities also included the Mini Eurovision concert at the Tung Auditorium. The culmination of a programme involving 16 primary schools across the city region who had the opportunity to learn languages through music, in partnership with Resonate. Read the full news story and see photographs from the event here.
You can also watch the video featuring highlights of the performance here.
Meanwhile, the University’s Heseltine Institute continued its programme of dedicated policy briefings, covering topics including:
- The relationship between LGBTQ+ communities and Eurovision
- An exploration of how hosting the event could help to address some of the challenges facing Liverpool’s live music industry.
The Tung Auditorium
As well as Mini Eurovision, our state-of-the art Tung Auditorium hosted a series of Eurovision and Ukraine themed events including; LUMSOVISION: A Celebration of Euro-Pop Through the Decades, Poetry in a Time of Crisis and the Grand Final Live Screening.
Significantly The Tung presented the Eurovision Preview Gala, where audiences had the chance to see Ukrainian singer Polina Hrechyshkina and contemporary dancer Iryna Kuts from Sumy State University and the Eurovision entries from Georgia, Iceland and Lithuania – just days before their final performances. Some University students even had the chance to meet the Eurovision performers.
The University and the City
A University Eurovision singing pod located in Liverpool ONE was a huge hit with Eurovision revellers and saw a few famous faces taking up the mic including Radio 2 DJ Richie Anderson.
The University played a key role in the largest exhibition of Ukrainian photography in the UK. Delivered in partnership with Open Eye Gallery, academics and students contributed new writing to the project and was complemented by an app designed by the University. Read more about Home here.
University academics also took part in Eurovision-themed events including A Stat for Europe: Statistics of the Eurovision Song Contest which delved into the links between maths, statistics, and Eurovision. Professor Lisa Shaw (who organised Mini Eurovision) also took part in the Late at the Tate Liverpool: The Spirit of Eurovision.
Liverpool UNI-ty Choir sang on the Eurovision Village main stage. Made up of University staff, students, and members of the local community they performed a range of material including gospel-inspired songs, a piece written in response to the refugee crisis and even an ABBA medley!
Professor Gavin Brown, Pro Vice Chancellor for Education said: “We were incredibly proud of the contribution both staff and students made to the Eurovision celebrations earlier this year. The recent results illustrate the huge success of the event and we were delighted to play a role in this great civic moment.”
