Motivated by a commitment to both celebrate and explore the rich and deep-rooted heritage of Liverpool, as well as educate and inspire the next generation of aspiring creatives on the city's defining and often hidden musical moments, participants in the programme embarked on a journey through the city's vibrant cultural tapestry. This included walking tours, exclusive visits to local venues, old sites, museums and recording studios, along with enlightening exchanges with esteemed instructors and music industry experts. These included musicians, DJs, venue owners, as well as past and current members of Liverpool City Region Music Board, and several IPM researchers.
Dr Holly Tessler (head of MA Beatles, Music Industry and Heritage programme and member of the Beatles Legacy Group) outlined 'The female influences on the Beatles' at the newly opened Yoko Ono Lennon Centre. Dr Marion Leonard (Reader and Director of Research for the University of Liverpool Department of Music) delivered a talk at Liverpool SAE on 'Exploring and researching music history and heritage' including references to her earlier IPM project The Beat Goes On. Dr Mike Jones (Reader in Music Industry and member of the Beatles Legacy Group) explored 'The LGBTQ+ connections and influences on the Beatles' at the Bluecoat Gallery.
All of the ‘Hidden Music Histories’ sessions were recorded by Culture City productions. Edited versions of most of them are available on YouTube here.. Plus, all participants – students, session speakers and the Hidden Music Histories Team – selected their five favourite Liverpool songs (at the time), creating a Spotify playlist of Liverpool popular music to accompany the course.
The project was made possible thanks to the generous support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks also to all the guest session speakers, Amy Todd, Becky Ayres and the rest of Sound City team, Joe Campbell and Culture City team, Mat Flynn and Sara Cohen at IPM.
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