PROJECT BACKGROUND

Liverpool Dances is a research initiative led by former dancer and choreographer, and current senior arts and cultural leader, David Watson.

The project was established to better understand the current dance ecology in Liverpool and to help identify what is needed to support a stronger, more sustainable and future-focused dance sector for the city.

Dance has long been an integral part of Liverpool’s cultural landscape, contributing to the city’s identity, creativity and sense of place. However, in recent years, many working across the sector have identified a noticeable decline in dance programming for audiences, opportunities for artists and practitioners, and the level of coordinated funding and partnership support available.

A significant moment in this story was the closure of the city’s long-standing dance development agency, Merseyside Dance Initiative (latterly known as Together).

In response, Liverpool Dances was developed as an independent research project to explore these challenges in depth and to identify where opportunities for positive change exist. The project was underpinned by a clear ambition: to understand how dance can be better supported as part of Liverpool’s cultural offer, and how the city can strengthen its role as a place to train, develop and sustain artists and practitioners, while also increasing access to high-quality dance experiences for audiences of all ages and abilities.

Liverpool Dances sought to take the pulse of the city’s dance sector by engaging with a wide range of voices. This included artists, practitioners, organisations and groups, students and audiences, as well as schools, colleges, universities and a broad spectrum of arts, heritage and cultural organisations. Together, these contributors form a vital part of Liverpool’s wider dance ecology and its future success. Recognising that a healthy dance ecology depends on more than artistic activity alone, the research also explored wider infrastructure issues. This included current provision of facilities and space, funding routes, partnerships and strategic support, alongside consideration of what may be required to support the sector more effectively in the future.

By building a clearer picture of the current landscape, Liverpool Dances aimed to lay the groundwork for more informed, strategic development. The research is intended to act as a catalyst for positive change, supporting an environment in which dance can be better resourced, more visible and more connected, contributing to Liverpool’s ongoing ambition as a leading cultural city.