Culture Liverpool joins our 'Innovation Cities' event

Above: Claire McColgan, CBE and MBE, Director of Culture Liverpool (Courtesy of Liverpool City Council)

Future Cities Forum is delighted that Claire McColgan, CBE, Director of Culture Liverpool will be joining 'Innovation Cities' at Plexl, Here East this September.

She will be speaking on our cultural regeneration panel with the V&A's Chief Operating Officer, Tim Reeve, the Leader of Islington Council, Cllr Kaya Comer Schwartz, London College of Fashion / University of the Arts' Head of Graduate Futures, Business & innovation, Linda Roberts, and architect Fred Pilbrow, Founder of Pilbrow & Partners.

Claire has just delivered an unparalleled Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine using all her exceptional diplomatic and creative skills to deliver something extraordinary for the UK Claire developed and produced the successful participation programme (Creative Communities) that was instrumental in Liverpool winning European Capital of Culture bid. In 2006 she was appointed Executive Producer of European Capital of Culture with responsibility for major events, public participation, and community engagement. She received the MBE for services to the arts in 2009. Claire has led the legacy program in Liverpool over the last 10 years supporting and funding 35 cultural organisations, bringing new commercial events to the city and designing and producing a creative program for Liverpool that shapes it as a destination and a place to live. She sits on the City Region's Cultural Partnership and the Visitor Economy Board and is a Town Centre commissioner for the City Region. Claire is a recipient of many awards the most recent being 'Eventex Best Events Team in the UK' and 15th in the World. Claire is a national and international advisor and speaker on best practice in Culture acting for Arts Council England and Ireland, the British Council, Local Government Association and represented the UK in Thailand, Brazil and China. Claire was a Director on the Board of Derry/Londonderry the inaugural City of Culture program and is the European Board Director for Galway European Capital of Culture 2020. She was chosen by Karen Bradley, Secretary of State as the UK expert for the 2022 European Capital of Culture competition. Claire has been Liverpool's lead on the Government Events Research Programme and has recently been appointed Deputy Chair for UK City of Culture Competition 2025

New figures published have calculated vital information relating to Liverpool’s tourism sector, and show last year’s economic boost of more than £3.5 billion has outstripped previous city records.

Reflecting on 2022, the new statistics also highlight the number of visitors the city attracted, the accommodation usage and the number of local jobs supported.

Although not back to pre-pandemic levels, the city is seeing a significant recovery in the sector which is expected to continue in the wake of hosting events such as the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. In the first six months of 2023 alone, 934,000 hotel rooms were sold – the strongest sales in five years.