ArtsGroupie is Creative/Media Organisation of the Year!

Accepting the award, Mikey Garland, Co-Founder and Co-Director of ArtsGroupie said:

"ArtsGroupie were honoured for the first time last night at the Liverpool City Region Culture & Creativity Awards.
We made history as the first winners in a new category: Creative/Media Organisation of the Year, sponsored by The Guide Liverpool. Thank you to the judges for recognising our work.

We were dressed up to the nines, but our personal favourites for Best Dressed were Dr Emma Roberts, and Ngunan Adamu, who really turned it out. It was a joyous night with the Black Women's Health Forum Dancing Queens giving the event so much energy.

To say we are thrilled, doesn't quite capture the feeling. Our winner's interview devolved into babbling due our shock, so we'd like to make a statement here.

ArtsGroupie as a grassroots organisation only exists because a collective of talented working-class freelancers came together with the same goal of accessibility, creative excellence, and dismantling gatekeepig in the arts, and heritage sectors, and the people who have supported us along the way.

We got our start at the Lantern Theatre, then run by Margaret Connell and Siobhan Noble. Who were supporting new play writing and fringe work at a time when there were almost no alternatives in the city. While some have later arrived in Liverpool with the claim of having brought this to the city for the first time, the Lantern stands as a genuine beacon of artistry in a long line of historic arts hubs which have always existed in Liverpool.

When ArtsGroupie incorporated in 2018, we found a dream team when Margaret Connell agreed to direct our plays, and actress Samantha Alton as our star player. Those first few productions built the company, particularly our magnum opus, "Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse."

Since then, we have had the pleasure of working with some the finest actors, producers, and lighting technicians in the region, including Liz Barker, Xenia Beyer, Zoran Blackie, Tom Browning, Sally Britton, Ellis Murphy, and The Bookworm Players.

When David Griffiths - Author & Director came on board, we made new strides in theatre, including reviving the victorian tradition of live literature readings through "Ghost Stories for Christmas" amongst other popular productions, gaining us recognition with The New York Times.

Thanks to the support of theatres like Shakespeare North Playhouse, and unity theatre, we have built a large and loyal following from audiences and participants who we greatly love and appreciate.

After gaining footing with heritage walking tours, our close partnerships with Liverpool Irish Festival, and Liverpool Libraries and Information Services have made us respected professionals in Liverpool's heritage sector.
We'd like to thank Denise Jones, Vicki Caren, and Emma Smith for trusting us, training us, and helping us build a name in heritage work, so we can reach even more people with cultural activity.

Now, thanks to the generousity of time and effort from the illustrious Catherine Cole, we have entered academia, giving us the ability to share arts best practise and to highlight working-class barriers to culture on an international scale.

We'd like to thank the entire faculty of Liverpool Screen School at Liverpool John Moores University, LJMU RILCH, University of Liverpool, Dr Emma Roberts, Helen Tookey, and Prof Ian Fillis for working with us over the years.

All of you are ArtsGroupie, from the people we work with to our fantastic audiences.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the public funding that makes our mission of culture accessibility for all possible. We'd like to thank Arts Council England, The National Lottery, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Liverpool BID, and The Royal Society of Literature for awarding us with the funding neccessary to reach communities across the Liverpool City Region.

Liverpool, we love you. Only in a city like this could we work with the likes of Louise Waller Ceramics, Zoë Howe, John Maxwell, Eli Randle, Eithne Brown, Gina Ware, Powerfull Beyond All Measure, DaDa, Pagoda Arts, LUMA Creations, Culture Knowsley, Culture Liverpool, Uncover Liverpool, and too many more to mention.

John Maguire and I grew up in high deprivation areas, and our dream is that other working-class artists can stand where we're standing in the future with a little bit of support. We will be committed to that until our dying day.

As always, we dedicate this award to our late great friend, co-founder and sister in life, Jill Smith. We know you would have been beaming last night. We miss you and love you lots."

ArtsGroupie is an award-winning arts, heritage, and creative media organisation that produces plays, walking tours, exhibitions, entertainment events, academic research, and community workshops.

From the team that brought you the following:

PLAYS: Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse, WEAVE, The Liver Bird, A Portrait of William Roscoe, TWO, The Hammer and Helena, The Signalman, Ghost Stories for Christmas and The Visible Man.

WALKING TOURS: The Liver Bird Safari, Liverpool American History Tour, The Mersey Music History Tour, Kitty Wilkinson Tour and the William Roscoe Tour.