Ropewalks Square recently played host to variety of talents from the world of fine art al fresco. The idea had been honed a year or so ago by Ronnie Formby (Scottie Press) Michael Kelly (author of Liverpool’s Irish Connection amongst others) and Mike Lea (Maggie Mays Bold Street) when they stumbled on the idea of opening a gallery in Maggie Mays dedicated to the life and works of James William Carling the original Liverpool pavement aritst.

Finally, one slightly wet day in October the plan came together and the square saw the gathering of artists intent on winning the prize and creating the best piece based on a famous work from one of the regions famous painting galleries.

tenantspin was there to film the whole thing and the results of this, the work of John Scotland, can be seen on www.fact.tv.

tenantspin took part in celebrating the city-gallery-and-arts-spaces late night opening extravaganza The Long Night. The evening was a roaring success enticing late-night art revelers out from the warmth and comfort of their homes to experience the best of the biennial arts shows with a few surprises thrown in for good measure.

FACT celebrated by starting the evening of the launch of their seminal new tome celebrating the new studies and ground breaking research undertaken by FACT and professor Andy Miah throughout the year (you might remember our own inclusion in this in the guise of Titanium tenants and Where is my World?) Human Futures which looks at the very essence of future human existence and expansion through art and science.

This evening also saw the launch of our newest and most impressive project fact.tv. It has been weeks in the making and is the work of MITES, Paul Hendrick, Mike and many others. fact.tv is a platform which opens the doors for new types of artistic expression and documentation away from the gallery, arts centre and macbook. tenantspin has its own channel which looks set to play a seminal part in our upcoming gallery show at Tate Liverpool opening 16th December this year (more about that later…!!) www.fact.tv

Aside from these two evening defining events there was also an appearance from a Tarot card reader who had her hands full giving people predicitons and hope for the future through the shady corridors of allegorical interpretations the cards offer.

Last but certainly not least, Fiction@FACT the super-popular evening of spoken word, music and visuals which used to take place pretty regularly at FACT in the days of Eddie Berg came back for a sly reprise which saw the cafe transformed into a haven for both non-literary and literary types supping the delicious pumpkin soup available exclusively in the cafe that night.

Part four of the Ways of Seeing series 2008 is available below. On this installment, tenantspin welcomed artist David Blandy and Bluecoat Blueroom onto the couch.

Watch live video from tenantspin on Justin.tv

tenantspin hosted an afternoon of dancing, eating and singing (as well as the occasional drink!) at Sefton Park community Centre last week to usher in our great British summer.

The afternoon was partly organised by Katie Yoxell a student of community art from the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts who worked with Margo Hogg, Jean Niblock, Lily Clarke and John McGuirk and other residents from Sefton Park to put together a summer themed party which included everything from grass skirts to sangria.

Everyone had a truly lovely time and our thanks go to harpist Charly, Pat for the wonderful line dancing, the Twirlies for their creative writing, the girls from LIPA for their 4 piece acapella performance, Margo for her help with organising the day and for her perfomance, all the ladies and gents who brought along homemade cakes (which we all enjoyed) John for his legendary spoon playing and for everyone who turned out in their summer best – lets hope this is the start of a great summer at Sefton Park!

Also, congratulations to Katie for passing her assesment with flying colours with an getting such a great mark in her assesment.

on the 7th of May, in the Box at FACT, tenantspin hosted a discussion about gun crime. Guest host Liam Fogarty welcomed onto the tenantspin couch: Andrew Edwards, Deputy Editor of Liverpool Echo and lead on Liverpool Unites charity and campaign, Ian MacDonald, Retired Police Officer and Initiator of CitySafe, Stephen Moore, Merseyside Police Matrix Unit and Tracy Dunn, Film-maker.

We asked the question: is Liverpool losing the battle against gun crime? See the discussion below.

tenantspin have just returned from The International Community Arts Festival (ICAF) in lovely Rotterdam. tenantspin interviewed participants and delegates attending the festival and asked the question “What does quality in Community Arts mean”. We also hosted a live discussion in a local retirement village, where we discussed the similarities and differences between Liverpool and Rotterdam.

We had a great time. Please watch this 20 minute compilation of our time at the Festival.