The long-awaited special Capital of Culture edition of Diverse magazine is out!
The full magazine is available to read ONLINE
On Saturday 10th January 2009, Liverpool officially handed over its European Capital of Culture title at an emotional and amazing party at the Pier Head.
It has been argued that Liverpool's reign as European Capital of Culture was amongst the most successful since the programme started in 1985, with Athens being the first title-holder. The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union for a period of one calendar year during which it is given a chance to showcase its cultural life and cultural development.
Diverse magazine is pleased to present this special edition of the nation's favourite diversity magazine, dedicated to the Capital of Culture Year. Liverpool's winning bid was promoted with the slogan "The World in One City" and promised to "embrace the whole city".
Somehow the slogan was not utilised as much during the year long celebrations as it was when the city won the title in 2004. But has the celebrations and events embraced the whole city?
Diverse will not attempt to answer that question but we have attempted to present a balance of views and events, representing Liverpool's many diverse cultures. These events include the Chinese New Year (page 17), Africa Oye (page 24), World in Princes Park Festival (page 59), Liverpool Irish Festival (page 89), Polish celebrations (page 98), the ever-growing Black History Month events (pages 86 and 92) and many more.
Throughout the year many influential Liverpudlians were involved in promoting the City and many listings were prepared of Top Merseysiders. However, Diverse believed that not much was being done to promote the contribution that black people have made to the development of the city, allowing it to be hailed as a cultural melting pot in Europe. Thus we devised and compiled the listing of the Top 50 Black Merseysiders (page 109), chosen by public voting and featuring 50 individuals who have contributed greatly to the city, region, country and the world. Some of the individuals on the list are household names but some are unsung heroes who deserve the recognition that inclusion in this listing will undoubtedly bring.
This is a Diverse magazine first and we believe it will be hailed as one of the legacies of the Capital of Culture Year and help in the building of positive relationships between Liverpool's diverse communities.
Another major feature of this special edition is the celebration of the NHS 60th Anniversary year. "Celebrating our Diversity and Multi-Ethnic Contribution" is spread over ten pages (pages 186-195) and provides a time-line of how the NHS has embraced diversity from 1946 to 2008. Our hospitals provide services for patients from all areas of life and are staffed by people from all cultures of the world. It is therefore fitting that Diverse pays a huge tribute to the diverse men and women who makes the NHS such an important institution.
We have also included our popular features "Cultural Diversity photography by Jean Pierre Magloire" (page 10) and "Life in Liverpool Through the Lens of Leroy Cooper" (page 36) both providing a photographic insight into Liverpool's lifestyle.
In addition we have launched a new regular, "Laurence Westgaph Uncensored" (page 100), featuring one of Liverpool's brightest young historian and writer, expressing his views on the city of his birth.
During 2008 three of Liverpool's great fathers passed away. Diverse pays tribute to Valentine Onwuecbuchulem Nzediegwu (Nze), Chief Martin Okuboh and Ernest Wilfred Cox (pages 199-203). May their souls rest in peace.
There is no doubt that 2008 was a special year for the city of Liverpool. The final event (page 211) on 10th January 2009 marked the city's shift from European Capital of Culture 2008 to a European Cultural Capital.
2008 was also a special year for the world. Barack Obama's election as the first black President of the United States of America marked the beginning of a new world order. We hope Liverpool's reign as the European Capital of Culture will also mark a new beginning for Liverpool, developing and enhancing the cultural legacy of 2008.
Finally, I want to say a BIG thank you to our main sponsors, EMTAS, Liverpool NHS Primary Care Trust, Plus Dane Group and Diverse Top 50 and all the advertisers for supporting this edition of Diverse magazine.
