All sorts of possibilities
Celebrating 150 editions of Stored Honey | A real-life Cinderella story | Latest NW arts news
This is the 150th edition of Stored Honey. I can hardly believe it either. I started this newsletter back in May 2023 when I was trying to get accustomed to no longer working for a massive media organisation after 22 years. I was enjoying my audience development work there but part of my brain kept niggling away at me: “But you’re not writing about the arts.”
In the latter part of my time at Reach Plc, as strange as it sounds, I kept feeling envious of people without the stability (if you don’t count the regular redundancies) of a job at a big company. I envied the control they had over what they created, their ability to innovate and experiment and quickly change gear if something wasn’t working.
Then my role at Reach Plc changed into something I couldn’t get excited about and along came the opportunity to leave. Setting up Stored Honey was the very first thing I did - a way of grounding myself in what I knew well (arts journalism and newsletters), while at the same time opening up my work, and life, to all sorts of possibilities.
Thank you for subscribing and reading. I learned when I watched the Liverpool Daily Post print sales falling back in 2013 that I actually do care very much whether what I’m writing is being read by other people, particularly when I’ve put effort into it and it’s on a subject I care passionately about. Without you there would be no Stored Honey.
I would love to now reveal a really fascinating interview with an amazing artist or theatre-maker but the person I was chasing isn’t available to chat for another few days. What that means is that you will get an extra-long Stored Honey next week, because Turner: Always Contemporary is opening at the Walker Art Gallery and I expect I will want to write about that the moment I’ve seen it.
In the meantime though, paid subscribers will be getting not one but two extra emails this week - both from my new Meet the Creators series, which profiles a North West-based artist, actor, curator, director, musician or producer. From now on I will aim to send one of these out each month - but the first two both have events coming up very soon that I don’t want you to miss out on. You will have received the first one on Friday and the next will arrive in a few days.
If you would like to receive those as well as my guide to the best of what’s on in November and a monthly curator’s pick of 5 must-see objects in their venue, click below. But please don’t do it through the iOS Substack app as Apple adds extra charges (explained here).
If you don’t wish to take out a paid subscription but would like to support Stored Honey with a one-off tip, you can do that via my online tips jar at Ko-Fi.
Latest arts news
🖼️ Exhibitions from 2025 Turner Prize nominee Delaine Le Bas and painter Michaela Yearwood-Dan as well as textile art from Korea and India are highlights of The Whitworth’s 2026 programme. The Manchester gallery will also present historic art - including William Morris and Japanese woodblock print - through a contemporary lens to explore themes of identity, beauty, community and social change in contemporary and historical contexts.
📽️ The Reader will host a Christmas Cinema under a cosy canopy at the Mansion House in Liverpool’s Calderstones Park this December. Films include Home Alone, Love Actually and (crucially) The Muppets Christmas Carol, and tickets go on general sale on Monday (October 20).
🐱 A new production of CATS will be stopping off at the Manchester Palace Theatre from November 10-21, 2026, as part of a UK tour.
🧽 Everton Library, a Grade-II listed building celebrated for its Jacobean and Arts and Crafts architecture, will undergo immediate essential repairs and environmental cleaning by Liverpool City Council, which has allocated £250,000 to the work. It will then be assessed to see how it can be redeveloped.
📖 Elizabeth Gaskell’s House is offering a special ticket that includes a surprise edition of one of her most celebrated novels during Manchester Literature Festival. It ties in with the venue’s current exhibition, I’ve Never Read Elizabeth Gaskell, which explores how three young writers in residence have engaged with her legacy for the first time. The special ticket costs £13.50 and is available until Sunday, October 26.
See your work featured in Stored Honey
If you’re an artist, actor, theatre maker, curator, director or producer, I’d love to hear more about your work. You can submit details of an exhibition, performance or cultural event via this short form or send me an email to tostoredhoney@gmail.com. If you would like to take part in Stored Honey’s regular Meet the Artist feature, please answer the questions in this Q&A. If you’re not a fan of forms, reply to this email and I’ll send you the list of questions.
In case you missed it
Now booking
There is a real-life Cinderella story Shakespeare North Playhouse‘s Christmas show. Tia Larsen is swapping her usual front-of-house duties to play the starring role on the Prescot venue’s Cockpit Theatre stage from Friday, November 21 to Saturday, January 10, 2026.
Opening this week
New works by Bassam Issa Al-Sabah and Nina Davies use speculative storytelling and immersive worldbuilding to examine how digital technologies flatten, fragment and distort the realities they seek to copy. FACT Liverpool, Friday, October 24 to Sunday, February 22, 2026.
Thank you for reading the 150th (🎉) edition of Stored Honey. If you enjoyed what you read then please hit the ❤️ button as it helps to get it shown more widely.
I’m off now to take the paywall off this recentish interview I did with The Unity’s former artistic director Graeme Phillips in case you would like to read it. I went to his Celebration of Life on Thursday, and it was clear that he lived a life full of creativity, loved-ones and amazing experiences - it was deeply inspiring to hear his friends sharing their memories.
In the meantime, you can submit details of an exhibition, performance or cultural event via this short form or send me an email to tostoredhoney@gmail.com. If you would like to take part in Stored Honey’s regular Meet the Creator feature, answer the questions in this Q&A form.
Have a great week,
Laura
P.S. Calling all Liverpool City Region artists: Turn data into art for the Festival of Data
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