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Everton Supports Liverpool Against Racism Festival

Everton Football Club has reaffirmed its commitment to equity and diversity by supporting the Liverpool Against Racism festival.

Championed by the Mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson, Liverpool Against Racism (LAR) will take place from Sunday 24 April to Saturday 30 April and will feature specially commissioned music and cultural events which will stimulate a conversation about, and action against, racism.

With a focus on community cohesion, it will act as a platform for people and organisations to creatively respond to hate crime.

Everton’s Senior Lead for Equity and Inclusion, Ben Osu, will appear on a panel at the festival conference on 26 April alongside football author and panel host Emy Onuora, professional footballer Neil Danns, Molly-May Smith from Kick It Out! and Rishi Jain from Liverpool Football Club, where they will discuss racism in sport and what football clubs and fans are doing to tackle the issue.

Ben said: “This is a brilliant opportunity for us to show the city our support in the fight against racism. We have a number of interventions through our award-winning ‘All Together Now’ campaign but there is more work to be done to drive racism out of sport and society.

“This festival brings together sport and music, which always go hand-in-hand when tackling societal issues and can be great tools for sharing messages and uniting people from all walks of life.”

Major figures appearing at the festival include historian and broadcaster David Olusoga, poet and activist Levi Tafari, and campaigner Dominique Walker of the Anthony Walker Foundation. ‘In Conversation’ sessions, workshops and presentations will be led by contributors such as TV presenter Charlene White and Evertonian and former boxing world champion Tony Bellew. 

Music events will take place on 24 April at Camp and Furnace, 24 Kitchen Street and District, with acts including Rebecca Ferguson, The Christians, Greg Wilson, Cast and the Sense of Sound Choir, while Arrested Development will perform on 26 April.  

The Club’s support with the Liverpool Against Racism festival builds on not only Everton’s own work on the issue but also its joint work with the Premier League’s No Room For Racism initiative, Kick It Out and more locally Anthony Walker Foundation. Everton defender Mason Holgate and forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin took part in the foundation’s ‘You Cannot Be What You Cannot See’ campaign during Black History Month 2020 and 2021, appearing on billboards across Liverpool.

Since March 2020, Everton has been proud to be the holder of the Advanced Premier League Equality Standard – the highest accreditation available to top-flight clubs. The Standard reflects current equality legislation and case law and provides a framework to guide professional football clubs towards achieving equality, ranking them Preliminary, Intermediate or Advanced.

To find out more about the Liverpool Against Racism Festival and some of the events taking place around the city, visit cultureliverpool.co.uk