Make Time For Love was a project by arts organisation Metal, with artists YARA + DAVINA, commissioned by Culture Liverpool and Liverpool City Council. Make Time For Love was the finale of a 2-year creative engagement project called Picton Play with communities in L15, to celebrate the creativity that exists in the Wavertree and Picton neighbourhoods, as part of Culture Liverpool’s Creative Neighbourhoods programme.
YARA + DAVINA proposed a Celebration Day and Week of temporary interventions along Wavertree High Street, inspired by the publication ‘Stories, Mystery and Love’, which referenced themes of time, love, and community engagement. The neighbourhood was energized by a series of interventions including art trail tours, public talks, and a heritage display which engaged and enlivened Wavertree High Street. Events also took inspiration from James Picton’s Clock Tower (1884), created in loving memory to his wife of 50 years, Sarah Pooley. Make Time for Love celebrates love for families, neighbours, community, and friends.
The launch day on Saturday 20 September 2025, saw families, residents, dreamers and makers come together for: drop-in floral tribute and postcard making at the Rose Garden, readings by our commissioned writers Hanan Issa, Sophie Herxheimer and Joelle Taylor at Wavertree Library, a live musical performance by Capeesh, and the unveiling of the Make Time For Love clocks and We Flourish in the Shade rug, a permanent installation at Wavertree Library inspired by the Wavertree motto: Sub Umbra Floresco.
The Make Time for Love celebration also shared:
- A playlist of love songs playing in businesses along the High Street, curated by Asylum Link, Capeesh, Damien John Kelly House, and Love Wavertree
- A chance to collect a special edition pin from Love Wavertree
- A soundwalk available for download via the free ECHOES app, through which you can listen, in specific locations, to music, field recordings and spoken word gathered from around the neighbourhood
- Lessons on Love events with Fozia Choudhry, founder of Fozia’s Kashmiri Kitchen, Sophie Colligan, a local non-denominational celebrant and Paul Rivera, a retired Park Ranger, and resident of Wavertree since the age of 6, where they shared their stories of how they have fostered love in their lives and for their communities.
- Daily Love Mantra and Tour An invitation to hear a love mantra of the day shared by a Make Time For Love facilitator, and then get a guided tour of the High Street.
- Make Time For Love floral wreath displayed in Occasions Florists shop front window.
About Picton Play
Make Time For Love is the finale of a two-year artist in residence project called Picton Play, commissioned by Culture Liverpool, Liverpool City Council, as part of the Creative Neighbourhoods programme, bringing together artists, community organisers, young people and other curious residents to celebrate the creativity in Wavertree and Picton and to explore new ways of getting together through play.
