British Art Show have been curators. The 1990 show caused controversy as it did not include any Scottish artists, even though it opened in Glasgow as part of the city's European Capital of Culture programme. The 1995 show, curated by Richard Cork, Rose Finn-Kelcey and Thomas Lawson, was highly regarded as it spotlighted the emergence of the Young British Artists. The 2000 show was selected by Jacqui Poncelet, Pippa Coles and Matthew Higgs, and included more than 50 artists. BAS 6 in 2005 was in the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead. It was curated by Andrea Schlieker and Alex Farquharson and included
LGBT culture in Liverpool legal rights at the time, in 2005, the city became the first ever UK local authority to include a gay couple on the front cover of its civil ceremony promotional material. A report in 2006 into the experience of LGBTQ+ people living, working, studying and socialising in Liverpool found that of the 210 that took part in the survey 59% had experienced homophobic crime within the Liverpool area. This was significantly higher than in London which reported a hate incidence rate of 47%. In 2008, Liverpool held the yearlong title as European Capital of Culture and with the cultural credentials