History

In 2006 we welcomed curator Tomas Harold on board and the Bracket THIS series quickly grew to encompass partnerships with Liverpool’s diverse community organisations, as we mentored non-professional artists to deliver quality work to a brief (Bracket THIS 2 - Going Native, February 2006) and commissioned hugely impressive work from a broader range of emerging artists from across the country (Bracket THIS 3, November 2006). All of these exhibitions were fully integrated with an events programme, and the events regularly attracted more than 500 people to the gallery each night, following on from an attendance of 1,000 at the private view evenings. This cemented Mercy’s reputation as one of the most innovative and exciting collectives in the region.  Both Bracket THIS 2 and 3 were backed by Arts Council England, and evidenced our ability to accurately handle small- to medium-sized complex budgets.

"The best group show I have ever seen" - Metro review of Bracket THIS 3, November 2006

Mercy's agency arm was also founded in this year, and to celebrate Mercy Magazine went into colour production and reached its top level distribution – 14 outlets across the UK with an enormous readership of 14,000 of the country’s hippest cats.