15/06/2016

Bristol can't be stopped!


From the Bristol 24/7 website.

Interesting news!!




Bring European Capital of Culture to Bristol

Laura Collacott, June 14, 201 




With mayor Marvin Rees committed to a bid from Bristol to become European Capital of Culture in 2023, Bristol24/7 today pins our colours firmly to the mast to support the bid. In the first of a series of articles, we look at what the accolade could mean for the city.

Can Bristol bidding to be European Capital of Culture sit alongside new mayor Marvin Rees’ ambitions for social inclusion within Bristol? There certainly won’t be all-expenses-paid fact-finding jollies for the usual suspects.
The bid – if it comes – also arrives at a time when the city council is tightening its purse strings, St Paul's Carnival looks likely to be scaled back in any future incarnation, and artists are being pushed out of areas such as St Paul’s and Montpelier and perhaps even out of Bristol itself due to gentrification.
The Capital of Culture bid became a political pawn during the recent mayoral campaign with undoubted cultural champion former mayor George Ferguson and then-challenger Rees both promising to back a bid for the initiative, designed to highlight the richness, diversity and common ground of cultures across Europe. 
True to his word, the newly elected mayor convened a meeting of the city’s leading cultural lights in his first full week in office to find out what the title could do for Bristol and what a bid could look like. 
"Bristol has a reputation as being a city with a thriving and innovative cultural heartbeat, something that is of fundamental importance to the city's economy and how Bristolians feel about where they live,” Rees told Bristol24/7 before the meeting, committed to a project which he hopes will "inspire and involve our communities in learning and celebrating our diverse and complex heritage".
Bristol mayor Marvin Rees: "I want to promote creativity and innovation in the city whilst making sure it includes all of our communities"
"I want to promote creativity and innovation in the city whilst making sure it includes all of our communities and people from a range of backgrounds," Rees added – and these last two points will be crucial for a mayor whose campaign literature said he enjoyed listening to epic film soundtracks.
It’s easy to see the appeal of being Capital of Culture: cities chosen so far have reaped bountiful rewards. A 2004 report commissioned by the EU found that the programme is “a powerful tool for cultural development” that “acts as a catalyst for change” and brings significant socio-economic benefits, not to mention a moment in the spotlight.
Participant cities report an average 12 per cent hike in tourism, and for each euro invested in Lille in 2004, it is estimated eight were generated for the local economy.
As well as cold hard cash and prestige, previous cities have reported regeneration, a measurable increase in civic pride, increased engagement with cultural attractions and the development of new cultural offers and opportunities. 
"Having a vibrant, excellent, diverse artistic and cultural life is good for urban life, good for mental health and good for economic growth," says Thangam Debbonaire, Bristol West MP, shadow culture minister and former professional cellist, who is likely to be spearheading Bristol’s proposal.
Bristol West MP Thangam Debbonaire: "Bristol’s got the talent and skills to do it and win it"
Tim Bleszynski, the Arnolfini's head of brand, marketing and culture believes that a bid "will enhance the idea of our strength as a cultural capital,” adding that in times of "huge funding challenges, the more we can do to highlight the importance of [culture] to the powers that be, the better".
For the Arnolfini, it also comes at a time when the gallery are finalists for the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2016, with their campaign #InspiredbyBristol aiming to share what makes Bristol’s wider cultural offering so special.
The exposure and boost to Bristol’s cultural profile from being Capital of Culture are major selling points for creative leaders across the city. 
"The profile that a bid - and hopefully a win - will give the city will be great for championing the artists, creatives and cultural organisations that make this city so special," says Clare Reddington, creative director at the Watershed, emphasising the inclusive, people-centric nature of the Capital of Culture initiative and its resonance with the Bristol spirit.
"A winning bid will forefront audiences rather than projects, and will celebrate the counter-cultural attitude of this city, as well as its more famous cultural landmarks.”
Watershed creative director Clare Reddington: "The profile that a bid - and hopefully a win - will give the city will be great for championing the artists, creatives and cultural organisations that make this city so special"
It's that attitude and the city’s rich cultural offering that are so attractive to tourists, luring in and sometimes trapping visitors.
"People often find their way here short-term, then end up staying for the foreseeable - our cultural offer is a large part of this attractiveness," says Emma Harvey, centre manager at Trinity. "Enhancing it should have them hammering the door down."
Even without a win, the very process of putting a bid together would be advantageous for the city, says Reddington.
"The collaboration that producing a bid like this involves is of huge benefit to any city, and will be a really exciting opportunity for organisations and individuals from all parts of Bristol to work together to reach new audiences, not just those who are already attending the larger institutions."
To Bristolians who proudly hold our prolific seam of cultural offerings to be the best, selection as Capital of Culture might seem like a no brainer, but we have to convince the outside world. So what makes us stand out? 
"I was proud to stand on a stage in central London and say that I believed Bristol to be the best place in the country to make work," says Ali Robertson, outgoing director at Tobacco Factory Theatres. "The intervening has two years has reinforced my belief.
"Artists are flooding to Bristol in ever-increasing numbers. That we're able to make such incredible work, despite a slightly dodgy level of infrastructure, is testament not only to the artists that we've been able to attract, but to the incredibly engaged and supportive audience that there is in the city."
Outgoing Tobacco Factory Theatres director Ali Robertson: "I was proud to stand on a stage in central London and say that I believed Bristol to be the best place in the country to make work"
Widely recognised as a creative city, Harvey from Trinity believes that it's the variety that stands out. "The strength of our offer is definitely our diversity; we're a melting pot of different cultures and communities. It's what gave 'The Bristol Sound' its unique identity in the 1990s and what made Situations' ambitious Sanctum spectacle work on so many levels today."
However, she does admit that some of our strengths are also our weaknesses: "the city is a hive of independent, grass-roots creativity - this is what gives Bristol its distinct character, but equally it's what makes it very hard when you're trying to mobilise people collectively.”
A divided city is also a point made by Cleo Lake, the former chair of the St Paul's Carnival and the current carnival commissioner tasked with supporting the revival and sustainability of Carnival.
Also deputy leader of the Green Party group of councillors in Bristol, Lake said: "Criticised and pushed out of the previous Capital of Culture bid for being 'a city divided' by the M32 coupled with a lack of acknowledgement for Bristol’s hand in the transatlantic slave trade, I believe the least we would need to do in the lead-up to the new bid is to symbolically rename the Colston Hall.
"As well as contributing to a community event, my agenda is to keep a keen eye on how traffic diversions play out with a desire to take a Carnival procession down a section of the M32 for Carnival’s 50th anniversary in 2018.
"If that ambition is realised and if we can reach out citywide to schools and community groups to be part of that, then surely the bid for the (European Capital of Culture) title will be ours."
St Paul's Carnival's Cleo Lake: "For me, the Capital of Culture bid will be fit for purpose if we can go beyond ourselves and twin in meaningful and positive ways with our 'transatlantic cousins." Read an opinion piece by Cleo here.
Bristol Music Trust chief executive Louise Mitchell, responsible for the Colston Hall, said: "Bristol has a strong cultural identity that is championed by long established venues like Colston Hall, Bristol Old Vic and the Bristol Hippodrome as well as more contemporary spaces like Watershed and Spike Island. Collectively, they combine to create a rich artistic offering for Bristolians and visitors.
"However, Bristol still lacks the investment in infrastructure to fully support the cultural opportunities that exist here. Going for the European Capital of Culture status will give the city the impetus to make sure that we can offer world class facilities. For our part, the transformation of Colston Hall is critical - delivering fully accessible, international standard concert hall and education facilities.
"The arts are big business for the UK, and particularly for a city like Bristol renowned for its creativity. The legacy of the 1990 Glasgow City of Culture clearly demonstrates how recognition on an international platform can have a positive impact for years to come on the success of the city. This bid for the Capital of Culture only serves to further new business opportunities and encourage more investment.
"I hope it will be an initiative that the whole city can get behind – enabling us to embrace our cultural diversity and engage people from all parts of Bristol and every community.”
MP Debbonaire remains resolute in her optimism: "Bristol’s got the talent and skills to do it and win it."
Main photo of Carny Ville by Spencer Dixey





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