Let the Culture Commence
Article published: Wednesday, January 23rd 2008
As Mule goes to print, Liverpools long-awaited year of cultural celebrations will have begun amid huge debts, political in-fighting, corruption, funding cuts and anger from the cities inhabitants and grassroots organisations. When Liverpool beat Newcastle for the coveted title of 2008 European Capital of Culture, the city anticipated 14,000 new jobs, 1.7 million extra visitors and £1bn in investment. Instead it increasingly seems that Merseyside may have a fiasco on its hands.
As the city begins its reign as European Capital of Culture for 2008, the organisers of the festival are reeling from the latest in a series of high profile embarrassments and scandals: the recent departure of the chief executive of the Culture Company. It is understood that Jason Harborow left his post before Christmas, claiming that his position had been made untenable by plots against him. He is reported to be a negotiating a £250,000 settlement with Liverpool city council, which set up the company he ran City of Culture (CofC), which was set up to run the CofC programme.
He is not alone. Over the last three years the entire leadership of CofC has changed, along with a total of 22 resignations.
This news comes only months after Liverpool Council were forced to admit having a severe cash crisis. In 2003, central government gave Liverpool City Council a large cash injection, but now they are £29 million short, some £20m of which is attributed to the festival including and an alleged £14 million spent buying the prize. Unless Gordon Brown coughs up, the extra funds will come from council tax payers.
From the Liverpool CoC website:
Unheard voices are now being given their say and spectators are becoming participants, as thousands of local people are playing a role in defining and shaping the cultural and everyday life of the city.
Liverpool was awarded the title City of Culture in 2003 because of the greater sense that the whole city is involved in the bid and behind it, according to Sir Jeremy Isaacs, chairman of the judges. Since then, however, many of the previous participants including cultural associations and charities have announced publicly that they no longer feel involved, or are reeling after huge budget cuts.
The Flying Picket, a community based music venue in Liverpool, supported the CofC bid but was closed after the bid was successful due to cut backs in Liverpool City Council funding. The Quiggins alternative shopping centre also supported the bid, then was threatened with a compulsory purchase order and demolition once the city had won. Rice Lane City Farm has recently seen significant funding cuts from Liverpool City Council as have many voluntary and community groups. Executive Manager Ros Purcell explained the effect on her association which runs the City Farm. We will be reducing our animal stock in the short-term to save on overheads….some staff on both of our sites have had to be made redundant.
Merseyside Welfare Rights have lost £260,000 funding and are struggling to stay open whilst the Vauxhall Law Centre is to close completely on 12th April.
An online Liverpool forum, on the CofC:
What is noticeable by its absence is any profile given to the role of the Labour Movement and community organisations in the development of the city.
Regeneration in the Capital of Culture
In the lead-up to 2008 Liverpool has been awash with cranes, concrete and dust, as hundreds of new regeneration schemes, including shopping malls and luxury flats, crowd the centre. By far the most adventurous development being the Paradise Street Development Area (PSDA), a huge urban village funded by one of Britains richest men, The Duke Of Westminster.
But many simply see this project as further gentrification, as, chainstores and bars replace the cities struggling small shops businesses, which are being priced out of the centre by landlords keen to capitalise on the new Liverpool. According to Regeneration Watch virtually every promise of regeneration for more than ten years has either been broken, or hardly benefited the people of Liverpool. Liverpudlian campaigning group People Not Profit believe the regeneration bodies are deliberately excluding local people from decisions about regeneration and that city of culture and regeneration is used cynically by professionals and those in power to line their own pockets.
As an article on the Liverpool Times website observed:
The capital of culture is not about Huyton, Norris Green, Croxteth or Halewood. It is not about Canny Farm, now named Stockbridge village in the hope that the word village would stop crime. The capital of culture is a blank cheque for the pen-pushers and the damned consultants who are popping up all over Liverpool.
Weve seen this before: the European Union granted Merseyside Objective One (Obj-1) status in 1993, due to high levels of poverty. The £600+ million granted was matched with public and private funds, bringing it close to £2 billion. However, all the latest economic indications show that far from being reduced , poverty has increased since the Obj-1 status was granted.
Culture-loss in the Capital of Culture
Perhaps most most embarrassing of all was an 11th-hour cancellation of last Augusts Mathew Street festival – seen as a precursor to the Capital of Culture event. An inquiry appeared to exonerate council leaders and senior Capital of Culture organisers. But leaked emails written after the reports publication appear to show councillors blaming Culture Company directors for the cancellation.
Aside from this scandal, many local artists and creative citizens have found it close to impossible to access resources, venues, and funds, or have their ideas heard. George McKane of the Yellow House youth drama project, was recently reported as saying since weve won the bid weve been noticeably ignored and left out.
However as a reaction to the CofC, or maybe in spite of it, theres been a growth in the do it yourself scene on Merseyside, with a flurry of open events and art exhibitions. Acting as a hub for such activity, a social centre known as Next to Nowhere has recently been opened and exists as a focal point for non-commercial activity. Along with a variety of uses, such as hosting film nights, the centre currently has a display of Liverpudlian photographer Bob Iddons work, capturing local and national demonstrations. Other grassroots exhibitions have included etchings of Emily Johns, an anti-war artist, and the Alternative Turner prize saw around one-hundred pieces of art on the themes of war, peace and occupation, displayed across Liverpool.
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