Carlisle to launch bid to become UK City of Culture
Published 25 August 2009

Carlisle is going to launch a bid to become UK City of Culture 2013.

The prestigious status would pave the way for a massive year-long celebration for being the best in the arts, sport, music, heritage and culture.

And if successful, the new title - which has been introduced for British cities - could boost the county's economy and bring more tourists to the city.

Culture and council bosses are currently working on a plan which they have to submit to the Government in October.

But they say public support is crucial if Carlisle is going to succeed.

The city is often viewed as lagging behind bigger regional centres culturally, with some focussing on a lack of a permanent theatre as a cultural downside.

But some of those involved in the plan say positive things are happening and residents should get behind these to boost any potential bid.

City artist Derek Eland - former UK head of culture change and change management at global management consultants Cap Gemini - is helping to push the bid.

He is currently working together with Carlisle Renaissance, the city and county councils, Cumbria Tourism and Tullie House Museum on the plan.

Mr Eland, who works in a studio at the top of the Civic Centre, said: "This is a really exciting and important time for Carlisle. People are starting to become more culturally aware in Carlisle. Positive things are happening in the city and people are beginning to engage in culture and the arts.

"The bid will unify the city and bring all the cultural stuff to the surface.

"Carlisle has a history of sieges and conflict, with people uniting under a common cause; in the future this needs to be how Carlisle is going to develop. We are trying to build a system where we can reach out to community and youth groups and get them to help us. We need support from the public.

"In September we will find out which other cities we are bidding against."

Bryan Gray, chairman of Carlisle Renaissance, helped Liverpool with its bid to become European Capital of Culture in 2008.

Although Renaissance has come under criticism as nothing appears to have happened four years after the floods, by 2013 the city should notice a visible difference.

Mr Eland said: "Renaissance is doing something very important in that it has brokered the negotiations for the land so the University of Cumbria can get underway. They are not doing anything in terms of quick wins and visible impact on the ground, but that will come later."

The winner of the UK City of Culture title, which will be first awarded in 2013, will host high-profile events such as the Turner Prize and the Brit Awards. Durham, Oxford, Leeds and Birmingham could be some of Carlisle's rivals for the title.

The competition will run every four years and the Government is expected to announce the first winner next May.

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]

Where’s the Carlisle culture? It’s all around you...
Last updated 13:13, Friday, 21 August 2009

The European Union has been doing it for 24 years – and now Britain is preparing to follow suit. Each year since 1985 the EU has designated one European city as Capital of Culture.

The place chosen has to prepare a year-long programme of events showing what it has to offer in terms of music, art, film, theatre, museums, and other cultural highlights.

Those that are chosen benefit enormously – not only culturally but economically.

Last year it was Liverpool’s turn to wear the crown. Around 3.5 million people who had never been there before came to visit and an estimated £800 million was brought in.

Now the Government has decided that Britain should hold its own city of culture event, starting in 2013. It hopes the new lease of life that Liverpool received last year is something that could be replicated elsewhere in the UK.

Could Carlisle be the first UK City of Culture just over three years from now?

Bryan Gray certainly thinks so.

Mr Gray is chairman of Carlisle Renaissance, the body leading the city’s bid for UK City of Culture status. It is an area in which he has experience. One of his previous jobs was chairman of Liverpool Culture Company, set up to make sure Liverpool delivered its cultural programme in 2008.

Cities, he believes, are the natural homes for culture.

“It is people who make a city, not the buildings. Everywhere they gather, people engage in cultural pursuits.

“It can be sport, performance art, a classical concert, a museum or a small event in a community centre. They are the things that bring a city alive and enrich people’s lives.”

It was after the success of Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture that Mr Gray and his deputy chairman, TV producer Phil Redmond, put forward the idea of a UK City of Culture event on the model of the EU one.

They took the idea to former Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, who supported it.

Now Mr Gray wants Carlisle to be the first place to win the title. And he believes it stands a realistic chance.

“I’ve got a lot of knowledge about the Liverpool bid, how it succeeded and how it delivered its programme,” he said. “My view is that Carlisle is a prime city to make a bid. It has a lot going for it.”

So if Carlisle is to be in the running, what lessons can be learned from Liverpool’s success? The first is to ensure that the public back it.

“The reason Liverpool won its bid was that the people of Liverpool supported it,” he said. “Carlisle will only win if the people of Carlisle understand and support our bid.”

To win that broad base of support, the culture cannot be exclusive or confined to the city centre. Different audiences need to be catered for and creativity in the suburbs needs to be encouraged.

“In Liverpool there were dance lessons taking place in small community halls all over the city. Then a ‘Viennnese weekend’ was held where the dancers came together in the city hall for a weekend of waltz. It was something everybody could be part of.”

The second lesson to learn from Liverpool is to have confidence in the city’s assets.

Such confidence might come more easily in the city that was the birthplace of the Beatles and has a Tate Gallery, several museums and its own symphony orchestra. But people living in a place don’t always recognise its advantages – and Mr Gray thinks that is the case with Carlisle.

He is originally from Rotherham and says it takes an incomer like him to notice Carlisle’s good points.

“We need to hold up a mirror and say: ‘Actually we are pretty impressive and we’ve got a lot going for us.’ People don’t always appreciate what we’ve got. They need to stop and think about what’s good about Carlisle.

“How many cities are building a university in the centre? How many cities have the historic connections Carlisle has got? How many have got Hadrian’s Wall running through them? How many have got a railway station in the centre and a motorway with three junctions?

“You can’t invent those things and you can’t take them away. What we have got to do is polish those jewels.”

Yet confidence and civic pride won’t make up for the lack of a concert hall, a professional theatre or an arts cinema. He admits we will need new facilities.

“We’ve got to set high standards so we need to look at all the options.” The Save our Lonsdale group want to see the old art deco cinema on Warwick Road transformed into an arts centre, and Mr Gray accepts this is one of those options. He adds: “There is the university development. Could we put a performance space there?”

And Carlisle’s historic quarter – Tullie House, Hadrian’s Wall, the cathedral and castle – can also be exploited, again drawing on Liverpool’s example.

“In Liverpool the Anglican cathedral was used as a performance space for some unusual theatre,” Mr Gray said.

“We’ve got some wonderful backdrops against which culture can be played out. Let’s be creative about how we can use the castle or cathedral.”

Whatever Carlisle’s chances of winning City of Culture status are, however, there are bound to be doubts about whether Carlisle Renaissance can deliver it.

The organisation was set up in 2005 by the city and county councils and the North West Development Agency, and charged with regenerating the city after that year’s devastating floods. But many ask what it has actually done.

Mr Gray and the new board only took over in April of last year and he admits: “It didn’t get off to a good start. But in less than 18 months we can’t be responsible for the slow start before the current board’s time.”

People are impatient to see results but he argued that a lot of preparation work has to be done before regeneration can begin.

He said culture was an important dimension in all the regeneration work but he added: “We don’t have magic dust. You can’t get investment until you have a clear plan about where you’re going and the old board did some good background work on that.

“We’ve got to stop pulling the plant out of the pot and asking: ‘Is it growing yet?’”

Mr Gray has stressed the importance of involving as many Carlisle people as possible in the bid. And plenty of them have ideas.

World-renowned Cumbrian artist Margaret Harrison believes culture is important in regenerating Carlisle and so is backing the bid.

“They need to be talking to artists and writers in the area,” she said. “If they hold a series of open discussions, we would come up with a whole host of ideas.”

In particular, she believes the city needs more public art – and a dedicated space for new artists to show their work, meet and discuss their subject.

“It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture, it could be a series of pieces or something for a limited time.

“Even if you don’t get the nomination, it is worth going for it to raise the profile of the city.”

For three years the Save Our Lonsdale campaign has been calling for the old cinema on Warwick Road to be turned into a theatre, arts cinema and exhibition venue and campaign chairman Edna Croft felt the building’s restoration would have to form part of the bid.

“If they start thinking about restoring the Lonsdale then we can start thinking about bidding for City of Culture,” she said.

“For once Carlisle Renaissance would have something popular on their hands.

“The Lonsdale was built as a cinema and venue for live theatre. The feasibility study is done, the business plan is almost done – so we are handing them this on a plate.”

Installation artist Hannah Stewart, who runs Freerange Artists, agreed that even if Carlisle did not win it would still be worthwhile bidding and boosting the city’s cultural scene in the process.

But she argued support should be given to the existing venues before any new ones are built or funded.

“We can get very hung up on the need for a new theatre, but supporting the grassroots and giving them a little bit more money and support would make a bigger difference.”

Last year the city council’s post of arts development officer was scrapped, which she said made it harder for those on the arts scene to keep in touch and share ideas.

“We need one person just one day a week to keep up the network between artists and creative businesses.”

The first UK City of Culture event may still be three years away but the selection process is moving ahead quickly.

All the cities interested in bidding are being invited to a special seminar in Liverpool next month. The following month outline bids will have to be submitted and in December more detailed bids will have to follow.

A shortlist is to be drawn up early in the new year and by May the complete, final bids will have to be sent in. The winner should be announced about a month later.

Many cities will be in the running. Birmingham, Hull, Leicester, Oxford and Plymouth have been named as possible contenders and Durham is mounting a strong challenge. A logo has already been designed for its bid and it has won the backing of author Bill Bryson.

But even if Carlisle’s bid is turned down, the work that will be done to boost the city’s cultural life will still be valuable.

“Whether we succeed or fail, it fits precisely with the strategy for regenerating Carlisle that we have been following in Carlisle Renaissance,” said Mr Gray.

And Hannah Stewart added: “If it means that for the next three years people work together to get the infrastructure for culture, and the money where it’s needed, then that will be excellent.

“It doesn’t matter if we win.”

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]

Will Carlisle ever match the cultural magic of west?
Last updated 14:36, Friday, 21 August 2009

People in and around Whitehaven are still coming down from the collective high they experienced last weekend at the Here and Now concert.

The gig took 5,000 revellers on a trip down memory lane, as stars from the 1980s including Rick Astley, Belinda Carlisle, Curiosity Killed the Cat and Toyah belted out hit after hit.

“It couldn’t have been better,” says Gerard Richardson, founder and chief executive of the Whitehaven Festival Company, which organised the concert. “The music is timeless but the 21st century equipment brought home just how good it is.

“Toyah surprised everyone. She wasn’t the biggest act in the eighties and some people were surprised we’d chosen her but she put on an electrifying performance and she got the crowd going.

“My personal highlight was Midge Ure singing Vienna and Rick Astley has a voice that’s heaven sent. His songs are pure disco, women of every age were up dancing when he was on performing.

“It was nice to see people enjoying themselves and we’ve had lovely feedback.”

The concert was 10 months in the planning and organised by a small band of people who run the Festival Company. Everyone who works for the company does so on a voluntary basis.

“I think that level of support is quite unique in the UK,” says Gerard. “We don’t have companies to do press releases or marketing, that is all self generated. You name it we do it. It cuts a lot of money. The biggest cost for the Whitehaven Festival was in 2007 and that year we saved about £650,000 on staff costs. The only paid staff are technical staff and health and safety, contracted as required. That’s as it should be.

“And it means our time scales are much shorter. Say the local authority decided to put on a parade, it could take two years to get it all organised, whereas we would announce it and get on with it, and be able to put it on in six months. That’s a measure of the team here.”

Here and Now was the latest in a packed series of events taking place this summer in west Cumbria, including the anniversary celebrations in Silloth, Whitehaven Food Festival and Maryport Blues Festival.

Over in the east, meanwhile, Carlisle has launched a bid to become a future City of Culture.

Carlisle has long been derided for its lack of culture and the announcement was greeted with disbelief in many quarters.

But one man believes the city has a chance: Bryan Gray, chairman of Carlisle Renaissance, the body leading the city’s bid for UK City of Culture status.

“It is people who make a city, not the buildings,” he says. “Everywhere they gather, people engage in cultural pursuits.

“It can be sport, performance art, a classical concert, a museum or a small event in a community centre. They are the things that bring a city alive and enrich people’s lives.”

But people living in a place don’t always recognise its advantages – and Bryan Gray thinks that is the case with Carlisle.

He is originally from Rotherham and says it takes an in-comer like him to notice Carlisle’s good points.

“We need to hold up a mirror and say: ‘Actually we are pretty impressive and we’ve got a lot going for us.’

“People don’t always appreciate what we’ve got. They need to stop and think about what’s good about Carlisle.

“How many cities are building a university in the centre? How many cities have the historic connections Carlisle has got? How many have got Hadrian’s Wall running through them? How many have got a railway station in the centre and a motorway with three junctions?

“You can’t invent those things and you can’t take them away. What we have got to do is polish those jewels.”

Yet confidence and civic pride won’t make up for the lack of a concert hall, a professional theatre or an arts cinema. He admits Carlisle would need new facilities.

“We’ve got to set high standards so we need to look at all the options.”

The Save our Lonsdale group wants to see the old art-deco cinema on Warwick Road transformed into an arts centre, and Mr Gray accepts this is one of those options.

He adds: “There is the university development. Could we put a performance space there?”

And Carlisle’s historic quarter – Tullie House, Hadrian’s Wall, the cathedral and castle – can also be exploited.

Whatever Carlisle’s chances of winning City of Culture status are, however, there are bound to be doubts about whether Carlisle Renaissance can deliver it.

The organisation was set up in 2005 by the city and county councils and the North West Development Agency, and charged with regenerating the city after that year’s devastating floods. But many ask what it has actually done.

Bryan Gray and the new board only took over in April of last year and he admits: “It didn’t get off to a good start.

“But we can’t be responsible for the slow start before the current board’s time.”

People are impatient to see results but he argues that a lot of preparation work has to be done before regeneration can begin.

Gerard Richardson says he hopes Carlisle is successful with its bid. “I applaud the attempt to get the City of Culture status for Carlisle and if they do we would hope to work with them. I say good luck to them.”

Could Carlisle Renaissance take some tips from west Cumbria? After all the Festival Company has a track record of organising successful events with what seems like minimal fuss.

“I think there is a difference in attitude in west Cumbria: here we draw up our own plans and make our own way forward,” says Gerard. “We don’t bother with civil servants and agencies.

“I think it’s a west Cumbrian mentality, a very practical mentality. And it’s something we’ve encouraged since 1998. We never bring a problem to the table, but bring a solution.

“If a problem is brought we hand it back on a plate and say, solve it. And we never want people being negative.”

Gerard also believes that another factor has helped his company’s success over the years: the hospitable nature of west Cumbrians.

“Back in 2003 we had extra people coming for the festival and there’s only so much accommodation in the area, so we put out an appeal for people to offer a room in their house. Hundreds of people responded.

“And at concerts like Here and Now the west Cumbrian crowds are always up for it; always clapping and happy.

“It was a cracking night, and the performers said they were delighted with the crowd’s response.”

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]

Sushi bar on city wishlist
Last updated 21:17, Wednesday, 19 August 2009

A PERMANENT viewing tower, a trendy sushi bar and ghost tours are some of the things the people of Carlisle would like to see in their city.

More live bands at Brunton Park and the Sands Centre, a theatre and an airport are some more of the suggestions as to how the public wants Carlisle to change.

The large amount of greenery in the city, Bitts and Rickerby Parks, the castle and the cathedral are some of the city’s plus points.

The opinions were given to city artist Derek Eland after he opened up his sky gallery studio on the ninth floor of the Civic Centre.

Mr Eland asked people what they love about the city and what they wanted to change.

He now hopes his findings will be fed into the work being done by Carlisle Renaissance but is keen to stress that his report will lead to some action.

One person wrote: “It seriously needs a good cultural venue – somewhere for theatre/performance/contemporary art and film screenings – the Carlisle equivalent of the Baltic please.”

Another said: “University is essential for social, economic and cultural development.”

And one said: “It’s people being more positive.”

Mr Eland has presented the report to Carlisle Renaissance, the city and county councils and Tullie House.

He said: “I am interested in change on the ground and the implementation of quick wins for the city.

“The findings in this report are reinforced by similar work I carried out with the teenagers of Belah and visitors to the Love Carlisle exhibition at the Bank Gallery in June.

“The skate park is by far the most popular thing for teenagers in the city but it needs updated. It hasn’t got a shelter or a toilet and these are things which could be fixed quickly.”

Mr Eland plans to introduce a diary room at the University of Cumbria next month where people can record their opinions about the city and give suggestions.

He said: “This is all the beginning of an engagement process asking Carlisle people what they want and responding to their ideas.

“The eventual plan is to have a dedicated shop in Carlisle city centre where people can just walk in off the street and say what they think.”

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]

New faces at Cumbria Vision
Last updated 21:17, Wednesday, 19 August 2009

ALL four chairs of the county’s economic delivery boards have now been appointed to the board of Cumbria Vision.

New private sector members have also been appointed to bring fresh expertise on the important issues of energy, businesses and enterprise.

Brian Wilson, chair of West Cumbria Vision delivery board; Murray Easton, chair of Barrow Vision delivery board; Bryan Gray, chair of Carlisle Renaissance; and Mandy Dixon, interim chair of Eden and South Lakeland Delivery Board, have all become Cumbria Vision directors.

Independent member George Beveridge, deputy managing director (transformation and support) at Sellafield Ltd, has been appointed to advise on energy while John Hudson, managing director of BAE Systems Submarine Solutions, will advise on business and enterprise.

The leaders of Cumbria’s district councils have also been appointed along with Bill Jefferson OBE, chair of the Lake District National Park Authority, and Deborah McLaughlin, North West Regional Director of the Homes and Communities Agency.

Chairman Roger Liddle said: “Cumbria Vision now has a strong partnership involving all the main players allowing the focus to shift to what is most important to the businesses and communities of Cumbria – getting on with the job of delivering major regeneration projects across the county.

“We now have four delivery boards tasked with the delivery of key regeneration projects, focusing on our major strengths of low carbon energy and our unique ‘destination’ – not just as a place to visit, but a place to live, learn, work and invest.

“With an effective system in place we now expect major activity on the ground over the coming years, bringing forward projects and initiatives that will help build a robust and sustainable economy and truly establish Cumbria as a powerful economic engine for Britain.”

Bill Lowther OBE, Chair of Cumbria Strategic Partnership; Robin Burgess, managing director of CN Group, publishers of The Whitehaven News; and Richard Mrowicki, Head of Stakeholder Relations at the NDA, have all retired from the Cumbria Vision board.

Coun Tony Markley, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for economic development, said: “Now we’ve got the board in place we can really get on with the work of regenerating Cumbria, creating jobs, boosting the economy and delivering for the businesses and people in our county.”

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]

Carlisle council buys former Border TV studio
Last updated 11:49, Friday, 14 August 2009

Carlisle City Council has bought the old Border TV studio at Durranhill, The Cumberland News can reveal.

The council was given cash by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) to complete the purchase last month.

Durranhill has been identified by Carlisle Renaissance as a key site in the regeneration of the city.

Plans are now being drawn up for a comprehensive remodelling of the industrial estate and a drive will be launched to attract businesses to the area.

The 2.37-acre former Border studio, at the entrance to the estate, will eventually be used to form a ‘gateway’ to the site.

The city council, Cumbria County Council and the NWDA have formed a partnership to lead the regeneration work.

Marilyn Bowman, Carlisle City Council’s spokeswoman on economy, said: “Carlisle City Council has been able to buy the former Border TV studio site supported by funding from the NWDA.

“The industrial estate has been highlighted by both Carlisle Renaissance and Cumbria County Council as a location which can provide additional economic benefits to the south of the city in terms of investment, development and job creation.”

Tony Markley, the county council’s cabinet member for economic development, said: “The negotiations involved in the eventual redevelopment of the Border TV site are progressing well.

“Cumbria County Council has carried out an assessment of the site and it has clear potential for economic development, with excellent access to transport networks on both rail and road.

“We are working with our partners at Carlisle City Council and the NWDA to breathe life into the site so that it can attract new businesses and help boost the local economy.”

Mark Hughes, executive director, economic development at the NWDA, said: “The location and size of the ITV Border site represents an excellent opportunity for Carlisle and I am pleased it has been secured for redevelopment.”

“The right development here will attract private sector investment and help to create jobs, which will make a significant impact on the local economy.”

The deal to buy the building was brokered by property consultancy Sanderson Weatherall and surveyor Michael Carigiet Associates.

The city council has stressed that although the premises is empty, alarms have been fitted and security measures are in place on the building.

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]

Carlisle Renaissance ‘has been a conspicuous failure’
Last updated 10:04, Friday, 07 August 2009

Carlisle Renaissance is under fire again for a lack of progress, four years after it came into being.

Renaissance was launched to revive the fortunes of the city after the 2005 floods.

Last year, control was handed to a private-sector-led board.

Now Michael Boaden, Labour group leader on the city council, claims there has been “little meaningful progress”.

He said: “The council is contributing more than £250,000 a year to Carlisle Renaissance.

“What value we are receiving for that significant sum?

“The most important projects in the city – the Carlisle Northern Development Route, the academies and the further development of Carlisle College – are all happening without any discernible involvement of Renaissance.”

Mr Boaden has been tipped to succeed MP Eric Martlew as the Labour candidate for Carlisle at the next General Election.

He added: “The board came into being as a response to failings in the political leadership for Renaissance provided by the city council, but it is doing things in exactly the same way.

“Commissioning expensive consultants to produce reports that, in many cases, are telling us all what we already know.

“What it is singularly failing to do is engage the public in the idea of positive change.

“This is such a missed opportunity and I am sad it has been such a conspicuous failure.”

Various Renaissance initiatives have stalled and been shelved, including redevelopment plans for Rickergate and a scheme to discourage cars from the area around the cathedral.

But Bryan Gray, who chairs the Renaissance board, has defended its record.

The board is focusing on getting the University of Cumbria into Viaduct Estate in the city centre, developing sites for business near the M6 and harnessing historic assets to boost tourism.

Mr Gray said: “I am disappointed that Councillor Boaden thinks we’re not having an impact but I think that’s based on a misunderstanding of the role of Carlisle Renaissance. Our purpose is to work with partners to create a vision for Carlisle and make it happen. That doesn’t mean we do everything ourselves.

“An example is how we’re working with the university. If it wasn’t for us, there wouldn’t be progress in terms of assembling a site.

“We are pulling people together and looking for ways around problems.”

Mr Gray is about to step down as chairman of the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) to concentrate on his role in Carlisle.

He also disputed Mr Boaden’s claim that Renaissance had no involvement in plans to redevelop Carlisle College. Those proposals are back on track after the NWDA pledged £5m this week.

Mr Gray added: “No one has done more to help Carlisle College than Carlisle Renaissance.

“We brokered negotiations with the NWDA. That [pledge of funds] wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t pulled together people to make it happen.”

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]

Arts and culture at centre of Carlisle redevelopment
Last updated 14:11, Monday, 03 August 2009

In times of recession, when the public are worrying about their jobs, a lack of culture is probably not the concern which keeps people awake at night.

But Carlisle Renaissance says investment in the likes of the arts and heritage is as much about boosting the economy as giving people quality choices for how they spend their free time.

The question is, how to go about creating a cultural nirvana?

And what exactly do people want it to be?

According to a report commissioned by Carlisle Renaissance, people want the following ideals:

* A beautiful, cared for city with a wide choice of cultural activities and opportunities that reflect the increasing diversity of local communities and the multi-ethnic character of the nation.

* The youthful buzz of a successful university city with a vibrant, round-the-clock culture and lots of interesting, small, independent shops.

* A chance to experience events that make new and imaginative uses of superb historic locations.

* A city that welcomes, encourages and sustains artists and creative professionals.

* A city to be proud of, that many want to visit and few want to leave.

The people doing the ‘wanting’ are admittedly not randomly selected members of the public.

The majority of those questioned for the Culture in Carlisle report were involved in the city’s cultural sector.

But many of their desires will be shared by residents.

Bryan Gray, chairman of Carlisle Renaissance, is convinced the aspirations will be beneficial to all. He said: “Culture is the glue that binds communities together, gives a place identity and engenders pride in where we live.

“For these reasons, culture underpins everything that Carlisle Renaissance is working to achieve, which is why we are also committing to supporting cultural development in the city.

“It is clear from my conversations with people, and the recent debate on culture in local newspapers over the last few weeks, that cultural and creative industries are alive and kicking in Carlisle.

“It is also apparent that local people feel as passionately about building on this potential as Renaissance does, and that a degree of focus and leadership is required to further develop this thinking and turn thoughts into action.”

The report recommends setting up a dedicated organisation to push the agenda forward.

It suggests starting with an informal grouping then reviewing its status at a later date – the staged approach is due to the current ‘wariness’ of such creating such an agency.

However, the report does detail the need for an executive director to lead the ‘independent but accountable’ cultural development group.

There are numerous proposals for renaissance contained in the report.

They cover themes such as the performing arts, the historic quarter, exhibitions, industrial heritage and Roman heritage.

An arts centre with performance space, stronger links between Tullie House and the Tate, involvement in the 2012 London Olympics and 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games are some of the ideas.

Increasing military presence at the castle with soldiers on parade like at Edinburgh Castle, opening a visitors centre at Citadel Station and introducing new festivals are other examples.

It is thought people would be encouraged to visit existing attractions by raising awareness of what’s on offer plus making improvements to pedestrian links between sites and putting up more prominent signs.

There also needs to be a shift in the city’s mentality, the report argues. It states that there are many who do not connect the economic success of a city with the quality of its cultural life, people who maybe view culture itself as elitist.

There are high expectations that the University of Cumbria, which is noted in the report as one of the city’s strongest assets, will be an agent for change as well as a source of new energy and new people.

Carlisle’s heritage, geography and were also listed as reasons for optimism about the city’s cultural potential.

On the downside, perceived weaknesses included the lack of a four-star hotel, a struggling nighttime economy that seems to be solely based on Botchergate and a shortage of marketing know-how.

The report warned that there was a strong feeling among the people questioned that culture was not high on the agenda of local councillors.

They felt there was no influential champion to generate support, that the council is averse to risk and might be wary of the ‘unpredictability’ associated with arts projects.

Mike Mitchelson, leader of Carlisle City Council, strongly disagrees. He told the News & Star it would have been better if members’ views had been sought, and included in the report.

Mr Mitchelson added: “The criticisms are very unfair. The council funds, organises and gives a lot of staff time to cultural events. There is no statutory requirement to do so, but we have invested a lot in culture over the years. It is very high on our agenda and will remain so.”

Mr Mitchelson said the lengthy list of the city council’s work includes Carlisle Fireshow, international series of orchestras, the Festival of Nations, The Spring Show, Brampton Live and numerous projects with Tullie House.

Cultural development is obviously a long term project which needs to be interlinked with other plans for regeneration. So results may be slow to appear, and not always tangible when they do. It’s no small undertaking but Ian McNichol, director of Carlisle Renaissance, is confident that efforts to turn ambition into reality are underway.

He said: “Remediation works at Caldew Riverside, needed to bring about the development of the new university campus, could begin in six months. Negotiations continue with Tesco to secure part of their site and the university is selecting architects for the scheme.

“The city centre is set to get a boost as retailers and other businesses team up with both councils to direct extra investment into maintaining and promoting the area.

“I expect this partnership will also help to resolve the long-standing issues around access and parking which are vital to the sustainability of the whole of the city centre, including the development of the university and attracting more people into the city’s historic quarter.”

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]