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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/how-many-more-cities-of-culture-do-we-really-need-coventry
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| Why do we need so many cities of culture? | |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Presenting a jubilant Coventry with the next UK city of culture title on Thursday was, it turns out, also an early Christmas gift to many a sardonic wag. | Presenting a jubilant Coventry with the next UK city of culture title on Thursday was, it turns out, also an early Christmas gift to many a sardonic wag. |
| Twitter and all the other online social notice boards were soon vibrating with witty comments pointing out just how un-fun being sent to Coventry really is and just how undeserving a place must be if it is historically notable only for its bombed-out cathedral and a dubious legend about a nude lady on a horse. | Twitter and all the other online social notice boards were soon vibrating with witty comments pointing out just how un-fun being sent to Coventry really is and just how undeserving a place must be if it is historically notable only for its bombed-out cathedral and a dubious legend about a nude lady on a horse. |
| While some of these dry comments were probably motivated by factional bias, or perhaps by a wilful misunderstanding of the point of the competition for the sake of a moment of comic glory, there was also a note of real sadness, even of dystopian melancholy, behind the news. | While some of these dry comments were probably motivated by factional bias, or perhaps by a wilful misunderstanding of the point of the competition for the sake of a moment of comic glory, there was also a note of real sadness, even of dystopian melancholy, behind the news. |
| These proliferating competitions for boosted cultural status – from the now defunct rival bids for the chance to be European capital of culture mounted by Dundee and Nottingham, among other contenders, to the mayor of London’s newly hatched borough of culture plan – all speak of a confused national scramble. And one that is viewed with suspicion by spectators from outside the arts sector. The citizens of Hull may now be justly revelling in the final moments of their feted year of avant-garde culture, but the enthusiastic message of hope they were wildly semaphoring out to the rest of the country did not penetrate that far south. | These proliferating competitions for boosted cultural status – from the now defunct rival bids for the chance to be European capital of culture mounted by Dundee and Nottingham, among other contenders, to the mayor of London’s newly hatched borough of culture plan – all speak of a confused national scramble. And one that is viewed with suspicion by spectators from outside the arts sector. The citizens of Hull may now be justly revelling in the final moments of their feted year of avant-garde culture, but the enthusiastic message of hope they were wildly semaphoring out to the rest of the country did not penetrate that far south. |
| What’s more, many of its city centre shops will remain boarded up, it seems likely, well beyond the moment when Coventry officially takes up the crown in 2021. | What’s more, many of its city centre shops will remain boarded up, it seems likely, well beyond the moment when Coventry officially takes up the crown in 2021. |
| It is not that cultural bid campaigns every four years are not worthwhile; they are clearly heartfelt and can do real good. Ever since the first lessons were learned from Glasgow’s time as European capital in 1990 and from Liverpool’s reign in 2008, the key role of the creative community in reviving economic confidence and civic pride has been increasingly understood. Of course, a title cannot halt decline, but it can send up an illuminating flare from a distressed area. | It is not that cultural bid campaigns every four years are not worthwhile; they are clearly heartfelt and can do real good. Ever since the first lessons were learned from Glasgow’s time as European capital in 1990 and from Liverpool’s reign in 2008, the key role of the creative community in reviving economic confidence and civic pride has been increasingly understood. Of course, a title cannot halt decline, but it can send up an illuminating flare from a distressed area. |
| Speaking after their victory last week, Emma Harrabin, a member of the Coventry bid delegation, said they had learned a lot from looking at Hull’s experience. “We’ve been up a couple of times and the thing that you can absolutely feel is that the city of culture has touched everybody,” she said. | Speaking after their victory last week, Emma Harrabin, a member of the Coventry bid delegation, said they had learned a lot from looking at Hull’s experience. “We’ve been up a couple of times and the thing that you can absolutely feel is that the city of culture has touched everybody,” she said. |
| “You walk down the street and people are talking about it, the volunteers are unbelievable and, walking around today with our badges and our T-shirts and stuff, they know what winning the title means.” So when dissenters point out that a winning city has a few problems, they ignore the truth that the panel of judges, led by Phil Redmond of Liverpool renown, are tasked with the very aim of searching for a cultural strategy that would involve a deprived community and start to ferment more culture. | “You walk down the street and people are talking about it, the volunteers are unbelievable and, walking around today with our badges and our T-shirts and stuff, they know what winning the title means.” So when dissenters point out that a winning city has a few problems, they ignore the truth that the panel of judges, led by Phil Redmond of Liverpool renown, are tasked with the very aim of searching for a cultural strategy that would involve a deprived community and start to ferment more culture. |
| The chance to celebrate something and to be heard nationally, all of the campaigners knew, would never be enough to reinvigorate local industry. Yet, to paraphrase the Bard, himself from near Coventry, it could at least be “a poor thing, but our own”, and so a definite psychological win. | The chance to celebrate something and to be heard nationally, all of the campaigners knew, would never be enough to reinvigorate local industry. Yet, to paraphrase the Bard, himself from near Coventry, it could at least be “a poor thing, but our own”, and so a definite psychological win. |
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