The externalities of cultural policy?

Greg Richards

Art for art’s sake?• Socio-democratic concensus• Liberalisation• Economic restructuring• The rise of cities and regions• New rationales for ‘cultural’ policy?– For example– Eventful cities– Creative tourism

Greg Richards

Eventful Cities

Structure• Why cities need to be eventful• Eventful cities vs event management

• The role of the city in programming eventfulness

• Case studies

The city has shaped events, and events have shaped the city

When I grow up I want to be New York. Or perhaps a mixture of London and Florence. Or maybe a bit of Amsterdam and a bit of Paris. No, no. That’s it. The best of all is to be Barcelona.

(Poster for the exhibition Barcelona(s): The futures of the city, organised by the City of Barcelona in 1999, quoted in Benach and Albet, 2004).

Becoming Barcelona

The eventful making of BarcelonaWorld Exhibition 1888World Exhibition 1929Olympics 1992Gaudi Year 2002Year of Design 2003Universal Forum of Cultures 2004Year of Gastronomy 2005

Tourism has increased almost sevenfold since 1990

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Eventfulness as an important element of ‘Live-Work-Visit-Invest’ strategy in place competition

The competitive environment of cities

• Globalization• Footloose capital• Mobile talent• Increasing importance of quality of life and ‘soft factors’ of location

• Result = growing need to attract attention

Evolving models of the city

Preindustrial cityIndustrial cityManaged cityThe postmodern cityThe entrepreneurial cityThe creative cityThe eventful city

Advantage of events as development strategy

• Focus of attention• Catalyst for change• Synchronising urban agendas• Opportunities for redevelopment• Often lower cost than iconic architecture

• Flexibility• Timeliness

Eventful cities

Eventful city definition

•An eventful city purposefully uses a programme of events to strategically and sustainably support long-term policy agendas that enhance the quality of life for all.

Aims of the city

Quality of life

Programming the city

Event outcomes

Management of the event

Aims of the event

Event managementEvent management is the process by which an event is planned, prepared and produced. it encompasses the assessment, definition, acquisition, allocation, direction, control, and analysis of time, finances, personnel, products, services and other resources to achieve objectives.

Managing the eventful cityManaging resources and stakeholders to achieve the objectives of a city or region as a whole

Management tasks in the eventful city

• Coordinating a programme of events.• Dealing with a wide range of event stakeholders, both direct and indirect.

• Creating structures for accountability.• Increasing the accessibility of events.• Ensuring equitability in event organization and participation.

• Ensuring event sustainability.• Ensuring compatibility between the objectives of individual events and the objectives of the city.

Roles of the cityAuckland, New Zealand

Leader -The council champions, coordinates, advocates, plans and provides an events focus for the city. It is a catalyst for partnerships and cooperative arrangements for events.

Provider -The council provides for the organization of events it funds directly. It also provides event venues. Sponsor -The council invests in events organized by others.

Communicator and promoter - The council generates enthusiasm and energy for events by enhancing communication, promotion and PR

Facilitator -The council assists events by taking a coordinating, regulatory and advisory role through relationship management.

A basis for eventfulness• The City of Edinburgh Council’s Festivals Strategy

• Economic Impact Evaluation of Edinburgh’s key Festivals

• Thundering Hooves Report (2006)

• RecommendationsStrategic planningMarketingProgramme developmentInfrastructure

Organisation created in 2007 by the 12 major festivals to lead a joint strategy and maintain their global competitive edge.

Mission

• to act on behalf of and represent the collective strengths of the Edinburgh Festivals

• to develop and deliver collaborative projects and initiatives which support growth, product development, leadership and audiences

• to help sustain the Festivals and Edinburgh and Scotland’s pre-eminence as the world’s leading festival destination.

•

OUR MAJOR FUNDERS

City of Edinburgh CouncilCreative ScotlandEventScotlandMissions Models MoneyScottish EnterpriseScottish GovernmentVisitScotland Growth Fund

Increasing pride in the city

Putting Edinburgh on the map

Making Edinburg a distinctive city

Support for culture

1990 1996 2005 20100

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Economic impact – number of FTE’s

Eventfulness in EdinburghEvents-led, public sector supported

Collaborative action can be successful

Research is important to make the case

Events have a wide range of effects – important to build up a portfolio of different types of events

Tilburg Events StrategyImage-making events

Distinguishing events

Broad basis events

Montreal• Cultural policy recognises the importance of creative vibrancy for the city

• Over 100 Festivals a year

• Attracting talent

• Building local demand for culture

• $200 million in tourist expenditure

• Underpin the City of Festivals branding

• CA$ 5 million funding

• A compensation for poor record in hosting international artists?

Place des festivals

Rotterdam 2001

Theme ‘Rotterdam is Many Cities’, inspired by Calvino’s Invisible Cities

Pleasure City; City of Many Cultures; City of Stories; Vital City; Young@Rotterdam; Living in a city and the city as home; Working City; The Periphery at the Centre; City of the Future; Flowing City;City Culture, City of Cultures and City of Culture

The city, that is you: you listen, look, taste and touch it. The city becomes a living organism which, just like you, possesses a dynamic memory. A memory that is fed by and gives room to tales. What is told, written and imagined about her is the city. (Gemeente Rotterdam, 2003: 22)

Las Palmas

A more cultural image?

W EM AR 2000Study

M odern architecture 69 80W ater/harbour 88 98 80M ulticultural 69 76W orking city 79 89 75culture and art 42 53 58Events 51 55Shopping 71 50Nightlife 57 64 38Cosy (gezelligheid) 46 32Unsafe 45 40 18

Im age Attribute of Rotterdam

Algem een Dagblad 2001 Study

RCH 2001 Study

Total visitors to Rotterdam

14.000.00014.500.00015.000.00015.500.00016.000.00016.500.00017.000.00017.500.00018.000.000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Rotterdam event visitors

2.600.0002.700.0002.800.0002.900.0003.000.0003.100.0003.200.0003.300.0003.400.000

2001 2003 2005

Visits

02.000.0004.000.0006.000.0008.000.00010.000.00012.000.00014.000.00016.000.00018.000.00020.000.000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Bezoekers

toaal bezoekers Rotterdam evenem enten bezoekers

The proportion of all visitors coming to the city for events has grown from 25% to 32%

Reactions from the cultural sector

“I think the ECOC definitely benefited the cultural climate because of the better image and because of a lot of organisations working together at the first time”

Do you think that people in cultural sector feel there is a better climate as the result of the ECOC?

“I think so. That’s is something I’m more positive about.” There is a feeling of “openness” related to the city and this aspect “really attracted people… cultural sector is not so ‘dense’ like in another cities; a lot of things that are possible in Rotterdam…”

Other impactsDevelopment of the ‘cultural axis´of the city (Museumpark to Witte de With)

88% of the population is happy with the cultural facilities in the city, comparted with 78% in other European cities

Creative sector employment grew by 8% a year between 1996 and 2003, much higher than the Rotterdam economy (2.7%). The creative sector is more regionally orientated than in Amsterdam

Stimulus for the ‘creative nursery’ programme of the city

Major Events Policy

Theme Years

Rotterdam 2005

Year of Youth (2009) – includes European Youth Capital

ERASMUS (2011)

Rotterdam Festivals as ‘programmer’ of the city

Rotterdam in Theory

Florida – recognition of diversity as a creative resource

Materasso – more attention for social issues in cultural policy

Hitters and Richards - Creative clusters

Scott – creative industries

New hubs of relational rituals•Art museums•Watching football in public spaces•European Capitals of Culture•Eurovision Song Contest•Festival marketplaces•Eating out•Nightclubs•Mega discos•Live concerts•Festivals•Networking events•Stag and hen parties

Tate Modern: Art Museum or Theme Park?

Who won?

The ritual of organising rituals?

What is the legacy of an ECOC?

•Economic impacts

•Catalyst for collaboration

•Increased cultural participation

•More social cohesion

•Growth of the creative sector

•Stimulus cultural investment (hardware and software)

•Image improvement/change

Economic leverage

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Rotterdam 2001

Porto 2001

Salamanca 2002

Brugge 2002

Graz 2003

Sibiu 2007

Luxemburg 2007

Liverpool 2008

Mln euros

Glasgow 1990: 20 years later

Mercer Quality of Life Index – 52nd the world rankings

4th most popular UK destination for foreign tourists

“UK’s Coolest City 2003”

UK’s favourite city by readers of Condé Nast Traveller 2006.

UNESCO City of Music (2008)

Infrastructure: Glasgow Concert Hall, McLellan Galleries (1990), Glasgow Museum of Modern Art (1996) refurbished Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (1998) - further £200m capital investment in cultural facilities 2006 -2011

Luxemburg 2007 – ECOC as link

Respondents in France

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A step towards a com m ondestinty for the GreaterRegionA good idea

an opening towardsEurope

An abstract political idea

Liverpool 2008

Challenge of the long term

Sibiu 2007: New image, more social cohesion?

020406080100120Improved

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Improved the image of SibiuCreated more social cohesion

% totally agree

What makes a successful eventful city?

Taking risks

Being innovative

Linking the local and the global

Making creative spaces

Creating new rituals

Eventful Cities: Cultural Management and Urban Regeneration

Greg Richards and Bob Palmer (2010)

http://independent.academia.edu/gregrichards

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