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Liverpool 2008 - William Chambers

Liverpool
European Capital of Culture 2008

by William Chambers

Liverpool

Liverpool is a large port located at the mouth of the River Mersey on the north west coast of England. It faces the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It has three major claims to international fame. It is home to the Beatles and the 1960s Mersey Sound. It is home to Liverpool Football Club and its Premiership neighbour Everton Football Club and thirdly, because of its history, it has an extensive architectural and cultural heritage.

Liverpool European Capital of Culture: Why?

To many it was a surprise when in 2003 Liverpool was chosen as the United Kingdom’s second European Capital of Culture (Glasgow was chosen in 1990). On reflection there are many reasons for its success. The city is a treasure trove of architectural jewels. It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 as ‘Liverpool – the supreme example of a commercial port at the time of Britain’s greatest global influence’. Civic Buildings such as St George’s Hall and the Town Hall are recognised as fine examples of nineteenth century architecture and there are more Georgian streets and houses in Liverpool than in the city of Bath. The city and environs are blessed with many fine parks, with Birkenhead Park forming the model for Central Park in New York.

Associated with the physical infrastructure are the cultural institutions which either date from the Victorian heyday or are located in Liverpool because of historical connections. The cultural institutions include the Tate Liverpool, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society, the Walker Art Gallery, the Playhouse and Everyman Theatres, National Museums Liverpool (with more museums than any English city other than London) and many other theatres and galleries.

In addition to the buildings and institutions there are a number of sporting events which date from the Victorian heyday but continue to thrive today as of national or international significance. The two Premiership football teams (Liverpool and Everton) date from the nineteenth century, there are many golf courses and the British Open Golf Tournament has since 1897 been held regularly in the sand dunes at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake and the Royal Birkdale Golf Club. The Grand National, the world famous National Hunt steeplechase held annually since 1836, is run at Aintree and is a major part of the British Sporting Calendar.

Liverpool is also a multi-faith and multicultural city reflecting its history and geography. The city has two cathedrals the Roman Catholic and Anglican Cathedrals; it is home to the oldest Chinese community in the United Kingdom and the first mosque. Recent immigration from the West Indies and more recently Somalia and the Yemen plus its designation as a receiving centre for asylum seekers and refugees has enriched the cultural mix of the city.
In addition to these high and popular culture credentials, Liverpool’s success in being awarded the title UK City of Culture was associated with the potential for using the designation as a vehicle for its ongoing economic regeneration, rebranding and repositioning. Having been in receipt of European Social Fund (ESF) and European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) for several decades because of its relative deprivation the designation would complement the transformation of the city through attracting funding for large scale capital and infrastructural projects either directly or indirectly associated with the Year of Culture.

Finally, most of the city leaders and citizens of Liverpool fully embraced and committed themselves to the Capital of Culture concept. Despite inevitable tensions the opportunities and excitement of the designation led to an enthusiastic endorsement of the bid and following its success all sectors and most stakeholders ranging from inner city and suburban communities and community groups to large corporations and institutions enthusiastically, if at times critically, supported the project and were committed to its success. This energy and enthusiasm was apparent to all concerned with the evaluation of the bid.

Liverpool City

The population of the city of Liverpool has declined continuously since the Second World War to reach its current population of 447,500. Greater Merseyside which also includes the neighbouring local authorities of Sefton, Wirral, Knowsley, Halton and St Helens has a population of 1,367,100.

Rise, Fall and Rise

The history of Liverpool can be described as one of rise, fall and rise. The port of Liverpool was, infamously, in the eighteenth century, associated with the Triangular (slave) Trade between the UK, USA and West Africa. The heyday of the city was in the 1880s when as the gateway to the Americas and Africa it became the 2nd city of the British Empire. As implied above, this preeminent position led to the growth of an urban infrastructure, buildings, institutions and events which the current population would not otherwise support .

Following the second war Liverpool became the ‘Pariah City’ as it struggled to cope with both post-war and post-industrial pressures. Many traditional, inter-war and post war industries closed, in some districts employment reached over 30%, the long established tradition of industrial militancy became more prevalent and eventually civil unrest in the form of the Toxteth Riots of 1981 created the image of a failing and dysfunctional city at war with itself and central government. Added to this the establishment of the European Community and the growth of trade with that economic block meant that eastward, continent-facing ports such as Harwich and Folkestone were in the ascendancy at the expense of Liverpool.

By the mid 1980s Liverpool was the most deprived local authority in England. Of 32482 local units in England, 26 of the most deprived 100 were in Liverpool and 75% of Liverpool’s units were in the 10% of the most deprived in England. Not surprisingly Liverpool became eligible for European Objective 1 funding and between 2000 and 2006 received £950m from the European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund.

The allocation to England of the European Capital of Culture designation provided Liverpool with an opportunity to bid to become England’s chosen city. On the 4th June 2003 the decision was announced that Liverpool would be European Capital of Culture 2008. This provided the incentive and opportunity for Liverpool to speed up the slow-burning renaissance started by Margaret Thatcher’s Minister Michael Heseltine in 1981 when he established the Merseyside Development Corporation and started to attract large scale developments such as the International Garden Festival to Merseyside in 1984.

Liverpool Capital of Culture: Why?

Liverpool applied to become European Capital of Culture for many reasons. The bid and its successful implementation were seen as goals for the entire cross section of the community to rally behind. The success and example of Glasgow, another west coast, declining, working class city, as a former Capital of Culture in 1990 offered an example and hope to the sceptics, who were of the opinion that the problems of Liverpool were too long-established and endemic to be overcome by a culture-led renaissance. Others saw the designation as a ‘last chance saloon’ for the city to regain its former glories. Many were attracted by the international and global stage offered to a European Capital of Culture a place previously held in the 19th century when Liverpool was the gateway to incoming raw materials and outgoing emigrants and manufactured products.

The Capital of Culture designation was seen as an opportunity to re-position the city, to make a significant contribution to the regeneration of a failing Victorian infrastructure and possibly as a template for the regeneration of other large declining European cities. It would challenge negative perceptions not least in the rest of the United Kingdom fuelled by the images of bomb-damage of the Second World War, decrepit Victorian infrastructure, empty factories and warehouses, a strike-happy labour force and Militant Tendency Council plus the declining, silted and abandoned city centre docks of the (still successful) port. The year would provide yet another opportunity for programming world class artistic events, the establishment of a sustainable cultural sector based upon high levels of engagement by all sectors of the community.

Themed Years

In preparation for 2008 the preceding and subsequent years were designated as themed years. This had the effect of preparing the people and institutions of Liverpool for the great party which was to be 2008. A clever choice of themes which identified elements of the history and social fabric of the city ensured that the population and institutions were fully engaged. Faith lead to the strap line Faith in One City which allowed the secular feeling of goodwill to the city to be celebrated alongside the Catholic, Anglican, Free Church, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and other religious traditions and ensured the contributions of these powerful sections of society. Sea Liverpool also allowed for the combination of Seeing the city alongside with a celebration of the maritime (Sea) heritage so fundamental to the Liverpool psyche. Liverpool Performs allowed a preview of the cultural offer and time between the end of 2006 and the start of 2008 for the adjustment and refocus and realignment of the formal and informal cultural sectors. Then this year (2007) has been Liverpool’s 800th Birthday, a most significant event in its own right, allowing recognition of the heritage of the city as well as being a great precursor for the year of Capital of Culture.

Table 1: The Themed Years

Year

Year of

2004

 

Faith

2005

 

Sea Liverpool

2006

 

Liverpool Performs

2007

 

Liverpool’s 800th Birthday

2008

 

European Capital of Culture

2009

 

Environment

2010

 

Innovation

Liverpool European City of Culture: The Programme

At the time of writing the programme for 2008 is being finalised. It will comprise events such as large scale high and popular culture exhibitions, concerts and performances including Klimt at the Tate, Rattle at the Philharmonic and McCartney at Anfield. In addition a host of cultural events are planned to parallel these in local communities in the city and suburbs. A large number of sports events are scheduled some annual events simply taking advantage of the year to locate in Liverpool, others new, one-off, events specifically designed for Liverpool’s Year. The major events include the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Birkdale, the Tour of Britain Cycle Race which will complete its 8th and final stage in front of the Town Hall, the European Boxing Championships which will be held at the new Arena, the World Firefighters’ Games (the Leader of the Council is a firefighter!), and the Tall Ships Race which will start in the Mersey hoping to emulate the 1984 equivalent when over 3.5m people thronged the banks of the Mersey to ensure total gridlock on the roads of Merseyside. In addition many annual conferences (academic, professional, show business, industrial) are scheduled to come to Liverpool during the year.

However for many Liverpudlians the Capital of Culture programme has already started with a large scale programme of infrastructural regeneration in some ways analogous to that associated with the demands made of Athens preceding the Olympic Games and called locally ‘The Big Dig’. This has involved the construction of new roads, the enhancement of existing roads and street furniture, the large scale retail regeneration of the whole of the city centre retail provision with the development of a previously unimpressive piece of urban real estate between the existing declining retail centre and the Albert Docks re-development and the construction of new hotels, a conference and concert complex (The Liverpool Arena) and the Cruise Liner Landing Stage. Unfortunately the ongoing disruption caused by The Big Dig has affected the ability of the commercial district of central Liverpool to function and caused the cancellation of the annual Matthew Street (Beatles) Festival in August 2007.

The Culture Company

The organisation with responsibility for the successful planning and delivery of the Capital of Culture is the Liverpool Culture Company. This has responsibility for the full range of elements of the programme for 2008 including events, artistic, community, tourism, commerce, heritage, marketing and the Welcome programme. The Company is integrated with the City Council’s former Culture and Leisure Services Department and has a Board currently (September 2007) comprising seven members from the North West Regional Development Agency, the City Council, the International Centre for Digital Content, Liverpool University, the Arts Council England and Lawyers and Official Partners Hill Dickinson. This is a slimmed down version of the Board which at its most unwieldy in 2005 had 28 members.

The criterion for success include the attraction of £3bn investment, the creation of 14000 jobs, the attraction of 1.7m additional tourists and the re-establishment of Liverpool as a world city.

Fundamental to the success of Liverpool08 will be the performance of what is called the Creative Communities programme. This is important to a city like Liverpool where in some sections of the community there is a long-established aversion to and envy of high culture and top down, centralised decision-making. The Creative Communities programme is an attempt to engage and empower all sections of the community not just the Big Eight cultural organisations (Tate Liverpool, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, National Museums, Everyman and Playhouse, Liverpool Biennial, FACT, the Bluecoat and the Unity Theatre) so that the whole city participates in and benefits from the Year. It will encourage partnership activity, encourage and provide support and expertise for funding applications and hopefully break new ground and become recognised nationally.

Present Situation

Many plans are at an advanced stage but arrangements remain fluid. Whilst many projects are planned uniquely and specifically for the Capital of Culture Year many are taking advantage of long planned initiatives and aspirations which are using the Capital of Culture branding to secure funding or are attracting annual events to Liverpool specifically for the year.

A major physical regeneration programme (The Big Dig) has either been completed, started or will start in 2008. This comprises retail, office, hotel, apartments, academic, conference, public realm, tourist, estuary and transport infrastructure. Table 2 is an indicative list of projects.

Table 2: Infrastructural Projects

Project

Cost

Liverpool 1 Retail

£920m

Kings Waterfront including the Arena and Conference Centre

£390m

St Paul’s Square offices

£162m

Pall Mall mixed

£300m

Central Village mixed

£160m

New World Square

£130m

Mann Island mixed

£120m

Sefton Street Quarter

£100m

Museum of Liverpool

£65m

West Tower

£35m

Liverpool University School of Tropical Medicine

£26m

Elysian Fields

£25m

Liverpool John Moores University Design Academy

£23.5m

Eden Square

£22m

Cruise Liner Terminal

£19m

Leeds-Liverpool Canal

£18.5m

Liverpool Hope University Performance Centre

£7m

Lime Street Railway Station Gateway

£?

 

In terms of high profile events the association with the Beatles has already been confirmed with Ringo Starr performing at the opening ceremony and Paul McCartney headlining a Liverpool Sound mid-summer concert at Anfield. A programme of Classical Music has been announced which includes a visit by Liverpool born and educated Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vladimir Ashkenazy with the European Union Youth Orchestra and performances of Tavener’s and Britten’s War Requiems as well as the opening event of the year, Emilia di Liverpool by the European Opera Centre and the BBC’s Electronic Proms. The Art programme will include an exhibition of the work of Gustav Klimt and the 2007 Turner Prize at the Tate Liverpool, ongoing work by Ben Johnson on the Liverpool’s Cityscape, a Monet to Hopper: The Artist and The Railway at the Walker Art Gallery, an exhibition of the work of James Tissot at the Lady Lever Art Gallery and the 5th Liverpool Biennial. The maritime heritage of the city will be acknowledged through the Tall Ships event, the Cities on the Edge project involving links between the cities (and ports) of Naples, Marseilles, Bremen, Istanbul, Gdansk and the University of Liverpool’s Shipping Lines conference. Other high profile events will include the World Firefighter Games and a Strictly Come Dancing event.

As mentioned earlier the Creative Communities programme aims to provide a mass participation programme which will include Street Theatre and Public Art with aim of animating the streets.

International

A major objective of the Capital of Culture is for the city to reposition itself as a major international player and a premier European city. It aims to become a beacon for Britain and to provide a curtain raiser for the London 2012 Olympics. To do this it aims to become a centre of excellence in managing international relations and demands, to provide efficient and effective management, to build a cultural infrastructure and to increase the number of international visitors. Ironically this seems to be a greater challenge within the United Kingdom than internationally.

A major component of the internationalisation of the city is the enhancement of the tourist offer. This will focus on quality of experience and ease of access with three key themes, Music (as exemplified by the Beatles), World Heritage (as exemplified by the UNESCO World Heritage Waterfront) and the Liverpool08 Welcome using a large scale Volunteer programme which will build on the great success of the Manchester experience of volunteering for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. This will form an important element in the community engagement objective of the year. It will provide links with voluntary sector groups and partners, encourage the re-engagement of the longer term unemployed and enlist Merseyside wide support.

Wishing and Hoping…..

So Liverpool waits for the start of the long-awaited 2008 Capital of Culture. There have been many challenges and problems. The balance between high and popular culture, the balance between the use of city centre and suburban and local community venues, the balance between local and global staff and the need for a legacy not a one off extravaganza have been preeminent amongst the concerns. But what is not in doubt is the excitement and expectation of the people of Liverpool and the scale and ambition of the Culture Company. Why not give Liverpool a chance to welcome you to our great city in 2008?

Typology taken from Power Point Presentation by William Chambers

Meaning of the city

Liverpool European
Capital of Culture: Why?

Liverpool

Population

Continuous post-war decline to:

Deprivation

–        European Social Fund

–        European Regional Development Fund

Rise, Fall and Rise(?)

–        Port

–        Buildings, cultural and parks heritage

–        Institutions

–        Closure of industries

–        High unemployment

–        Militant reputation

–        Civil unrest

–        Turn to Europe

Liverpool
European Capital of Culture:  Why?

Objectives

Themed Years

Liverpool - European Capital of Culture

–        culture

–        High culture: exhibitions, concerts,

–        Community Sporting

–        Conferences and meetings

–        Roads ‘the Big Dig’

–        Retail regeneration: The Grosvenor

–        Landmarks:  Liverpool Arena, Liner Landing Stage

Sport

The Culture Company

Creative Communities

Success?

Regeneration

Highlights

Participation

International

Culture

Art

 

Professor William Chambers

Dean of Arts and Humanities

Pro Vice-Chancellor External Relations and Widening Participation

Provost of the Cornerstone Campus

Email: chambew@hope.ac.uk

Liverpool Hope University
http://www.hope.ac.uk
chambew@hope.ac.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

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