The light at the end?

Phil Redmond is a Scouser through and through. Neither the crackly mobile phone line, as he raced from one ‘happening’ to another, nor his laid-back delivery could disguise the pride he has in the city of Liverpool, which, as he reminds us, “was once the richest city on earth. What’s going on is a reaffirmation and a reminder to everybody about what a cultural city and centre this has always been.” He believes that the European Capital of Culture 2008 will revive people’s belief in the greatness of the city, both in the outside world and, perhaps more crucially, among the people of Liverpool itself. He enthuses about the way that the programmes of regeneration, education and participation are “giving young people confidence in themselves and in the city and that is a new future for Liverpool”. He cites Generation 21 as an example, a project which involved 56 primary schools in a creative project imagining the future of their city.

He claims that the project is way ahead of itself. “We predicted that an extra two million people would experience cultural events across the year,” he says. “In actual fact that figure’s now up to five million… The Tate has seen a 51% increase in box office this year, which is the highest level of attendance since it opened 20 years ago. The Maritime Museum is the same: 60% increase in box office and the highest level since that opened over 30 years ago.”

Managing the process

But Redmond is not just a numbers machine. As Deputy Chair, responsible for Creative Direction, he has had to face conflict and difficulty, both in settling management issues and combating negative media stereotypes. “When I took over last September, the BBC already had a task force in place to look at a three-week sporting occasion in 2012,” he points out ruefully. “They had nobody looking at the United Kingdom’s award of the Capital of Culture. So I’ve been trying to get them to catch up.” The high-profile departure of Robyn Archer as Artistic Director in July 2006 left the rest of the UK bracing themselves for disaster. Harking back to that time, Redmond sounds extremely relaxed. “I spent the first six months of my tenure reminding everybody that every other Capital of Culture has gone through exactly the same phase,” he explains. He points to research undertaken by Robert Palmer, who ran the Glasgow Capital of Culture project. “He was commissioned by the [European] Union to look at these things, and every single one does exactly the same thing. Everyone comes together at the beginning, then it all falls apart. …All that’s in the past.” There have been funding worries (he says this was a City Council issue, and “the cultural budget was absolutely secure”) and potential political hi-jacking during the local elections. [[giving young people confidence in themselves and in the city]]

The future

His job now is to continue the successes of the programme, in ways which he characterises as “creative leadership, collegiate working, umbrella marketing of the whole project and enhanced funding for the cultural institutions”. He aims to lever funding from the DCMS and the European Regional Development Fund to support a new strategy looking forward to 2009/10. He claims that the recent visit to the city by EU President Barroso confirmed the EU’s recognition that “Liverpool has the most successful cultural programme since they initiated the programme 30 years ago.” He attributes this largely to “the participation/educational side of the programme, which I think has been delivering the most benefit to everybody”. He says that kids, schools and young people have “suddenly realised that culture is something that you can enjoy, some-thing that can change your opinion and changes other people’s opinions. That’s also given them confidence to go down and experience things that are happening in what is sometimes known as the ‘Arts Citadel’.”

Liverpool’s cultural infrastructure has been substantially enhanced by the building of new venues – the £12m Bluecoat, the Arena and the new Museum of Liverpool, currently under construction at the Albert Dock. “Collegiate working is not just to do with how the theatre, the Philharmonic and the museums all work together,” Redmond explains. “It’s also how commercial theatre links into that.” He is full of enthusiasm for the Arena, which he calls “a huge cultural asset”, and which “has brought nearly every single cultural sector of our society to Liverpool to hold their annual conferences. You have the opinion-formers, the influence-makers coming together in one city, and they’re seeing the wider cultural offering.”

Scouse wisdom

I asked him what advice he would give to future directors of European Capitals of Culture. Redmond laughs, and advises: “keeping the politics out of it – that’s with a small p. Politicians can be supportive, but everybody has to realise that anything high profile is going to generate politics.” He believes in trusting the creative team to deliver, “…and let all the other agencies wrap themselves around it”. He doesn’t have a problem explaining what the scheme means to Liverpool. “At the end of that opening weekend, I told everyone it would be broader, deeper and wider – the Guardian in particular was struggling with that. But the Scousers know exactly what I mean!”