Liverpool? Culture judges got it wrong
Jan 16 2008 by Paul Loraine, The Journal
A NEW study has rated Newcastle as a more culturally active city than Liverpool – this year’s Capital of Culture.
The research measured the number of cultural venues per head of population.
Newcastle came 65th out of 325 places while its North-West rival for the Capital of Culture title, Liverpool, was ranked 124th in the country.
Tony Martin, chairman of locallife.co.uk, an internet directories network which put together the research, said: “Newcastle was favourite for the title of European Capital of Culture and it seems the city was wrongly overlooked.
“There has been heavy investment in the arts across Newcastle and cultural tourism is now worth almost £900m a year to the local economy.
“While Liverpool is a wonderfully vibrant city, when it comes to the blend of music, dance, theatre, film and literature, Newcastle is streets ahead of its Merseyside rival.”
The study measured the number of cultural venues, including art galleries, bookshops, museums and theatres, against every 10,000 residents.
Top of the study was Norwich, followed by Cambridge while the Isle of Man was deemed the most culturally destitute place in the UK.
Ailsa Anderson, culture manager at One NorthEast, said: “We have already seen the value of investment in cultural attractions in NewcastleGateshead with the city now boasting a number of new and exciting experiences for people both inside and outside the region.
“The focus of the attention now needs to be on those areas that don’t have the same level of cultural and leisure facilities, in order to attract investment to create vibrant city regions and help further promote North-East England as a fantastic place to live, work and study.”
Languishing in the bottom 10 towns and cities in the UK for culture were Sunderland and Middlesbrough.
But Grainne Sweeney, creative director at Sunderland Glass Centre, argued that the city was underrated as a cultural power.
She said: “We are averaging more than 150,000 visitors a year here. As far as we’re concerned, we fit alongside any cultural organisation or community.
“I think there’s a strong cultural thread running through Sunderland.
“I also feel that the cultural organisations in the city work together so that we reach diverse audiences.
“There is the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens and the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastic site, another project that’s brought the organisations together. We have an awful lot to offer.”
But locallife’s Mr Martin believed the gap between Newcastle and elsewhere in the region was clear.
He said: “The Angel of the North may have become a symbol of the North-East, but in the cultural stakes the region is far from homogenous.
“Investment in Newcastle’s cultural programme is so well developed, Sunderland and Middlesbrough can’t even begin to compete.”
Unconvinced by the methods used in compiling the league table, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art decided not to comment.
