The Brits aren't coming to Derry says Redmond
Phil Redmond was inÌýDerry today to workshop ideas for UK City of Culture 2013. He met up with the steering group of ILEX, the urban regeneration company responsible for the year. I told himÌýhe was like a helicopter parent, hovering over his baby, soothing and reassuring! He laughed!!
So quick update, he's over to rid the team of the "fear". He knows how great that fear can be, having run Liverpool. The thingÌýhe wants the Derry team to hang onto are the core principles of the original bid - what the city has uniquely and the all important "step change".
He also said that while the recent announcement of the Turner coming to town in 2013 is there, it doesn't follow on that the other major arts events will come too. The Man BookerÌýmay, but the Brits and the Baftas probably won't. It was hard, he says, to get the ones in London up the road to Liverpool when he was running the Capital of Culture and it had a direct train route, so getting them across the water to Derry might be even tougher.
He's pragmatic, as always. Listen here to the rest of what we talked about on Arts Extra tonight.Ìý
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Comment number 1.
At 30th Nov 2010, alaninbelfast wrote:Caught the interview in the car on the way back into Belfast. At least he still hinted that there were ways of linking Derry to the awards. So nothing to stop a bit of creative thinking and holding a Brits party in Derry with one or two bands performing remotely, and getting Derry artists involved in prize-giving etc. Lots of ways of doing something that would be practical and build sustainable interest in the city and its talents.
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