The town we love so well
A programme of cultural activity, drawing on Derry’s links with Saint Colmcille, Brian Friel, The Undertones and other significant cultural themes, has been drafted in a bid to win the UK City of Culture 2013 title, writes Meadhbh Monahan.
The winning city will be one that is able to deliver a substantial programme of cultural activity which leads to a “demonstrable step-change in their area, and a lasting legacy,” according to a spokesman from UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which shortlisted Derry, Norwich, Birmingham and Sheffield for the title. It would then be in a strong position to stage shows such as Sports Personality of the Year, the Turner Prize and the Brit Awards.
Until recently two-thirds of the city was derelict as a result of conflict and economic underperformance. Derry City Council believes that if it wins the bid, the city will benefit from an 18 per cent growth in residential visitors and a 20 per cent growth in day trippers in 2013 and 2014.
The council’s Director of Development, Oonagh McGillion says: “There’s a great energy and vibe in the city presently and everyone is talking about the richness of our cultural talent and how 2013 is our year. We will galvanise this air of confidence and self belief and translate it into the winning bid.”
Winning the title would raise the city’s international profile and McGillion adds that: “as part of our legacy we want to achieve the recognition of a must-see European destination city.”
As well as improving the city’s image, winning could bring new infrastructure developments, job creation and a growth in creative industries.
The bid recognises that the city has experienced conflict and that sections are divided between the Catholic and Protestant communities. It pledges that “a programme of joyous celebration and purposeful inquiry” will be held, whereby debates and discussions will deal with “multiple stories of identify, conflict and divisions.” Indeed, the bid recognises the city’s links to institutions such as the London Guilds and the Apprentice Boys of Derry, and buildings such as the Museum of Free Derry, the Guildhall and St Columb’s Cathedral.
An urban regeneration project worth £100 million is currently underway and will include the restoration of key civic buildings, an extensive public art programme and the development of new cultural spaces and facilities at the Ebrington and Fort George barracks.
Structured around the themes of ‘people, place and past to future’, suggestions in the bid include: encouraging the diaspora to return; using the river as a cultural asset by hosting a water-based ‘theatre spectacular’ telling the story of Colmcille; carrying the 2012 Olympic torch from Derry to Glasgow; hosting the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann which is traditionally held in the Republic; having The Undertones and other local musicians perform at a ‘legacy concert’; celebrating the four-hundredth anniversary of the Plantation of Ulster and the building of the Walled City by the livery companies of London; and inviting cultural representatives from countries throughout the world who have experienced conflict to live and work in Derry in 2013.
Girls Aloud singer Nadine Coyle who hails from the city is among the famous names supporting the bid. She said: “Derry’s a beautiful city. When you go away and come back, you can see it for how beautiful it really is.”
Seamus Heaney, one of the city’s most famous patrons, wrote in the executive summary of the bid: “It is good to know that ‘the town we love so well’ [is being proposed] as the 2013 City of Culture. Even in darker times, there was always something tonic about the spirit of the people here, but prospects of a better future have strengthened resolve, and signs of progress are evident in all spheres of life, not least in the cultural area, where the presence of a world dramatist like Brian Friel is a source of pride and enterprise, and the legacy of the great John Hume is inspiring and pervasive.”
