I seem to have been surrounded by the arts festivals these past few weeks.
The Edinburgh International Festival 2013 programme was launched last week so the talk around town is which hot tickets we've all got. It is now supposedly spring but with all this snow, wind and rain, this is good cheerful and 'sunny' talk. Much is being speculated as to whether George Street will again be closed to allow for the Spiegeltent to be put up, and for the street to be transformed into an al fresco buzzing clinking street come July. This is Edinburgh getting ready to prove its place as the world's biggest arts and culture city, hosting a dozen or so Arts Festivals during July/August. The museums and galleries will be competing to put on exhibitions to showcase Scottish artists.
While I was in the UAE last week I attended the opening of the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival - the Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra performed at the sumptuous Emirates Palace Hotel auditorium with much glitz and fireworks. This Festival will also host Placido Domingo, the Czech Philharmonic, Josua Bell and plenty of other musical glitterati. Art Dubai opened a few days later at the Madinat Jumeirah, now a massive collection of galleries and artists' exhibitions which has become a thriving social ticket for residents and guests from all over the world. The Sharjah Emirate up the road is busy building up its own Biennial. There are so many gallery openings in Dubai and Abu Dhabi you could spend almost every evening reception hopping. I was disappointed not to have had time during a business trip to Doha a fortnight ago to visit the Museum of Islamic Art - now the centre of attraction in the arts, architecture and design worlds. Of course Abu Dhabi is busy building its own Guggenheim and Louvre.
AT Kearney's Global Cities Index measures global engagement and influence of cities around the world across 25 metrics over five dimensions. They allocate a weighting of 15% to cultural experience. The other four dimensions are business activity, human capital, information exchange and political engagement - with the maximum weighting is 30%. One of the eight dimensions measured by the Economic Intelligence Unit's annual Cities Competitiveness Index is Social and Cultural Character (along with business, talent and environmental dimensions). FutureBrand's Country Brand Index places considerable weight on Quality of Life, and Heritage and Culture as two of its five dimensions.
As cities and countries battle to remain competitive in order to encourage inward investment and retain talent, they need to maximise every strength they have in order to provide the right quality of life, educational and institutional infrastructure, sense of safety and security. Culture is a great ticket and a powerful reputational base.
Improving education, financial systems, security and employment environments requires a careful balance of the three planks of innovation, creativity and compliance. Regulations are mostly set at national international level and some (most notably the EU) at a regional level. This leaves little room for creativity at city level. But regulatory constraints in building a strong and thriving cultural environment are less onerous and so allow more freedom for cities to excel and differentiate themselves. Cities with a strategic mindset, deep pockets and access to generous philanthropists can nurture an arts and cultural environment which help win over visitors and potential incomers. I'm slightly uncomfortable about the suggested social engineering aspects of this but will leave this for another time...
Meanwhile, cities with established arts and cultural heritage (Edinburgh, Rio de Janeiro, Saltzburg, Berlin) need to maintain their respective leading positions. Festivals contribute considerably to city economies and above all, city reputations. They stimulate growth in the public, retail, leisure and hospitality sectors and help employers recruit. Running Festivals is becoming big business - with a whole new set of reputation risks, opportunities, partnership programmes, political dimensions... The Edinburgh Cultural Summit which took place between the Olympics and the Edinburgh Festival brought in 48 Culture Ministers to the city. Edinburgh has been rather smart in building partnerships between all the Festival Boards and Trusts, with the City Council, with Government cultural bodies, while reaching out to Festivals around the world to build new relationships and joint ventures.
Who knew that enjoying the arts and having so much fun could be so useful?
The Edinburgh International Festival 2013 programme was launched last week so the talk around town is which hot tickets we've all got. It is now supposedly spring but with all this snow, wind and rain, this is good cheerful and 'sunny' talk. Much is being speculated as to whether George Street will again be closed to allow for the Spiegeltent to be put up, and for the street to be transformed into an al fresco buzzing clinking street come July. This is Edinburgh getting ready to prove its place as the world's biggest arts and culture city, hosting a dozen or so Arts Festivals during July/August. The museums and galleries will be competing to put on exhibitions to showcase Scottish artists.
While I was in the UAE last week I attended the opening of the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival - the Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra performed at the sumptuous Emirates Palace Hotel auditorium with much glitz and fireworks. This Festival will also host Placido Domingo, the Czech Philharmonic, Josua Bell and plenty of other musical glitterati. Art Dubai opened a few days later at the Madinat Jumeirah, now a massive collection of galleries and artists' exhibitions which has become a thriving social ticket for residents and guests from all over the world. The Sharjah Emirate up the road is busy building up its own Biennial. There are so many gallery openings in Dubai and Abu Dhabi you could spend almost every evening reception hopping. I was disappointed not to have had time during a business trip to Doha a fortnight ago to visit the Museum of Islamic Art - now the centre of attraction in the arts, architecture and design worlds. Of course Abu Dhabi is busy building its own Guggenheim and Louvre.
AT Kearney's Global Cities Index measures global engagement and influence of cities around the world across 25 metrics over five dimensions. They allocate a weighting of 15% to cultural experience. The other four dimensions are business activity, human capital, information exchange and political engagement - with the maximum weighting is 30%. One of the eight dimensions measured by the Economic Intelligence Unit's annual Cities Competitiveness Index is Social and Cultural Character (along with business, talent and environmental dimensions). FutureBrand's Country Brand Index places considerable weight on Quality of Life, and Heritage and Culture as two of its five dimensions.
As cities and countries battle to remain competitive in order to encourage inward investment and retain talent, they need to maximise every strength they have in order to provide the right quality of life, educational and institutional infrastructure, sense of safety and security. Culture is a great ticket and a powerful reputational base.
Improving education, financial systems, security and employment environments requires a careful balance of the three planks of innovation, creativity and compliance. Regulations are mostly set at national international level and some (most notably the EU) at a regional level. This leaves little room for creativity at city level. But regulatory constraints in building a strong and thriving cultural environment are less onerous and so allow more freedom for cities to excel and differentiate themselves. Cities with a strategic mindset, deep pockets and access to generous philanthropists can nurture an arts and cultural environment which help win over visitors and potential incomers. I'm slightly uncomfortable about the suggested social engineering aspects of this but will leave this for another time...
Meanwhile, cities with established arts and cultural heritage (Edinburgh, Rio de Janeiro, Saltzburg, Berlin) need to maintain their respective leading positions. Festivals contribute considerably to city economies and above all, city reputations. They stimulate growth in the public, retail, leisure and hospitality sectors and help employers recruit. Running Festivals is becoming big business - with a whole new set of reputation risks, opportunities, partnership programmes, political dimensions... The Edinburgh Cultural Summit which took place between the Olympics and the Edinburgh Festival brought in 48 Culture Ministers to the city. Edinburgh has been rather smart in building partnerships between all the Festival Boards and Trusts, with the City Council, with Government cultural bodies, while reaching out to Festivals around the world to build new relationships and joint ventures.
Who knew that enjoying the arts and having so much fun could be so useful?
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