{"id":12776,"date":"2022-09-01T17:51:50","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T16:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/?p=12776"},"modified":"2022-10-25T11:59:45","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T10:59:45","slug":"are-capital-cities-the-future-for-creatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/are-capital-cities-the-future-for-creatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Capital Cities The Future For Creatives?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is one of the UK\u2019s pertinent displacement issues \u2013 post-Brexit, post-pandemic, in percolating Tory Britain \u2013 still the brain drain to London? Belfast makes for an interesting case study. Northern Ireland\u2019s young people have long absconded elsewhere \u2013 whether that\u2019s because of <\/span>limited university places<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>job opportunities<\/span><\/a>, or post-conflict political turmoil. <\/span>Local think tank Pivotal<\/span><\/a> found that between 2018 and \u200b2019, two-thirds of NI students didn\u2019t return after graduating. Still, the pandemic and cost of living crisis has accelerated a boomerang effect on young people staying or returning home across the UK, and it\u2019s worth considering what the ongoing scattering and regrouping means for the future of creative communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is one of the UK\u2019s pertinent displacement issues still the brain drain to London?<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThere are quite unique barriers to growing creative hubs in Belfast, because of how Northern Ireland is set up,\u201d says Hall. \u201cThe creative landscape is impacted by the government and history. <\/span>The hustle of being an artist, promoter or a producer is particularly intense here. Even access to sound systems and the overheads are sky high here compared to other cities, because materials are so scarce and we\u2019re small. That\u2019s before even selling a ticket to an event to a club night.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Banana Block hopes to add to East Belfast\u2019s cultural heritage. The space has been supported by a Tourism Northern Ireland development grant, though doesn’t hold charitable status, making raising funds difficult. Though not unique to Belfast, funding and progressive policy are the bane of the region\u2019s creative communities. The night time economy is underfunded and under threat. <\/span>Free The Night NI<\/span><\/a> is fighting to change restrictive local licensing laws, which are some of the most archaic in Europe. The group is calling for post-Covid recovery plans, and protections for existing venues and nightclubs as places of cultural significance, like measures which already exist in Amsterdam and Berlin.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2015, after spending time in New York to research the queer ballroom scene, Hall brought a live performance called HOUSE to the MAC Belfast, and facilitated a cultural exchange with artists. <\/span>\u201cI am actually a big advocate for leaving here [Belfast],\u201d she says. \u201cI came back from New York with so many thoughts and intent to implement them here. It\u2019s rare here to have a singular artistic focus and longevity is difficult for exploring and expanding yourself. You want to pay your mortgage, while you also want to stay true to a creative practice. I find it hard to think of anyone who doesn\u2019t have a non creative day job or side hustle. It\u2019s tough.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut I feel positive, you know?\u201d she continues. \u201cI\u2019ve realised you can do so much with so little, and sometimes that has even more potency. We can always create places that bring artists together. We take risks \u2013 we\u2019re scrappier here! We\u2019ve more space to explore things outside of the creative norms, more opportunity to defy expectations of a wee place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve more space to explore things outside of the creative norms<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unlike most major European countries, the UK\u2019s cultural, social, and political frameworks are built around the capital. The magnetic pull for creatives to London is clear, thanks to regional imbalances on everything from arts funding to the location of cultural institutions. There have been moves to offset this \u2013 earlier this year, a government plan to allocate \u00a375 million in cultural <\/span>funding to communities outside of London<\/span><\/a> was announced. The plan includes an \u00a38 million pot incentive for organisations to relocate or expand outside of the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

Creativity can easily be co-opted by capitalism. In London, as in most Western capital cities, since the \u201870s one of the most acute manifestations of this has been waves of gentrification. Whether it\u2019s Peckham or Hackney (or even once upon a time, pockets of West London), the script for this tends to go something like: artists and creatives (from typically white, suburban backgrounds) begin living and working in a \u2018deprived\u2019 area, attracted by cheap rents and studio spaces. They open cafes, art spaces, and bars, creating a buzz that attracts a more monied, typically more corporate class. This popularity in turn starts to push rents and house prices up, as landlords seek to benefit from the new demand. The gentrification process can happen gradually, or at lightspeed, in a matter of a few years, but the result is usually the same: long-term residents become victims of an area\u2019s \u2018success\u2019, priced out of a place they\u2019ve always called home.<\/span><\/p>\n

Long-term residents become victims of an area\u2019s \u2018success\u2019<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been such a widespread culturalization and aestheticization of urban lifestyles that artists no longer have to show the middle and upper-class gentrifiers how to live,\u201d sociologist Sharon Zukin notes. Yet the idea of the artist-as-gentrifier still holds weight, even if it\u2019s is a trope that <\/span>doesn\u2019t reflect the nuance of gentrification<\/span><\/a>. Art influences gentrification, and gentrification influences art \u2013 what art we value, who can be an artist, who has access to art institutions. London\u2019s born and bred cultures \u2013 namely, Black communities \u2013 have historically been physically policed and censored, from the grime of Tower Hamlets to <\/span>the drill<\/span><\/a> of Brixton, while concurrently, commercial creative hubs proliferate. Capitalism co-opts what it can imitate and sanitise \u2013 here, it\u2019s marginalised people\u2019s culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Artists can reckon with and participate in the fight against gentrification. <\/span>In 2017, community organisers in Los Angeles developed, <\/span>An Artists\u2019 Guide to Not Being Complicit with Gentrification<\/span><\/a>, that touches on housing activism, education, and restorative justice. Gentrification is a process born out of capitalism, and romanticising and bolstering a creative capital megacentre is at the detriment of both London-born and London-new artists.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2017, Somerset House\u2019s <\/span>North: Fashioning Identity<\/span><\/i> exhibition celebrated the multiplicity of northern England\u2019s fashion, photography, music and film, and how it sculpts what we understand as British style, attitude, and social stratum today. A slow-growing recognition of the impact of long-rooted histories across the isles continues.<\/span><\/p>\n

Artists can reckon with and participate in the fight against gentrification<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThere’s so much history and tradition in Wales in terms of textiles and clothing, as well as a really fun cultural legacy to take inspiration from,\u201d says fashion designer <\/span>Rosie Evans<\/span><\/a>, whose Welsh heritage shines through in her ‘high fantasy’ brand, which uses secondhand textiles and vintage fabrics in genderless corsets and garments. Plastic fruit packaging collected from the Cardiff food market is used in some of her corset boning, and kilts give a historical dimension to contemporary pieces. Her work hopscotches from tradition to future-thinking. \u201cI think coming from somewhere with such a rich cultural history never leaves you, I’m never going to stop being Welsh no matter where I am. Being able to connect with other Welsh creatives outside of Wales is really important too, we always find each other, like a Welsh network.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Evans moved from South Wales to Brighton, where her studio is now based, and is part of sustainable fashion collective Artwear. \u201cI’ve found Brighton has really helped my creative practice and my brand, there’s a big sustainable fashion scene in Brighton,\u201d she says. \u201cThere’s a sense of community I don’t know if I’d find in other parts of England. I think it helps that it’s a smaller city. I chose to move to Brighton because of its closeness to London, but I honestly don’t go up as much as I thought I would, I think because I’ve found such a great community.\u201d Fashion East grads James Theseus Buck and Luke Brooks’s label, <\/span>Rottingdean Bazaar<\/span><\/a>, has stamped the London fashion industry with their surrealist vision, all from their base in the East Sussex village Rottingdean. <\/span>\u201cHow can creatives succeed in a city that drains every last penny out of you, unless you already grew up there, or are well off enough that it’s not an issue?\u201d she says. <\/span><\/p>\n

Media coverage of creative scenes continues to grow holistically, from <\/span>Boiler Room\u2019s documentaries on hyper localised genres like North East England’s Makina<\/span><\/a>, to thriving regional independent media \u2013 <\/span>Belfast-based <\/span>Tangerine<\/span><\/i><\/a> is a literary magazine that champions the works of burgeoning authors from Susannah Dickey to Padraig Regan, and <\/span>LAW<\/span><\/i> Magazine\u2019s<\/span><\/a> patchwork banner collaboration with Sadie Williams featured patches from contributors inspired by their hometown folklore across the British Isles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bristol was our hometown and it offered something unique to us to grow<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t set out to deliberately start a creative business outside of London, but Bristol was our hometown and it offered something unique to us to grow,\u201d says Jake Applebee, the co-founder of <\/span>CRACK<\/span><\/i>. The 13-year-old magazine is free to pick up and is distributed across Europe, with offices in Bristol, London and Berlin. \u201cThe creative community was inclusive and supportive [in Bristol], and it felt you could quite quickly make an impact and find purpose. Our voice as a result had a different perspective that sat outside of the majority of our industry peers which helped form our identity in the beginning.\u201d It remains pretty radical to see a creative platform that \u2013 while championing the music, culture, and surrounding communities of the UK\u2019s capital city \u2013 resists defaulting to London. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTechnology has enabled anyone to have a global voice now, the barriers associated with location are diminishing,\u201d says Applebee. In the last few months,<\/span> CRACK<\/span><\/i><\/a> has run events in Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, London, and Bristol, and is involved in the curation of Bristol\u2019s <\/span>Simple Things Festival<\/span><\/a>. \u201cWe have staff working across Berlin, Barcelona, London, and Bristol so our working practice has evolved quite a bit. But face to face collaboration and contact are still essential in forming lasting relationships, so you have to make sure that still forms a strong part of your working practice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen Manchester as a city put more and more money into culture and building infrastructure to support creative communities,\u201d says <\/span>Kemi Alemoru<\/span><\/a>, the Manchester-born, London-based culture editor of gal-dem and a freelance culture journalist for<\/span> The Guardian<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>GQ<\/span><\/i>, and other titles. Over the years, Alemoru has hosted events and curated programming at Manchester International Festival and London\u2019s Soho House. Her home city will see the opening of The Factory later in 2022, a huge exhibition space funded by the city council and government.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Factory will provide apprenticeships and a major training centre for local people seeking to work across the creative industries. <\/span>Over the next five years it is expected to <\/span>create up to 1,400 fully funded skills and training places<\/span><\/a>, providing an entry point to work in the creative industries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turning heads in London can feel easier than Leeds<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cTurning heads in London can feel easier than Leeds,\u201d Alemoru says. \u201cGal-dem is all about the people you don\u2019t hear much from. I think about the diasporas, regional voices. Often, when I\u2019m commissioning a story I have to think about those layers of identity. If it\u2019s Black History Month, where are those voices from outside of London and what are they saying differently, what\u2019s their experience?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLabour\u2019s arts manifesto was so important,\u201d she says. \u201cThey offered clarity on funding local arts. One city can\u2019t be the epicentre of money, arts, creative jobs. We need to have the same access to exhibitions, cutting edge technology and opportunities to grow and tell our stories, in our areas. I\u2019m not really up for always performing being Northern.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Talent House<\/span><\/a>, a thriving new creative hub located in Stratford, East London, opened last month. A collaboration between <\/span>UD<\/span><\/a> and East London Dance, it is a space and resource for young people with dance studios, rehearsal, education and events spaces. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last 20 years, UD has seen the potential for excellence in every young person we’ve encountered,\u201d says <\/span>Pamela McCormick, UD\u2019s founder and CEO.<\/span> \u201cWe\u2019ve witnessed first-hand that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not, and so we are proud to have worked with and supported the journeys and careers of thousands of young people, many of whom are from east London.\u201d UD\u2019s work has meant nurturing artists like Little Simz.<\/span><\/p>\n

The need for a \u2018think local, act global\u2019 approach<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe are unique to east London, but we work alongside many cultural hubs across the UK, all with the single ambition of raising the aspirations of young people regardless of where they live and what their background is. We believe that cultural hubs \u2013 many of which have been part of cultural and economic regeneration projects \u2013 have the potential to transform societies, connect and strengthen local communities, and provide quality opportunities through creativity for young people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One common thread that ran through all the very different conversations I had for this article was the need for a \u2018think local, act global\u2019 approach. This is how we create diverse, accessible creative communities, that acknowledge and engage with their locality, how it\u2019s limited and liberated. Right now, we\u2019re at an exciting intersection for opening up the creative industries regardless of physical location, and for the celebration of all layers of creative identity. The enduring spirit of organisations like NTS and collectives like No Signal are testament to that \u2013 calling in global diasporas while celebrating their home turf. And as Belfast\u2019s Banana Block affirms, peeling back the layers to meet surprising enclaves for original, creative work is always sweet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More: Ortigia Sound System: A Family Affair<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a post-pandemic landscape of spiralling rents and costs, Anna Cafolla considers the changing relationship between creatives, capital cities, and regional places.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":13286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12776"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12776"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13288,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12776\/revisions\/13288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}