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Thread: Culture Company Incompetence

  1. #31
    Senior Member Jericho's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by geoffrey View Post
    Ha. The Daily Post aren't letting it drop. Good for them!

    No, it's just spreading its usual disinformation. Still, I suppose we can thank the DP and Echo for saving the Mathew Street Festival, and congratulate them on their unbiased reporting of Everton's choices for a new stadium.



    Oh, and I'm sure they didn't want to make a mountain out of a molehill over the delay in installing the landing stage.


  2. #32
    Senior Member AK1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jericho View Post
    No, it's just spreading its usual disinformation. Still, I suppose we can thank the DP and Echo for saving the Mathew Street Festival, and congratulate them on their unbiased reporting of Everton's choices for a new stadium.

    Oh, and I'm sure they didn't want to make a mountain out of a molehill over the delay in installing the landing stage.

    I agree jericho. The echo and daily post have an alarming tendancy to blow things out of proportion and it sometimes feels like they want COC to be a failure. The landing stage article was a typical example. They made it sound like it is way behind schedule, only for in the last paragraph it to say that the contractors are on schedule. It is very concerning.

  3. #33
    kat2
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    I dunno, could we not say that they are highlighting an issue before it becomes a Major problem? and perhaps they are listening to the public and like all news agencys take up the voice of the people, what would have happend had both publications not said anything at all? They have high lighted a problem before it becomes a major embrassment.
    News papers are very good at creating debate
    kat
    oh and lets not forget *grin* it sells papers too

  4. #34
    Senior Member AK1's Avatar
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    Your right Kat, but it's the way they say it. They could still highlight the problem without making it sound like the end of the world. I think they need to take more care when highlighting an issue and stop scaremongering.

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    Increasingly it all looks to me like a dog's breakfast coming up. Hope ya'll have a good appetite.
    Look, if they screw up on this one I throw the towel in. I have spent decades extolling the virtues of Liverpool and its citizens; I have defended it right the way through.
    But like I say, if they screw up on the best chance we have had to phoenix-like resurrect our city, I will just suffer in silence (you'll be pleased to hear).
    War is the terrorism of the rich... Terrorism is the war of the poor. - Peter Ustinov

  6. #36
    Senior Member AK1's Avatar
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    Another example is the headline on todays daily post: Culture in Crisis? This doesn't help and I think it's a complete over-reaction. Just because the Mathew Street festival has been reduced in size, this means that COC is in crisis? This kind of press coverage is really concerning me. What is someone from outside Liverpool going to think when they see headlines like this?
    We are slowly turning people away from this city and our COC celebrations. I have a genuine fear that COC will now be a failure, not because of the council, but because of the media and ourselves. We need to get behind COC and make people realise that it's going to be one of the best years in Liverpool's history, but I doubt this will happen. We have a tendancy in this city of shooting ourselves in the foot, this could become one of those times.
    I do agree with the point that alot of people don't know what exactly is happening in 2008, but this could be easily solved with some creative national advertising in papers and on television. The concil aren't thinking on a big enough scale. COC is a huge year long celebration which deserves international attention, not just some events listed in the local newspaper.
    We need to stop all this negative talk and celebrate our birthday and COC with the kind of pride you don't see in other cities.
    If we don't, next year could be become one of the worst in our history.

  7. #37
    Senior Member geoffrey's Avatar
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    I think there's enough in place from organizations that aren't the culture company to make it worth a trip for visitors at least so I think it's not going to be a fiasco on a national scale.

    It really gets up my nose though when councillors come on and say we should move forward and stop carping. It's as if we shouldn't bother our pretty little heads about the important stuff.

    We're not halfwits who can't do two things at once - be positive about our city and ask questions about those running it.

  8. #38
    Senior Member AK1's Avatar
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    The problem is Geoffrey, there aren't many people being positive about it anymore. I am genuinelly concerned.

  9. #39
    Senior Member geoffrey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AK1 View Post
    The problem is Geoffrey, there aren't many people being positive about it anymore. I am genuinelly concerned.
    I agree with that AK1. I'm concerned too. I think that is not unconnected with the 'crisis' we're discussing - that people have questions that are being sidelined and don't feel involved.

    I'm very positive about it and want to come out of this 'crisis' with something better than a patched up version of what we've had up to now.

    It's an opportunity I wouldn't have wished for but an opportunity nonetheless. Sadly the council seem only interested in diverting blame.

  10. #40
    Senior Member Howie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AK1 View Post
    Another example is the headline on todays daily post: Culture in Crisis? This doesn't help and I think it's a complete over-reaction.
    Quite right - we weren't that bothered about the threats to Creamfields, Parr St. Studios, Quiggins, Summer Pops, The Picket, etc. (and the 'Cloud' was crap). Why should we be bothered about the Mathew St. Festival? Let's look on the bright side - at least when we've lost EFC to Kirkby you won't be able to get a tram to see them.

  11. #41
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    The council should concentrate on getting this mess cleared up, finding those to blame and dealing with them. Then we can forget about it and start being more positive and seeing some clear direction from the council on what next year is all about and how it will happen. I am addamant that the council need to think on a bigger scale. I would like to see some intense national advertising to explain and promote COC that will bring people to Liverpool next year.
    COC is a huge event that deserves huge attention.

  12. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by Howie View Post
    Quite right - we weren't that bothered about the threats to Creamfields, Parr St. Studios, Quiggins, Summer Pops, The Picket, etc. (and the 'Cloud' was crap). Why should we be bothered about the Mathew St. Festival? Let's look on the bright side - at least when we've lost EFC to Kirkby you won't be able to get a tram to see them.
    Are you being sarcastic Howie? If you are, I'm not saying that we shouldn't be bothered about the scaled down MSF, I'm saying that just because this has happened, it doesn't mean that COC is in crisis.

  13. #43
    Senior Member geoffrey's Avatar
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    Capital of Culture - Great

    Liverpool Culture Company - a different thing and Crap

  14. #44
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    Quote Originally Posted by geoffrey View Post
    Capital of Culture - Great

    Liverpool Culture Company - a different thing and Crap
    AGREED!

  15. #45
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    Default Culture in crisis?: Day Two (IC Liverpool)

    THE art-world high-flyers who make up the board of the Liverpool Culture Company were last night described as “toothless” by a leading opposition politician.

    The board members rub shoulders with famous figures in the cultural world, as well as leading government ministers.

    But none of them appeared to know the Mathew Street Festival was about to collapse, despite it being an event now run by the very Culture Company whose board they sit on.

    Like many ordinary people, they found out when the council issued a notice saying the flagship event had been scrapped.

    Board chairman Professor Drummond Bone, vice- chancellor of the University of Liverpool, admitted he had not known beforehand, and other board members also said they were in the dark.

    It has begged the question – who then is in charge of the Liverpool Culture Company? The answer clearly is the senior directors led by £150,000-a-year chief executive Jason Harborow, 37.

    But an even bigger question is how their work is monitored and controlled?

    Ironically, Professor Bone streamlined the board in 2006 to ensure its members were more in touch with plans for 2008.

    The original membership of 25 was cut to 15 – now reduced to 14 following the resignation of Labour leader Joe Anderson.

    Half of the original membership departed, with two new recruits: were brought in, TV mogul Phil Redmond and BBC Radio Merseyside presenter Roger Phillips.

    Prof Bone had planned to go even further by selecting individual board members to chair specific task groups, to ensure the board kept a finger on the pulse at all times. That arrangement never happened.

    Cllr Anderson fears the way the Culture Company is set-up is hard to control and monitor.

    He said: “We have to ask ourselves whether we created a sort of Frankenstein that we cannot control. I resigned for very good reasons, particularly the fact that I felt uncomfortable that the board had no control over what was happening.”

    Cllr Anderson has vowed to disband the Liverpool Culture Company if and when Labour regain control at the town hall.

    But for now the city has to continue with the remainder of its 800th birthday year and the whole of the 2008 cultural programme.

    Labour’s deputy leader Paul Brant said the Culture board appears to be powerless when it comes to influencing or laying down the law to the Culture Company. “It seems that not only is the board toothless, it doesn’t even have any gums. It seems to serve little purpose,” said the barrister.

    So confusing was the relationship between the Culture Company and the city council that lawyers had to be brought in to work out a legal document to lay down how they spoke to each other.

    The Memorandum of Understanding, overseen by one of Manchester’s top law firms, Eversheds, was drawn up and signed in 2006 to clarify that crucial relationship.

    Leading city figures saw the move as a clear indication the relationship between politicians and those at the head of the Culture Company had hit a low.

    The agreement made it clear the city council itself was legally responsible for the functions of the Culture Company and for disbursing the funding.

    It was made clear the Culture Company board was set up to act in an advisory capacity, working towards creating wider participation by stakeholders.

    The document stated that the chief executive – Jason Harborow – is responsible for its functions as a company. So who scrutinises his work and that of his fellow directors?

    The Culture Company is technically answerable to both the city council and the city’s Culture Select Committee.

    But that, according to deputy Lord Mayor Steve Rotheram, a member of the committee, simply doesn’t work. Cllr Rotheram, due to be Lord Mayor at the height of 2008, says politicians raising critical questions in the committee are accused of being negative.

    He said he has fears about the success of other events organised by the Culture Company, following the Mathew Street shambles.

    “We just cannot afford another Mathew Street, but I have to admit that I am fearful about what other disasters lie ahead of us.

    “This is our birthday year, a year that was billed as a dress rehearsal for 2008 and most people in the city will say they have been underwhelmed.”

    Cllr Rotheram now wants a new all-party scrutiny committee especially to keep an eye on the cultural ball - making sure events don’t ever hit problems.

    “We have constantly tried to raise questions at the scrutiny committee about events, including the Mathew Street festival, but we have never been given any answers. Instead, we have been accused of being negative. Now I wish we had pressed even harder for answers.

    “I am less confident than ever about our cultural year. If the Mathew Street festival was cancelled on health and safety grounds, what about the programme of non- ticketed events we have programmed in the coming 15 months – will they too be called off at the last minute?”

    What has raised eyebrows is the amount of money being poured into theLiverpool’s culture programme.

    By the time the culture year comes to an end, next year it will have cost, since 2003/4, more than £107m. Of that total, around £69m will have come from the city council, adding to the burden on council tax payers.

    Grants from bodies such as the NWDA and the Arts Council will have amounted to almost £31m and just £7.2m will have come from private sponsorship.

    In 2005 Jason Harborow predicted that millions of pounds were likely to be pledged within months and it was said at the time that at least £20m was needed from the private sector to fund the 08 ambitions.

    The Culture Company was looking at 12 sponsors, each pledging £2m in cash and benefits in kind.

    So far, 10 main sponsors have been signed up, including the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, and talks are continuing to find the other two.

    But the hard cash is lower than had been anticipated, adding to the desperate race by the council to plug a £20m funding gap of more than £20m next year.

    Earlier this summer, Tessa Jowell visited Liverpool, just before Gordon Brown’s reshuffle, and announced the Government would not offer another penny to Liverpool Culture Company.

    Talks with Whitehall are still going on; though at best they will allow the city to borrow the extra money. Estimates suggest repaying such a loan could cost 1% extra on council tax bills for five years.

    So who looks after the purse- strings at the Liverpool Culture Company?

    While the Culture company itself decides on the artistic programme, the rules state the council will make sure there is full responsibility and accountability for the funding of programmes and other expenditure. There are supposed to be regular reports to the executive board as well as to the scrutiny committees. Financial performance and accountability is the function of Phil Halsall, the city’s executive director for resources – effectively the town hall treasurer.

    The Culture Company’s finance manager is tasked with producing monthly reports on what is being spent. The council also has the authority to conduct periodic auditing and check the annual accounts. But the procurement process – from hiring artists to booking facilities for events – is a duty solely of the Culture Company.

    This year, the Culture Company’s wage bill will be £4.2m for a staff of about 100, rising again next year. The total from Over its lifespan from 2003 to 2008 the total wage bill will amount to around £16m.

    It seems an age ago since the Liverpool culture bid’s dream- team were unveiled with so much promise of great things to come: University of California graduate Kris Donaldson, who had been involved in the sponsorship campaign for the Sydney Olympics in 2000; Mr Harborow, former commercial manager of the Manchester Commonwealth Games; and Millennium Dome commercial manager Kevin Johnson as the first chief operating officer.

    Liverpool, it seemed, had struck Olympic gold. “We needed a top team and we have got just that,” said a culture insider at the time.

    But Mr Johnson was gone within weeks for “family reasons”, an early sign of the problems which would follow.

    Whether Liverpool’s cultural gold is now turning to dust remains to be seen.
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