Aberdeen City Council has approved a new 10-year strategy for culture.
In an attempt to boost the city’s cultural offering both at home and abroad, the council has worked closely with organisations across the city to identify their priorities for the next decade.
Culture Aberdeen includes bidding for the prestigious Unesco Creative City designation, creating employment opportunities within the culture sector and building on existing links to partner cities such as Calgary, Houston and Stavanger.
More than 30 organisations have signed up to the council-led plan, and it is expected that £2.7million will be spent this year alone on festivals and cultural programmes – such as the hugely popular Spectra.
Political and business leaders hope that by boosting the city’s cultural draw they can bring even more visitors, amid a prolonged downturn in the region’s important oil and gas industry.
But opposition councillors have raised questions about the city council’s commitment to the region’s cultural offering, given the controversial decision to axe funding for the Aberdeen International Youth Festival and drop the City of Culture bid.
They also pointed to the ongoing redevelopment of the city’s main cultural venues, such as Aberdeen Art Gallery – which still needs another £6.3million of funding.
SNP councillor Alex Nicoll said: “The cultural sector is vital to Aberdeen’s future but it is difficult for people to be positive when key assets like the Art Gallery and Provost Skene’s House remain firmly closed.
“The suspended Labour nine have already broken their manifesto promises around a city of culture bid after less than a year, and I’m sure the public will be questioning their ability to deliver on any of their new commitments.”
Councillor Marie Boulton, the city council’s culture spokeswoman, however is confident that the strategy – which has taken three years to develop – will boost the Granite City.
She said: “The culture sector is hugely important for our city, bringing not only a boost to our economy but to our wellbeing and quality of life. As a council we recognise the importance in developing long-term strategy to develop key sectors and ensure we can retain and attract talent working in those sectors, and this is why we look forward to working with our partners on delivering the key actions from this bold strategy.”
A five-point plan has been drawn up, with the main planks being encouraging more people in the city to work in creative industries, increasing the availability of shows and art and commissioning more art works.
Duncan Cockburn, chairman of Culture Aberdeen, said: “Our cultural sector is strong, with major redevelopments of the Aberdeen Art Gallery and Music Hall almost complete and a number of new festivals having been launched in recent years. The new strategy sees an important and growing role for cultural organisations and creative practitioners in contributing to a sense of civic pride and economic growth.”
Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said: “The wide range of existing festivals, attractions and activities which bring colour and vibrancy to the north-east are a vital part of what makes people want to live, work, study and visit here but we are certainly not yet the finished article.
“We believe the new 10-year Culture Aberdeen strategy will play a big part in continuing the city’s transformation into a cool and cultured place.”
Chris Foy, Visit Aberdeenshire’s chief executive, said he believed the scheme would help grow the number of “authentic visitor experiences” in the region.
And Jane Spiers, chief executive of Aberdeen Performing Arts, added: “I’m excited about the cultural strategy because it gives us direction, ambition and a platform to recognise, celebrate and build on the cultural assets we have in the city. Looking to the future, I’d like to be living in a city where we are all proud to be ambassadors for the arts, where we are inspired and enriched daily by our participation in the arts and where the arts shapes our future.”
