DEVELOP CROYDON conference, 16 Nov 2010

PRESENTATION NOTES for the Develop Croydon conference, panel theme: ENJOY CROYDON, Croydon’s hidden gems, from its southside restaurant quarter to its underground arts community, make it a great place to live, work and play.

1. The cultural gems of Croydon have artistic, social and economic impact for the people who live, work and study here. The cultural gems provide a motor for economic regeneration, social cohesion and most importantly they enrich people’s lives.

 ARTISTIC IMPACT

2. Culture in Croydon whether it’s a trip to the Fairfield Halls to see a concert by the London Mozart Players, visiting an exhibition at the Museum of Croydon or celebrating at the Croydon Summer Festival in Lloyd Park; the impact of the arts resonate across communities, races and generations.
3. The people of Croydon are too often the target of lazy jokes. Yet from my experience, whilst I was the arts programmer at the Clocktower, the people of the Borough where calling out for theatre and the arts that inspire them and make them view their lives differently.

 ECONOMIC IMPACT

4. Croydon’s history of the past 60 years: from the bombing of central Croydon during the Blitz, to post war recovery and regeneration.
5. New and diverse communities have settled in the Borough, migrating from the urban city centre to suburban Croydon. An emergent entrepreneurial spirit has been realised which is reflected in, amongst others, Croydon’s southside restaurants quarter.
6. In the midst of this the cultural assets the ‘hidden gems’ of Croydon have continued: the Clocktower with its David Lean Cinema and Museum, the Fairfields concert hall and Ashcroft Theatre, The Brit School, the London Mozart Players and a plethora of hotels, bars and restaurants.
7. When I worked at the Clocktower in 2007 our research showed for everyone of the 35,000 tickets sold at the David Lean Cinema each year, audiences spent a further £15 per head on travel and entertainment as part of their trip, i.e. they spent over £500,000 in the local economy. An indisputable economic impact of the arts.

 SOCIAL IMPACT

8. Anecdote – the Clocktower working Mind the Gap theatre company, created a show with Croydon based learning disabled groups and learning disabled people living in isolation – they came together a few years back to create a show inspired by the Pheonix legend rising from the ashes. Participants, professional artists and local audiences making and experiencing theatre, many for the first time, which truly help change the way they saw themselves and others – this example goes a little way to describe the social impact of the arts in Croydon. In the Pheonix performance the audience where led out of the Clocktower building and the final moment in the show saw a huge Pheonix statue set alight as it flew into a bright new future – this is as much a story of the cultural life Croydon as it is a mythic legend.

 SO WHAT NEXT FOR CULTURE IN CROYDON?

9. As we emerge from the recession, how can the cultural gems of Croydon, the theatres, hotels and restaurants remain resilient, successful and relevant as agents of economic regeneration, and ensure Croydon remains a great place to live, study and work?