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On Wednesday, 4th June, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell announced that the recently crowned City Of Music had beaten back bids from Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham, Oxford and the Gateshead/Newcastle alliance.
Jowell said that Liverpool was a "worthy winner of this honour" and praised the "vision, passion and enthusiasm" inherent in the City.
Ebullient council leader Mike Storey – obviously on the celebratory champers – enthused that it was "like Liverpool winning the Champions League, Everton winning the double and The Beatles reforming all on the same day - and Steve Spielberg coming to the city to make a Hollywood blockbuster about it" Daft squiffy auld sod.
Mind you, with an estimated £500 million and 14,000 jobs said to be at stake, I guess the corks will continue to pop for some time to come.
The impact on the cultural industries should see the current crop of musical talent in the City find even more opportunities to attain their goal of a career in the Music Industry as grants and support are made available on a wider and more inclusive scale than ever before.
Recently, however, flyposters advertising gigs at grass roots level were condemned by the council, who promptly and firmly reminded promoters of its illegality, with threats of fines up to £1000 for offending parties seeking to advertise their gigs and – well – cultural events.
With the planned demolition of multi-level shopping centre Quiggins – with its plethora of tattoists, junk shops, second hand record stores and a spoonycool-as-fuck café, a natural meeting point for freaks and alternative-minded musicians throughout the years – in favour of a new, homogonised private retail redevelopment, it must be hoped that those responsible for managing the City of Culture use their time and cash wisely in extending funding and support to all levels of the creative sector.
A warning note was also sounded by ERM Economics, who in a recent Liverpool City Council commissioned report suggested that the actual amount of investment attained by the successful bid could "only create 1,380 jobs, and an additional £53m of revenue".
But at a time when the eyes of the media and the creative world are on Merseyside for its crop of outstanding and often maverick talent, the European Capital of Culture status must be seen as a timely boost for a City due to celebrate its 800th birthday in 2007.
The ERM report can be found here.
