Talks begin over rising Capital of Culture costs

Apr 26 2008 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

HIGH-LEVEL talks are being held to discuss how Liverpool can meet the rising costs of paying for Capital of Culture year.

The Liverpool Daily Post can reveal costs have risen from £20m to around £22m, and last night creative director of the Culture Company Phil Redmond said he was considering putting on additional events to raise money.

The Culture Company is also talking to the Department for Culture Media and Sport, the Arts Council and sponsors about getting extra funding.

One high-cost event which was almost scrapped because of mounting costs was the spectacular mechanical mystery creature that will tour Liverpool in September.

The huge three to four day theatrical extravaganza, called La Machine, will be one of the biggest acts of street theatre the city has ever seen.

The Daily Post discovered the details of the giant animal, but in the spirit of helping to build expectation and excitement surrounding the unveiling of the creature, we have agreed to keep it a secret.

Last night, Mr Redmond said there was no need to worry about the overspend.

But Labour opposition leader Joe Anderson said he was worried the council might have to cut services to generate the additional money.

“It concerns me that we are talking about putting on more events to pay for the events that have caused the problem in the first place.”

Yesterday Liverpool Council’s executive board discussed the overspend for more than an hour behind closed doors.

Part of those discussions were about the £1.8m it will cost to bring in La Machine, which organisers hope will move crowds and leave them in awe.

Council leader Warren Bradley last night said the event would be the highlight of Capital of Culture.

“It is going to be a fabulous event for the city. I think people will look back on this and say that it was even bigger than the opening event.”

Last night, Mr Redmond revealed that mounting costs had forced the Culture Company to order its cancellation.

But Artichoke Productions, which is running the event, agreed to underwrite £300,000 of the costs, meaning the council will spend the £1.5m it had originally set aside.

The London-based company last night admitted that it was expensive but said the spectacular event, which involves complicated engineering would be worth it.

In 2006 Artichoke was responsible for taking the Sultan’s Elephant to London.

The company’s website states: “Thousands of onlookers marvelled at the sight of a gigantic wooden elephant, and a little-girl giant in a green dress.”

The man behind the 42-ton elephant, Francois Delaroziere, and his company Nantes-based La Machine, from which the display takes its name, are building the creature for Liverpool’s extravaganza.

Around 50 people are currently working on the animal.

Nicky Webb, director of Artichoke, last night said: “Francois is an incredible artist but with a clever mechanical brain.

“We really wanted to work with him to create a show from scratch for Liverpool.

“It is big and ambitious and will be very spectacular. We hope people will be moved and touched in a way that you would not expect.

“The great thing about the show is that it is galvanising, it brings people together that would not normally stand in the street together.

“Yes it is expensive, but after people have seen it, I think they will not feel it is too much money to spend on the show.”

OPINION: PAGE 6

davidbartlett