We must get it right next year

Aug 8 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

THE daily revelations about the scale of mismanagement and incompetence which lay behind the cancellation of the Mathew Street festival become increasingly alarming.

It emerged yesterday that the board of the Culture Company, which had taken over the running of the festival, "was not consulted nor informed of the problems" ahead of last week’s cancellation.

As an email exchange between the chairman of the Culture board, Prof Drummond Bone, and council leader Warren Bradley makes clear, there was a sense of frustration and near-panic as the scale of the fiasco dawned.

But what is even more extraordinary is that so many leading figures who should have been fully informed were kept in the dark. However, no-one could disagree with Cllr Bradley’s statement that the events leading up to the cancellation reveal "rank bad management".

Even now, with less than three weeks to go, there is still uncertainty over whether any of the outdoor element of the festival can be saved. Bill Heckle, from Cavern City Tours - one of the festival’s founders - said it was looking "increasingly unlikely" any of the event’s famous outside stages could be saved for this year. On the other hand, Cllr Bradley says "we should be able to save something."

Perhaps the biggest irony in all of this is contained in Mr Heckle’s statement that the event had been handed over to the Culture Company with the hope it would be improved. In fact, what the Culture Company has "achieved" is the diametric opposite of that.

Perhaps the only glimmer of hope now is that all those concerned will learn from this sorry affair and make certain that next year’s event, during the city’s Capital of Culture year, will be better than ever.

Planning is already under way for 2008 and is being presented to the Culture Company and the council next month. In the meantime, a full independent inquiry is the only way to get to the bottom of what led to the cancellation of this year’s event, and how it was handled.