Contrasts for Christmas

I've just spent a really enjoyable Christmas week with friends in Bahrain. We enjoyed a brilliant ex-pat, family Christmas with turkey and all the trimmings courtesy of Waitrose, would you believe, though beyond 'the compound', the contrasting customs were fascinating. I've never spent Christmas time so close to the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem, yet felt so very far away. Lots of red and white decorations everywhere, not for Santa but to celebrate Bahrain's National Day in December. No Christmas carols or church bells ringing but the regular calls to prayer from so many mosques. No donkeys at the manger but rather 'nodding donkeys' in the sandy expanses between high rise building plots and camels tethered bleakly at the Janabiya Camel Farm. We visited the huge Al Fateh Mosque in Manama, without the usual Christian church adornments and embellishments, of course, and so all the more striking in its simplicity. I certainly didn't miss any Heathrow flight path disturbance which we do get here in Hanwell from time to time but instead became accustomed to the buzzing of helicopters overhead, keeping a watch on actual or potential anti-Government protest groups which seem to spring up on a regular basis. The times of uncertainty we certainly have in common so I wish a Peaceful New Year to all.

Under and over London

Much concern in the press this week about the risk to UNESCO World Heritage status of the Tower of London and the Palace of Westminster due to what Simon Jenkins calls the 'phallic obsession' of Ken Livingston and Boris Johnson. It seems that the Tower could be downgraded thanks, in particular, to the Shard. Next door to London Bridge and casting its shadow over the Tower, the dazzling 66-storey block will be the tallest building in Europe when it is finished. And the Westminster Abbey is likely to be blighted by the 43-storey Doon Street tower, to rise immediately behind the National Theatre on the South Bank, higher than the London Eye and visible from everywhere in west London. Will future generations curse us for this high-rise mania, I wonder?
Buildings are driven ever higher in London by the rising cost of real estate so one solution is to go underground instead. A brilliant idea from a new company called the Old London Underground Company is to recover and refurbish 26 empty tube stations. deep-level shelters and caverns to use as nightclubs, meeting rooms and members clubs as well as tourist attractions. For sure the Old Vic Tunnels have become very popular very quickly and the Rotherhithe Shaft, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is on my 'to do' list , to see before Christmas. The ups and downs of London life .... love it !

Thought for St Paul's

I'm not sure that I can add much that is new to the current St Paul's Cathedral and 'tent city' debate but I do want to offer my opinion, albeit briefly. A few years back I was thrilled to be invited to work on a couple of marketing and audience development projects for the Cathedral which I enjoyed very much. It became clear to me just what a complex and multi-faceted organisation St Paul's is, with very many distinct yet inter-related audiences: volunteers, visitors, worshippers, partners, associates, funders, supporters and the wider Church of England community. At that time communication was of course, taking place with all the Cathedral's audiences though not necessarily in a strategic , integrated manner. Also at that time, as part of my consultation, I learned about the St Paul's Institute too which was already leading discussion and debate around justice and finance, morals and money. The lack of connectivity between the various Cathedral 'departments' was clearly an opportunity to be grasped. I think that the absence of this 'cross departmental thinking' and communications foresight has clearly contributed to the terribly difficult circumstances that the Cathedral now finds itself in, not only the PR difficulties but also the resignations and unhappiness amongst the clergy. Like thousands of others, I do sincerely hope that a peaceful solution can be found soon so the protesters can leave their camp in front of Wren's masterpiece and St Paul's, one of the most famous and beautiful cathedrals in the world, can also move on and continue to campaign for equality and social justice.

Globe to Globe

Shakespeare has been on my mind lately. I've just been to another class at my brilliant local Questors Theatre in Ealing. It's a few years now since I acted in a production there but I like to 'keep my hand in' so a series of Shakespeare workshops is just the thing. Thanks to the RSC, which has finally woken up to the value of amateur theatre, Questors is one of 57 theatre groups working with the RSC over 2011-12, in skills exchange and training. Under the 'Open Stages' banner and supported by grant funding, all of us 250 Questors acting members have the opportunity to improve our understanding of Shakespeare texts and our acting skills. Re-inspired by examining the rhythms, rhyme and pure power of Shakespeare's First Folio edition of 'Hamlet', I was delighted to hear about the Globe Theatre's 2012 multilingual feast, announced this week. Next Spring, 37 Shakespeare plays will be presented in 37 different languages, performed by 37 different international companies. What a marvellous contribution to the Cultural Olympiad! Supported by local ambassadors who will be 'selling' the performances into local ex-pat communities, we all have the chance to experience Shakespeare through another culture's eyes. I'm sure that the universality and timelessness of the Bard will triumph. Might not be everyone's cup of tea though. A friend of mine has just been to see 'Playboy of the Western World' at the Old Vic and swears she didn't understand a word of it, so thick were the Irish accents. So she might take some persuading though I'm certainly up for booking tickets.

Return to Edinburgh

It's two years since I last went to the Edinburgh Festival so I think I can risk writing another blog about it and in fact, comparable observations are interesting. I came home just after the last day of the Fringe and the announcement that it had broken records for the third year running, 2% up on 2010, selling 1.8mill tickets. And all that in spite of awful weather, the inevitable recession and the closure of some key venues, including my favourite Assembly Rooms on George Street. Of all of the shows I saw, the one that was most special for me was Sriyah, a programme of abstract dance by the Indian Nrityagram Dance Ensemble, accompanied by four brilliant musicians. The exquisite performances were beautiful, dreamy and sensuous. The contrast with the show I saw immediately afterwards, as you do in Edinburgh, could not have been greater - Rock the Ballet from New York, which was loud, fast and sexy - imagine 'ballet meets the Chippendales' - it was a blast.

The best exhibition for me was the Tony Cragg retrospective at the National Gallery of Modern Art. I remember the small Tony Cragg exhibition we held on the River Terrace at Somerset House a few years ago and I confess to not being too impressed but this time around, his work took my breath away. On until 6 November - catch it while you can.

And I can't not comment today on the fiasco of the Edinburgh tram, especially as I was so shocked by the resultant roadworks during my last visit in 2009. The disruption to transport, trade and business has been absolutely dire. The whole visionary project was due to be completed for next year and yet on the day I arrived, the City Council had just voted to cut its losses by spending a total of only £700mill on a route from Edinburgh Airport to Haymarket, rather than spending another £76mill to take the line as far as originally planned, to St Andrew's Square. Now I'm hardly a frequent visitor to Edinburgh but even I can see that this decision is a cop-out - either cancel the project altogether or complete the route into the centre. Apparently the phrase "getting off at the Haymarket" is a euphemism in Edinburgh for coitus interruptus - you couldn't make it up !

Post Script
since writing this blog, I note that Edinburgh Council has been forced to reverse it's decision on tram extension so that it will now 'go all the way' - hurray!

More volunteering

I went for an interview last week at my local Ealing Volunteer Centre, hoping to be a 'London Ambassador' for the Olympic Games. Looks like I just missed Boris who visited a few days later saying, "How tremendous!" it all is. And I must say, the process was surprisingly well organised. Apparently there are 10 volunteer centres aiming to recruit 8,000 Ambassadors from 16,000 applicants. Mind you, as only half of the applicants have been turning up for their appointments at Ealing, that increases the odds of being selected to start with ! We were split into small teams and firstly had to speak on several topics each for a few minutes and then role-played dealing with stressed out tourists - "Calm down, dear, it's only the Olympics!" Then we had to locate a range of tourist attractions on the London map and apart from sticking Tower Bridge on London Bridge station (?) our team did pretty well at that. So will I be steaming out to one of the 33 Olympic information 'pods' come next summer ? I'll keep you posted.

Also last week, literally in the heart of London, the first St John's Waterloo Festival themed 'War and People' drew to a close. Enjoyed by over 1000 people, six days of concerts, theatre, dance, walks, art and poetry were all initiated, conceived and delivered by a brilliant team of willing volunteers including myself, responsible for branding, marketing and promotion. The first night's Southbank Sinfonia concert was thrillingly recommended by Time Out and we're already planning for next summer's Festival to be themed 'War and Peace'.

Meanwhile, back in Ye Olde Hanwell, hurrah! We have succeeded in keeping Hanwell Library open - see my February post. But Ealing Council have warned us that it may only be for another year and that they are about to start consultations with volunteer groups with a view to them helping run and maintain local libraries. Aaah, so that'll be that 'power to the people' mantra that Cameron keeps preaching - in other words, we all do even more for free whilst supposedly embracing our new-found local 'People Power'. I'm not convinced by this blurring of amateur and professional boundaries but maybe I'm just a cynical and sometime, weary volunteer.

Art-ed out

In the past couple of weeks I've seen more fabulous art than is good for me. This is rather a worry, given that I'm about to start work at one of the country's finest small museums, the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House. So how come I'm so be-dazzled? Firstly, a visit to Sotheby's Evill/Frost Collection pre-sale exhibition, to see the most amazing display of works by Stanley Spencer, Edward Burra, Henry Moore, Lucian Freud and more. Shortly followed by Christie's £multi-million pre-auction show of masterpieces including Michelangelo, Picasso, Gainsborough and Mueck, amongst others. All truly amazing works of art, most of which have never been seen in public before and most of which, transferring into other private collectors' hands, will never been seen in public again. In between these treats, I was in Venice for the Institute of Travel and Tourism Conference and managed to escape for an afternoon to discover just some of the pavilions at the Venice Biennale. So not only was I in Venice, an art installation in its own right, but I also experienced over just a few hours, some of the most extraordinary, 'in your face', gruesome, challenging, dreamy and wonderful contemporary art installations and even performances that I've ever seen. I'm thrilled that this year's Biennale is considered by critics to be amongst the best ever so I was particularly fortunate to have been there at the right time.
And if all this isn't already enough, the Courtauld has recently completed a re-hang of its permanent collection of masterpieces which, together with its new temporary exhibition, 'Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avrill', make for one of the most breathtaking gallery displays ever. So wish me well as I swoon my way through the coming weeks. How lucky am I !

The Lambeth Palace to Disney Dash

An evening of contrasts this week. Firstly to the reception to celebrate the opening of this summer's exhibition at Lambeth Palace Library, 'Out of the Original Sacred Tongues': The Bible and Translation, marking the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. The Archbishop of Canterbury brilliantly hosted the evening, having dashed back from Obama's Westminster Hall speech for a press photocall just before we opened to our Library guests. My colleague, Gail McGuffie, and I have been working hard on the presentation and PR for the exhibition and we're looking forward to another successful run. For the scholars amongst you, this exhibition complements those at the Bodleian Library in Oxford and at Cambridge University Library. The Lambeth exhibition tells the fascinating story of the power of sacred text and the suppression of and drive towards translations over the centuries. It closes on 29 July so book now - it's a hot ticket!
My second date of the same evening could not have been more different. I raced over to the new concept Disney Store on Oxford Street to "preview the re-imagined Disney Store and the unveiling of the signature Disney fragrance, Imagination". Here is display merchandising and retail presentation at its cleverest best. I defy anyone to visit the store and not leave without buying something. It's the biggest Disney store in Europe and yet the combination of different Disney story lines and screen shows, sounds and lighting, creates a magical atmosphere - even for a cynic like me. Though maybe their brand-new baby fragrance, Wonder, is a step too far. I think new babies already smell wonderful without the added scent of 'lemon sugar, apple blossom and marshmallow clouds'. But hey, what do I know - I can hear those Tinkerbell tills ringing now.

All at sea

To Turner Contemporary this week, a seaside jaunt deliberately fixed for after the Easter weekend to miss the crowds. And what crowds - apparently the venue had a third of its expected full year visitor volume in the first 10 days - how's that for an opening ! I admit that I wasn't expecting to be thrilled. Brian Sewell had been so damning in his Evening Standard piece and other critics gave mixed reviews. Approaching along the prom from the railway station, the building does indeed look like a DIY shed though its prominent position on the front is startling. But once inside, thank heavens, the expanse of air and light blew me away. I'm so pleased to say that I loved the Shawcross sculptures and Ellen Harvey's seaside shack with its etched photographs of Margate. Though I was less impressed by Turner's St Vincent painting. Perhaps because I've seen many, more glorious Turners at the Tate and the National. This image of a volcanic eruption in the Caribbean seemed so distant and disjointed from the other seascape images and installations at the gallery. Beyond the gallery and a delicious, though windswept, fish and chips lunch on the front, unfortunately for Margate, the attractions of the town didn't hold us much longer. We soon zipped off to Chatham, to re-visit the acres of exhibitions at Chatham's Historic Dockyards. Now there you really do feel the power of the sea, or rather, the power of the industry of the sea and indeed, the tragedy of it's demise - when it closed in 1984, 7000 people lost their jobs. The spring sunshiney day demanded an open-air afternoon so we crawled through the submarine Ocelot and then climbed all over HMS Gannet and Cavalier. We boarded the train back to London buzzing with seaside memories and plans for more visits - our appetite for the Kent coast is far from quenched.

Olympic travel plans

As the email reminded me today, tomorrow is the closing date for all organisations and venues across the 33 London boroughs to lodge details, no matter how provisional, of any event planned for next year on to the Mayor's 2012 Culture Diary. This will ensure that ultimately, all events will be shared with any cross-cultural planning group or operational planning team and that they are included in some way in the year-long promotions to celebrate London, the Olympic city. It also will help individual venues spot clashes or opportunities to co-operate as the magic Olympic season draws closer. Having seen the massive rings high above at Paddington Station the other day, it's all starting to feel very real. And a 2012 Business Briefing meeting yesterday suddenly brought home to me the reality of the operational implications of what for me so far, has been a cultural opportunity. The stark warning given by the chap from the Olympic Delivery Authority (yes, note 'Authority') was that unless businesses across the capital start to work closely with the Authority and essentially, help them out a bit, getting anywhere around London on public transport at peak Games time is going to be a nightmare. Businesses need to either get staff to work nights, work at home or even better, take annual leave, or you could be waiting an hour in central London for a jolly old Jubilee Line train. Lord knows what will happen if there is a fault on the line. Late arrivals could become the normality across theatres, restaurants, recitals and receptions all over London next summer. We need to think about our own plans as well as preparing those for our clients, visitors, customers and colleagues.

Save our library

I think it is ironic that just yesterday I visited an exhibition celebrating the power and joy of children's books and on the same day was asked to be part of a local action team, preparing to object to the closure of our local library. Libraries are not just for books, they are for readings, discussions, writing events, DVDs and computers. The thought of such life affirming resources being withdrawn from the reach of children especially just makes my blood boil. As a child in Derby my local library literally opened the world to me. I read voraciously and there was no way that our very modest collection of books at home could have satisfied that hunger.
The Imperial War Museum's new exhibition 'Once upon a Wartime' delves into five war stories, exploring the themes of separation, danger, belonging and adventure. The stage setting for each of the stories really makes the fiction come alive. The drama and trauma of war are explored in a safe way so that chidren are protected from the absolute savagery of war that surely can be seen in other corners of the museum. I'm sure that those five books will already be selling like hotcakes and be much in demand at local libraries.
And children don't just access books in libraries - thousands of them rely every day on quiet library space and computer access for their homework that they simply can't do at home. I went to the Longford Lecture given by Martha Lane Fox last November and one of the many statistics she quoted was that of the 9 mill people in the UK who don't have computer access (many of their own free will), 4 mill (30%) live in deprived households, with the old, unemployed and families with children. Take local libraries away and we exclude a whole slice of the population from inspiration, support, learning and enjoyment.
So I shall be outside the Hanwell Library soon, helping to run an observational survey of users and preparing for the consultation pre-closure of a number of local Ealing libraries. If you're in the area, come along and borrow some books.

Gallery rage

In the past couple of weeks I have been to three exhibitions. I saw Gauguin at the Tate, Cezanne at the Courtauld and William Lawrence at the National Portrait Gallery. All of them were crowded and yes, I enjoyed them a little less because of that but I still loved them all. And it was pretty much the last week of each of their hugely successful runs and I do think that these days, it has to be expected. So I'm surprised to see so much fuss in the media about 'gallery rage'. Unless you can manage to go as soon as an exhibition opens, ideally first thing in the morning or at the end of a 'late night', in my experience you have to expect the crowd scene. It's not new - for example, Van Gogh at the RA was heaving with visitors, as was Picasso at the NG and the Summer Exhibition at the RA is always a bit of a bunfight. I'm sure that gallery professionals across the country, and especially in London, are at this very moment studying visitor numbers, visitor flows, dwell times, satisfaction (or not) surveys, Tweets, online forums, etc. etc. as well as the good old box office returns. What a fine balance to achieve in these days of cuts and economies than that of raising as much income as possible whilst at the same time, delivering as enjoyable and satisfying an experience as possible for visitors of all types, as well as keeping the sponsors happy, let alone curators and conservators. Roll on the blockbusters, I say. And if you really want to experience a sharp elbowed, culture vulture melee, try getting your coat from the cloakroom at the end of a sell-out performance at the Opera House, Covent Garden.