Bringing culture to the people...

Jan 21 2008 by Graeme King, The Journal

Keeping Newcastle and Gateshead in the cultural spotlight is the task of NGI’s Stella Hall and as Graeme King finds out she is relishing the challenge.

DELIVERING a cultural programme might appear to have little in common with the business pages of a newspaper, but with artistic endeavour playing an ever more vital role in the North-East economy, individuals like Stella Hall are playing a key role in the building of our post-industrial economy.

The NewcastleGateshead Initiative is at the heart of trying to change perceptions of the North-East, and make people understand, appreciate and visit the festivals Ms Hall and her team put on.

From a base in the Central Square office building behind Newcastle Central Station, the NGI team – when they can take their eyes off the spectacular views from their windows – are in the business of raising the region’s profile.

The Culture10 programme was born out of NewcastleGateshead losing out on the title of European Capital of Culture 2008 when it was announced back in 2003.

And while the likes of Ringo Starr have just starred in a rather introspective start to Liverpool’s 2008 celebrations, in the North-East we have enjoyed an extended programme of internationally-sourced events throughout the last few years, and intended to extend to 2010 and then beyond.

Hall, 52, comes across as a real bundle of energy with ideas aplenty. Through the constraints of a packed diary, we pack our interview into a rather tight 45 minutes, but she provides plenty of material along the way.

Having been raised in Warwickshire as the eldest of nine children, Hall studied drama and English at Exeter University. She then found her way to Manchester to learn about television, and loved the city so much she stayed for 20 years.

She said: “When I was 11, I was either going to be a film director or an astronaut. I was raised in a family of teachers, four of my siblings are in the profession. There is also an actor, a tai chi teacher, a gardener and a university administrator.”

Despite training in television, Hall found her career took her into a more rounded arts environment, founding an arts centre and enjoying a role in theatre too.

She said: “I like Manchester, and have lots of friends there, and love to go and visit. The music scene there was fantastic and I ended up staying for 20 years from the end of the 70s. It was great being identified with the growth of that city.”

After that long stint in Manchester, Hall moved on to Northern Ireland to head up the Belfast International Festival and also took on a role at Queens University there, but eventually the offer of her current job in the North-East came along and she leapt at the opportunity.

And despite having a strong allegiance to the North-West, Hall says she has never felt so welcome as she has done since moving to the North-East in 2005.

“I want a place that’s warm and welcoming, friendly, as well as buzzing and vibrant. Manchester, for all its strengths is quite hard edged and challenging.

“This is a better place to bring my child up.

“That notion of the warmth of the welcome is something I’ve embedded in my programme. People going that extra mile.

“Since I’ve been up here, I’ve been guided off the Metro, taken down streets where I need to go. There’s a real willingness to engage with a newcomer. It’s really a tangible difference – people being in it together, not in a ‘back against the wall’ way but with a real ‘can do’, positive, ‘we can do it better if we do it together’ attitude.

“It’s really noticeable and great to become part of.

“I felt at home within months of being here, whereas I spent five years in Belfast and did not feel the same way.”

Hall recognises the value of cities being seen as welcoming places – not just for those who live here, or have just arrived, but for what it does for the development of a place.

If the North-East can get the message out that everyone is welcome here, that will have knock on effects for the growth of the economy, and the region’s development.

She says: “We don’t all choose to stay in the place we were brought up in, so places need to develop a welcoming attitude, to make people feel they are part of it. I think we have got that here.

“The fact that the brain drain has been reversed, particularly in the creative industries, attracting significant numbers of people here – that can’t be a coincidence.

“People say it’s a village here, but there are always more people to meet and engage with. And people want to connect you up.”

So why was the Culture10 job so attractive?

“I had a five-year contract in Belfast, which was made permanent after four, but this was just too attractive a place, too attractive an offer, to work on a regional cultural programme.

“I was approached to apply through a head hunting company. What they were looking for was someone with great national and international contacts and relationships, who was used to working on both large and small projects in partnership with people.

“They said bring us your experience, bring some ideas and projects to us. They said to be prepared to liaise and partner with people.”

And did it make a difference that Capital of Culture status was not attained?

“It’s the difference between running a series and aiming to produce a blockbuster. We have paced ourselves to think long term. We are already planning 2009/10.

“And because we have been successful so far, we are even looking beyond 2010 – which itself has the Tall Ships in Hartlepool – and the cultural olympiad for the 2012 Olympics.

“We are building confidence and building a profile. Had we won Capital of Culture, we would have been putting more eggs in one basket.

“Whereas the way we work, if you think about projects carefully, you can build a programme towards set pieces.”

Culture10 takes in a huge range of different projects, from a free screening of Battleship Potemkin in Swan Hunter shipyard accompanied by a Pet Shop Boys soundtrack, to Spencer Tunick’s pictures of naked North-Easterners, to the Winter Festival which has recently been lighting up Newcastle and Gateshead over Christmas and New Year.

So broad is Hall’s remit, she is even looking at putting a programme together to complement the Housing Expo planned for Scotswood in the summer of 2010.

She says: “We want to create a programme that is really exciting in that year, and that will have long-term benefits afterwards.

“We only do high quality festivals and events. In the first couple of years, we had more than 70 things happening annually, but now we have 25 to 30 dates in the year, so we can focus our attention on them.”

“It’s important that what we do engages a wide public. We have a £6m programme, making festivals and events across the North-East, but with a very strong focus on Newcastle Gasteshead.

“We also need to recognise the strengths of the wider parts of the region – in terms of iconography there is the coast line and landscape.”

NGI is funded by One NorthEast, Newcastle and Gateshead councils, the Tyne Wear Partnership, Arts Council England, and the Northern Rock Foundation. The organisation also partners with individual North-East local authorities when events take place in those areas.

While the Culture10 programme is about producing spectacle, and artistic excellence, it is also very much grounded in economic reality and Hall is well aware that her programme must deliver not just in smiles on faces, but in jobs, skills and the elusive notion of ‘value added’ where the economy is seen to benefit.

She says: “Visitor spend is hugely important – it’s all about the overall visitor spend, jobs created, engagement. We collect data every year to make a business case to One NorthEast. There has to be hard and fast outputs.

“There are issues such as the skills learnt in the process of putting on events. Transferable skills, project management, producing films, mounting an event, safe stewarding, even climbing rigging. Skills that can be transferred into jobs.”

Hall says she is keen to work with all kinds of organisations to deliver Culture10 events and this includes engaging with the business community.

“My ethos is partnership and collaborative working. For Eat, we invited restaurants and producers to work with us on the steering group.

“For the Winter Festival we had retailers and hotel businesses on the steering group. So there are opportunities for engagement and partnership with businesses.

“More financial support from businesses can make events better. Malmaison, Newcastle College and Jesmond Dene House have all identified staff who are leading on projects in the food festival.

“There are all kinds of opportunities for people in business with interest in a particular area, their practical involvement is hugely welcome – and business will share in the benefits of our work, through visitor numbers and visitor spend.”

So what is it about her job that actually gets Hall interested and excited? Does she still get a buzz from putting on a successful event?

She says: “To be standing on the Quayside with hundreds of other people, and 100 performers hanging from the rigging of a Spanish ship, is just great.

“Families from the West End, people from London and Scotland. We are all in it together– that feeling of bringing artists, audiences and the city together in shared moments – that sets my pulse racing.”

I want a place that’s warm and welcoming, friendly, buzzing and vibrant

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Stella Hall: The CV

1974-1977 University of Exeter – degree in drama and English.

1977-1978 Manchester University – postgraduate diploma in television direction.

1982-1983 City University London – Certificate in Arts Administration.

1983-1991 Green Room Arts Centre – founder

1991-1996 Freelance roles including director of Barclays New Stages Festival at the Royal Court, and co-ordinating the Manchester International Theatre Consortium.

1997-2000 Warwick Arts Centre – director

2000-2005 Belfast International Festival – director.

2004-2005 Queens University, Belfast – head of culture and arts.

2005 – present NewcastleGateshead Initiative – creative director.

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The questionnaire

What car do you drive?

I don’t drive, so I’m a public transport user. I had a BSA Bantam bike in my teens. Perhaps I’ll get a Harley when I’m older.

What’s your favourite restaurant?

I love so many here, which I’ve experienced through the Eat festival, but I do like Secco – the quality of food and the inventiveness.

Who or what makes you laugh?

My brother Joe. He has made me laugh all my life.

What’s your favourite book?

Oryx & Crake, by Margaret Atwood.

What’s your favourite film?

Bladerunner, whichever way it’s cut

What was the last album you bought?

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Abattoir Blues. He’s such a fabulous artist.

What’s your ideal job, other than your current one?

Director of the Sydney Festival. It has theatre, dance, music and a huge outdoor programme. It’s challenging, popular, the full mix.

If you had a talking parrot, what’s the first thing you’d teach it to say?

“I love you.”

What’s your greatest fear?

Losing my only child.

What’s the best piece of business advice you have ever received?

‘A healthy organisation needs a maverick,’ and also ‘There are many ways to reach an objective’.

Worst business advice?

I was once offered a job and the chairman of the organisation said ‘you don’t need a contract’, implying that it was definitely mine. Then they went bankrupt before I got there.

What’s your poison?

A nice bottle of Malbec. And I would not mind a few mojitos.

What newspaper do you read, other than The Journal?

The Guardian, and Metro on the train.

How much was your first pay packet and what was it for?

I can’t remember how much it was, but my first job was as a talking tree in a Christmas grotto at Debenhams in Manchester.

How do you keep fit?

I get to the gym a couple of times per week.

What’s your most irritating habit?

It’s a lifelong habit of always tasting other people’s food in restaurants.

What’s your biggest extravagance?

I have recently invested in a Vivienne Westwood coat.

Which historical or fictional character do you most identify with/admire?

I admire what Emmeline Pankhurst achieved.

And which four famous people would you most like to dine with?

Oscar Wilde, Frida Kahlo (artist), Yukio Mishima (novelist, playwright and poet) and Indira Gandhi.

How would you like to be remembered?

As a fun loving mum and aunt, and a steadfast and loyal friend.