IoD Welcomes Liverpool Capital of Culture Chief
Capital of Culture chief executive Jason Harborow told Liverpool business leaders from the Institute of Directors that managing perceptions of the city would be crucial to the success of 2008.
Mr Harborow said one of the lasting legacies of Liverpool’s cultural crown had to be an improved image of the city both at home and abroad.
Speaking to an invited audience of members of the Liverpool branch of the IoD, he drew parallels between Liverpool and cities like Barcelona and Sydney. Mr Harborow told the gathering, held in the Martin’s Bank Building, Water Street, that Barcelona and Sydney had used the staging of the Olympics as an opportunity to reinvent their brand image.
Mr Harborow said it was the duty of everyone, in the public and private sectors, to help to drive the reinvention and improvement of Liverpool’s brand. He added the budget for the Liverpool Capital of Culture is £95 million of which more than half has been raised through private sector investment. There are eight commercial partners and the Government has so far contributed £11.2 million towards the costs. Mr Harborow also said the staging of the Capital of Culture was, in many ways, more challenging than staging events such as the World Cup.
Mr Harborow said:
“The World Cup is easy, in one way. There’s a fixed format – a manual if you like – to those kinds of events but, with Capital of Culture, it’s entirely up to us to determine what we create. Not only that, but we have chosen to develop themed years so not only are we planning 2008 itself, but we also have the challenge of delivering activity over a sustained period of time.”
Other legacies identified by Mr Harborow included making the city’s cultural and artistic institutions stronger and improving confidence levels right across the city region.
He added:
“Everyone has a different expectation about what Capital of Culture will bring. But fundamentally, I believe it is about repositioning the city and about changing the way it is viewed.”
Mr Harborow went on to say that it was crucial that activity was not too city-centric and that communities in the suburbs and outlying districts also benefited.
The breakfast briefing is one of a series of events planned in Liverpool to raise the Institute of Directors’ profile in the city. Speaking after the event, Liverpool branch IoD chairman Ian Spink, managing partner in the Yorkshire Bank, said:
“This was a unique opportunity for business leaders to hear directly from the Culture Company and to question Mr Harborow about how businesses can both benefit from and contribute to 2008.”
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Notes to Editors
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The IoD (Institute of Directors) was founded in 1903 and obtained a Royal Charter in 1906. The IoD is a non-party political organisation with upwards of 54,000 members in the United Kingdom. Membership includes directors from right across the business spectrum – from media to manufacturing, e-business to the public and voluntary sectors. Members include CEOs of large corporations as well as entrepreneurial directors of start-up companies.
The IoD offers a wide range of business services which include business centre facilities (including six UK regional centres and one European centre in Paris), conferences, networking events, issues-led guides and literature as well as information services and free access to a comprehensive business library and enquiry service. The IoD places great emphasis on director development and has established a certified qualification for directors – Chartered Director – as well as running specific board-level and director-level training and individual career mentoring programmes.
In addition, the IoD provides an effective voice to represent the interests of its members to government and key opinion-formers at the highest levels. These include ministers, constituency MPs, Select Committee members and senior civil servants. IoD policies and views are actively promoted to the national, regional and trade media.
For further information, visit the IoD’s website: www.iod.com
More information on the IoD’s North West Region at www.iod.com/northwest
The North West Region of the Institute of Directors is one of the fastest growing regions of the IoD.
Contact Points:
Jon Brown Liverpool IoD Press Officer
Mobile and out of hours: 07811 451184
Email: jon@factory-pr.co.uk
Jane Harrad-Roberts, North West IoD Press Officer
Mobile and out of hours: 07785 395705
Email: jane@marketingprojects.co.uk
Laura Wolfe Regional Director IoD North West
Tel: 0161 209 3152
Email. laura.wolfe@iod.com
Ian Spink Liverpool IoD Branch Chairman
Mobile and out of hours: 07802 919604
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