Cultural tourists?

Across England, and indeed Europe and worldwide, towns and cities have actively developed their cultural tourism offer. Glasgow has continued to build on its 1990 Capital of Culture year, and Liverpool is following suit. Brighton, Manchester and Edinburgh all attract millions of cultural tourists through their diverse festivals, events, venues and creative scenes. Leicester has a hugely successful comedy festival; Hay thrives through literature; Newcastle uses the Baltic and Sage as a creative force to offer year-round programmes of events; regional theatres have enjoyed something of a renaissance over recent years; every genre of music has its festivals....the list is endless.

Can ARC help Teesside carve out a similar reputation? In the long term, definitely yes. Stockton already has the fantastic Stockton International Riverside Festival with street arts to rival anywhere in Europe, alongside as much free music you could want at the Riverside Fringe Festival. MIMA will build on its status to become a significant national player, and I believe ARC can make its own contribution to making culture an even bigger draw for visitors in the North East.

And the best way for us to assess how we are doing is by how local people rate us. I always encourage audiences to tell us what they have enjoyed and what they want to see more of. If we can continue presenting work that is exciting, new and of outstanding quality then we are doing our job for our customers, and between us, we will attract more visitors to share our passion.