Crossing Boundaries - BFI - British Film Institute

infrastructure landscape, linking for example with infrastructure in theatre, visual arts and music, as well as in education, business
and the public realm. Of course, this also requires that public sector partners support the venues to take on this role and support
them to provide purposeful, entrepreneurial, engaging infrastructure for a creative place.
In this sense, for example, the physical and strategic location of Cornerhouse in Manchester’s ‘Oxford Road Corridor’ represents a
key opportunity: the district has been designated as the heart of Greater Manchester’s ‘Knowledge Capital Programme’, drawing
together the knowledge assets of two universities, the BBC, the Palace Theatre, Whitmore Art Gallery, the Royal Northern College
of Music, and multiple smaller partners. If it is to succeed, the Manchester Knowledge Capital Programme 13 will need to emphasise
the interdependence of creative content infrastructure with technology and innovation infrastructure. Equally, the holistic approach
to creativity being developed by Creative Sheffield 14 requires a close relationship between cultural infrastructure such as the
Showroom and new growth-orientated knowledge economy infrastructure, such as the forthcoming Digital Campus, if it is to
benefit from a richly-hewn fabric of infrastructure upon which competitive economies depend.
An additional issue here is the absence of comparable venues in major towns and cities other than those explored in this Study. For
example, Leeds and Birmingham do not have a venue that compares with, for example, Watershed or Showroom. The extent to
which this diminishes their potential to operate as successful creative and knowledge cities, or indeed to which it weakens their
cultural integrity, requires consideration. The absence of such venues also raises speculation as to whether the role, reach and
impact of venues such as Watershed is undertaken by the wider infrastructure offer of Leeds and Birmingham thus reducing the
need for a specific venue of the type explored in this Study. Partners in Leeds, Birmingham and other key towns and cities, might
be encouraged to consider these issues.
13
Through a partnership of all ten Greater Manchester authorities, four universities, the strategic health authority, other key public agencies and leading businesses, ‘Manchester: Knowledge Capital’
is working to stimulate and support increased business innovation from research, science and knowledge; engage with the people of Manchester in securing this future, through dialogue, debate,
education and employment; support the growth of a city-region environment which facilitates business success, provides an outstanding quality of life and is open to all; and champion and trying
new ideas and new ways of living and working. See: www.manchesterknowledge.com
14
Creative Sheffield is the new city economic development company set up to spearhead efforts to transform the economic performance of the city. It will seek to deliver higher levels of economic
growth and enhance the competitiveness of the city. See: www.creativesheffield.co.uk
Introduction 44
tom fleming / creative consultancy
UK Film Council
in association with
Arts Council England and the Arts Humanities Research Council