Crossing Boundaries - BFI - British Film Institute

Scientifique networking event, a church group on a Sunday morning, and a major conference – such as the annual conference of
the Town Planners Association. Of course, these provide important revenue, but they also illustrate the venue’s role as a broker
and host of multiple cultural and civic processes and activities.
Adding Value: Inward Investment and Cultural Tourism
Globally, culture is increasingly significant as a driver of tourism. Internationally, cities as varied as Melbourne, Beijing and Mumbai
are positioning their creative economies at the heart of their offer to both leisure and business travellers. In each of the six cities
featured in this Study, local authorities are supporting the ‘packaging’ of their culture and creative industries offer as a ‘cultural
tourism proposition’. Such approaches enable cities to move beyond traditional tourist themes such as heritage, and thus ‘widen
the shoulders of the tourist season’ through initiatives that profile processes of creative production (such as cultural infrastructure)
and consumption (such as the night-time economy). There is also growing realisation of the role that new types of cultural tourism
can play in terms of inward investment and global profile raising. The venues, with their signature role as vibrant spaces for
contemporary culture, and with their central locations in the ‘cool parts of town’, are presented by their cities as part of the cultural
tourism offer and certainly as a feature of the wider city brand.
For example, Yorkshire South Tourism recognises this and has invested in 4 different festivals hosted by the Showroom in
Sheffield.
“They (film festivals) are usually more than merely a source of lively activity within the city, and are very useful in the strategy of
building the city’s image and of fostering its attractiveness and thus its economic development, of which they constitute a
fundamental element”
(The Socio-Economic Impact of Film Festivals – The European Coordination of Film Festivals, 1999).
Culture is a critical component of Manchester’s tourism and inward investment strategy, most particularly the transformational
power of culture, the way it creates powerful and evocative brands and the way it can be used to attract a diverse and engaged
audience to a place. Cornerhouse has been described as a ‘critical component’ of Manchester’s brand, providing the innovative and
original cultural experience and cross-over with the creative economy which is seen as a vital part of the redefinition of Manchester
as a post-industrial city. Miranda Sawyer, cultural commentator and journalist, described the city as the ‘country’s biggest cultural
Introduction 48
tom fleming / creative consultancy
UK Film Council
in association with
Arts Council England and the Arts Humanities Research Council