What's the connection between New Plymouth, Nantes and Wakefield? Our intrepid travelling Associate Lesley Fallais - taking a break in New Zealand but with her enthusiasm for tracking down great examples of culture-led regeneration unquelled - has been doing a bit of sleuthing and reveals all. See Lesley's guest posts from Norway, Denmark and Kerala for more on the same theme, and her own blog for more detail on her trip to Taranaki.
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Len Lye Centre, New Plymouth Photo: Lesley Fallais
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My six month journey roaming far and wide around New Zealand has been an outstanding experience. Part way through, while on North Island, I found myself with three days to fill before a planned rendezvous with friends. I started to scrutinise my map and think about where I might go. Perhaps the Taranaki Peninsula? But that would be a long drive and well off my route. If I drove all that way would it turn out to be worth it?
I consult my Rough Guide: “Taranaki’s vibrant provincial capital is New Plymouth. There is a strong arts bias to its attraction, home to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, which is one of the finest contemporary art galleries in the country”. Decision made!
I spend one night en route at Opunake campsite - investment $20. I filled up with petrol - investment $59. Total investment $79.
In my tent I read that the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery has recently been extended to accommodate a large collection of works by Len Lye. A New Zealand born sculptor, film-maker and conceptual artist, Lye (1901-1980) was born in Christchurch and worked alongside other world renowned contemporary artists in Europe and New York. Just before his death a friend, patron and New Plymouth resident, John Mathews, helped set up the Len Lye Foundation, which brought most of Lye’s scattered work to New Plymouth.
I arrive in New Plymouth to find a shiny new contemporary building at one end of Queens Street, which is obviously in the midst of ongoing regeneration. There are cafes, hotels, design shops and the like, and the whole area feels like as if it is vibrant and thriving. I have a quick look around and notice banners pronouncing that tonight is the first night of the annual Festival of Lights, so I spontaneously decide to stay the night.
I book into a hostel - investment $68. Festival of Light donation $5. Total investment so far $152.
Suffice it to say that I loved the new contemporary extension to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, and really enjoyed finding out about an artist who was totally new to me. I was excited, too, to see one of Lye's kinetic works sited along a new 10km long Coastal Walkway - a stunning example of contemporary landscape design incorporating site-specific artworks. ‘Wind Wand’ acts as a focal point near the entrance of the new Puke Ariki - a combined tourist office, city library, exhibition space and regional museum.
I look around the museum shop and buy postcards and stamps - investment $12.50, total to date $164.50. The hostel is a treat as I usually camp. I don’t eat out or visit a café. I look around a clothes shop and design shop but resist temptation, and wish I could stay longer, which might involve hiring a bike and cycling the coastal walkway.
In other words, my total spend in Taranaki could have been a lot more.
I have spent many years working within urban regeneration project teams so I have some understanding of how creative/cultural regeneration works. What I saw in New Plymouth seemed to me to be a shining example of how the arts and culture can play a vital role as drivers for the economy and urban regeneration. I realised that I was a Taranaki statistic, a cultural tourist in search of ‘Destination Architecture’, which provided not only my reason to visit in the first place but also the reason for deciding to stay for a while and therefore spend money in the area.
Over the past months I have thought many times about my visit to New Plymouth. Whenever I exchange ‘New Zealand highlights’ with other travellers, I find myself saying “You must go to Taranaki, New Plymouth is amazing”. Since visiting Taranaki I've been considering the value to the economy of my own trip and the potential visits by people I've recommended the place to. Keen to know more, I dropped an email to Terry Parkes, chair of the Council-led Art in Public Places Trust established in 2009, who suggested I talk to Antony Rhodes, Communications Manager at Venture Taranaki Trust, the region's development agency. Antony kindly replied with some interesting information which I've summarised at the end of this piece and a copy of the 2004 Economic Impact Assessment that was undertaken to support the business case for the Len Lye Centre. He explained that the Impact Assessment estimated that the gallery could attract 20,000 people and $2m in additional spending ($100 per head - I spent $164.50); and that the reality has exceeded the projections: between opening on 25 July 2015 and 4 January (2016), the Centre attracted 73,000 visitors.
From the 2004 Impact Assessment I learnt that Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage pledged $4m for capital construction, and that this enabled the Len Lye Centre project to attract impressive levels of corporate support - $2.5m from Todd Energy towards the construction of the building plus an additional $500,000 over five years for an innovative education programme. I learnt too that the whole project was driven by a strong Council-led vision about the economic and regeneration impact that creating a home for the "nationally important" Len Lye collection would have for "the wider community of New Plymouth District".
Inspired by what I'd discovered in New Plymouth, I started thinking about other cities which have successfully invested in arts and culture as part of their economic regeneration strategies. Reflecting on other trips I've made for the same reasons that took me to Taranaki led me to set about digging up some more economic impact figures. I looked first to Nantes in France, which I visited a few years ago to see the incredible Les Machines de L'Ile, a unique theatrical project within the urban regeneration area L’Ile de Nantes. In 1987 the area's shipyards closed and the city created a vision to regenerate this industrial land and strengthen its links with the city, the river and the Loire Valley. One key element of the vision was to encourage the relocation of creative/cultural entrepreneurs who were enticed with funding and offers of workshop space within former warehouse buildings. Jean-Marc Ayrault, Mayor of Nantes 1989-2012, was a major influence: "Nantes could become one of the European capitals of cultural and creative industries. But to exist tomorrow, we need to recognise this and invest today... During this economic crisis culture is not a luxury. It is essential." In 1989 he made a persuasive offer to international theatre company Royal-de-Luxe in an attempt to bring the company to his city - generous funding, a cargo ship and the use of a disused warehouse on the banks of the River Loire.
The figures speak for themselves: last year some 200,000 visitors passed through Nantes during the high summer tourist season, with an estimated spend of 42 million Euro (internet source).
Next I investigated closer to home in West Yorkshire. The Hepworth Wakefield opened in 2011, completing a ‘Sculpture Triangle' which also includes Yorkshire Sculpture Park and The Henry Moore Institute in Leeds. A stunning example of ‘Destination Architecture’ designed by architect David Chipperfield to house the city's collection of works by Barbara Hepworth, it received 100,000 visitors in the five weeks after its opening. In 2012 it had around 500,000 visitors and claims 1.4 million visitors in total to date. Annual numbers have settled to around 250,000.
A friendly source helpfully interpreted the economic value of the visitor numbers for both the Hepworth and Yorkshire Sculpture Park (also in Wakefield District): “I understand that Wakefield MBC calculates a secondary tourist spend of £16 per visitor, therefore they would estimate a visitor spend of £20 million in the area since the Hepworth opened (bearing in mind that there is a lot of estimation involved in impact claims). There is more verifiable data available for YSP (although the detailed work is out of date) because an economic impact study was undertaken in 2011. This showed that YSP's direct economic impact at that time was £5.5m, and that in addition to the jobs created at YSP the supply chain supported a further 45 jobs across Yorkshire. These figures were based on 277,000 visitors in 2010/11. In 2015/16 due to the installation of the hugely popular art installation, ‘Poppies’, the visitor numbers are likely to be closer to 600,000, so it would be reasonable to double the 2011 economic impact figures - so about an £11million impact. Estimating aside, when you look at the figures, it is arguable that each £1 of public investment in Yorkshire Sculpture Park generates a further £7 in economic benefit."
I rest my case! My research may have been cursory but it's affirmed what I already knew - the case for placing cultural drivers at the heart of a vision for urban regeneration is a pretty compelling one.
- There has been a considerable increase in visitor numbers to the region over the summer, and more and more stories of people choosing to visit New Plymouth because of the Centre, or basing their visit around it.
- The gallery has attracted a new curator from the Serpentine London, and a new business development manager and her family direct from in Germany, so the gallery is having a positive impact in terms of population attraction and bolstering the creative sector
- There has been a huge impact on neighbourhood regeneration — over the last few years (since the Len Lye Centre was announced) there has been upwards of $15 million invested in the immediate neighbourhood. The gallery has been catalyst in attracting a second airline to New Plymouth, and there has been an explosion in boutique accommodation, public art, dining options and creative retail.
- There’s been huge global media interest in the Len Lye Centre which has also helped promote awareness of the region and its creativity. It has attracted targeted visits by the Financial Times, New York Times, and more, and even hosted HRH The Duchess of Cornwall on their recent visit. The stories often look beyond the centre itself, and have helped gain attention for our artists, cafes, producers, makers, architects and retailers, putting New Plymouth’s creative community on the map.
- There are business success stories — the fabricators of the stainless steel façade, for instance, have since leveraged it to gain other contracts internationally.
Creative NZ - Arts Council of New Zealand http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/
Visit New Plymouth http://visitnewplymouth.nz/
Taranaki regional tourism website http://www.taranaki.info/
Arts Council England report 2015 - http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication/contribution-arts-and-culture-industry-national-economy
