Insider Media Limited

The launch of Spirit Nottingham last week taught me a couple of things: firstly, I never want to have to describe to 100 people how a website works, and, secondly, the merging of the arts world and the business community is now more blurred than ever.

According to Stephanie Sirr, chief executive of Nottingham Playhouse, culture and the arts is worth £100m to the local economy, and the great and the good were out at the launch of Spirit Nottingham (a new website aimed at showcasing the city’s cultural offer).

It was almost impossible to tell who was from the business community and who were the from the arts community. Why? Because nowadays, it seems that, give or take a Birkenstock sandal or two, they’re pretty much one and the same.

“Collaboration is the only way forward to protect the arts in Nottingham following the 30 per cent cuts announced in 2010, and further cuts to arts budgets revealed last month. The arts is big business in the city and makes a big contribution to the local economy,” said Sirr.

As well as the city’s major galleries and theatres venues including the Capital FM Arena and Broadway Media Centre, the Spirit Nottingham website features performances and exhibitions ranging from the smallest independent galleries to the largest scale events. Music venues like Rock City, the Rescue Rooms and Bodega are featured – as well as other niche galleries and small music venues.

“This is the first time that Nottingham’s cultural sector has come together to jointly promote the incredible diversity and quality of the city’s arts, heritage, food and drink offer,” said Shona Powell, director of the Lakeside Arts Centre.

“At a time when all sectors are under increasing pressure, it’s never been more important to work in effective partnerships. Spirit Nottingham is about raising the profile of the arts and helping more people to access and enjoy cultural experiences.”

And here’s the revealing rub. Powell added: “The arts have been something of a ‘hidden’ industry in Nottingham – and yet more than 1,500 people are employed in the arts making it one of the largest employers in the city.”

The figures sound impressive. In 2009 in Nottingham, eight venues with 776 local staff hosted 5,859 performances for over two million people bringing £76m into the region.

In the same year 2,166,499 people came to see a cultural event within the city of Nottingham. Before sitting down to watch the show this audience spent £73.5m on transport, parking, local food & drink, and accommodation. In fact the total economic impact to the region of this audience is £97.8m

The cultural audience is broad and diverse, says Spirit Nottingham (although this was hard to gauge at the launch event): 20 per cent of people come from hard pressed or moderate means backgrounds, 11 per cent from culturally diverse areas; in 2009 alone 57,311 concessions were purchased from recognised deprived NG postcodes.

The year before last there was an average of 16 performances per day to see within Nottingham. On average, 5,606 people attended a cultural event within the city every day. In 2009 artists from over 40 countries travelled to Nottingham to perform. These artists alone created over 10,000 bed nights within the city. The performances ranged from ballet to rap, from Tibetan teachings, to stand up comedy, from feature films to shadow puppetry.

You can pluck figures from anywhere, of course, but with the private sector still struggling to fill the public sector gap, maybe the culture and the arts could sneak through the back door and give Nottingham a timely boost.

Comments? Sam Metcalf, Insider