Agenda item

A presentation from the Cultural and Visitor Development Director and Head of Cultural Programming and Partnerships.

The Committee received a presentation from the Cultural and Visitor Development Director and Head of Cultural Programming and Partnerships, which provided a comprehensive review of the City Outdoor Arts Programme across 2018, complementing the report considered under the next item.

The presentation also outlined events for next year’s major thematic campaign and programme – Fantastic Feats: the Building of London. Focussing on a series of anniversaries including 125 years of Tower Bridge, 200 years since the births of Joseph Bazalgette (of London Sewers fame) and Horace Jones (architect of Leadenhall, Smithfield and Old Billingsgate Markets), and 150 years since the opening of Blackfriars Bridge and Holborn Viaduct as well as the opening of Illuminated River, the programme will celebrate the art of invention, and the monumental engineering and architectural achievements that have made London great. London Festival of Architecture, Illuminated River and Greenwich and Docklands International Festival are already secured as major presenting partners.

In addition, provisional themes for the next five years were also proposed. These included:

2020 – Migration: a celebration of the City’s communities at home and abroad;

2021 – A Thing of Beauty from Keats to contemporary thought (an exploration of “beauty” – a major recurring theme of Keats work; noting the poet was born in the City and 2021 is 200 years since his death);

2022: Celebrate the City 2/Too (a celebration of the City’s contribution to the world, noting a number of banking anniversaries occur in this year and there are currently central Government plans to coordinate a “Festival of Britain” type event post Brexit);

2023 – From Dome to Dome: From Greenwich to Docklands and the City (a celebration of anniversaries of the Millennium Dome and Docklands redevelopment and the City’s connections and partnerships with both areas);

2024 – Poets and Hacks: the written City (commemorating 40 years since the death of John Betjeman (who lived in Cloth Fair) and his City loves (i.e. City churches), extending this theme to include Fleet Street and the story of the newspaper industry);

RESOLVED – That the presentation be received, and its contents noted.