A new cultural director started work in Croydon on April 1 after Paula Murray was appointed to spearhead the borough’s cultural ambitions.
Previously in charge of the Royal Pavilion and 300 annual events in Brighton, her priorities inclde leading the vision for the rebuilt Fairfield Halls and developing a new creative programme for the borough.
Here we talk to Paula about the role of culture in Croydon’s regeneration.
WHY DOES CROYDON NEED A CULTURAL DIRECTOR?
Because Croydon is at a particular stage in its development with a huge amount of regeneration happening including very significant investment in Fairfield Halls to return the venue to its original splendour. This post is designed to bring those things together and make the most of the cultural offer.
I would just say creative director is a slight misnomer is some sense because it isn’t for me to shape what events take place. My job is to create the conditions where that can happen. It is for our cultural organisations to come forward with the ideas.
WHY SHOULD DEVELOPERS BE INTERESTED IN CULTURE?
It makes better and more successful sites. Often a cultural input can provide an answer to specific challenges relating to safety or wayfinding or it can provide the heart and soul of a particular scheme, preventing it from becoming an island or dormitory site. In a broader way the economy will benefit because a thriving cultural offer will impact on jobs, secondary spend, and make the borough a more successful place.
YOU HAVE COME FROM A SIMILAR ROLE IN BRIGHTON. HOW DOES CROYDON COMPARE?
When you come out of East Croydon Station there are these wonderful tall buildings and that urban element is very exciting. Brighton is further down the line in terms of the development of the cultural offer and its visitor infrastructure.
There are good organisations to work with here and Croydon also has the advantage of being part of Greater London – the transport links are much better here. I’m absolutely not here to turn Croydon into Brighton – that would be madness and impossible. It’s on a different path.
HAVE YOU GOT ANY TANGIBLE TARGETS?
Certainly more people involved in everything. I would be great if we could have a cultural calendar so that events happen on a regular basis and are treasured. I want to see Fairfield successfully refurbished and open and flourishing and running.
I’d like to see the reputation of Croydon change outside of the borough in terms of culture. I can’t wait for the physical changes that are going to come with the regeneration sites and the opportunities that come with that. I’m riddled with targets!
Croydon Food Festival is now in its fifth year in the town’s Restaurant Quarter
HOW IMPORTANTS ARE FESTIVALS IN TERMS OF WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE
Festivals are a really important part of that cultural calendar. Many people have talked about the Mela and the place it occupied for Croydon was very important – a very wide range of groups came together and there was this lovely moment of coherence.
It was by all accounts quite an expensive event and we have to find different funding models. In Brighton when events have reached that stage is we’ve looked at a model of charging for them. For example with Pride there’s a free element, the parade, and a charged element in the park.
That didn’t happen with the Mela here and it’s left a gap for that big event that people can come together. However, I think it would be a mistake to say let’s bring it back. This is all about Croydon moving forward and I’ve been talking to people and hearing about their ambitions for that. But these big outdoor events are expensive.
FAIRFIELD HALLS IS GOING TO BE CLOSED FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS. WHAT HAPPENS IN THE MEANTIME?
The cultural calendar has to make up that difference for the period of time that the Fairfield is closed. It has to hang on to those audiences and develop new audiences as well. When Boxpark opens in September that will provide a venue for culture alongside its food and drink offer.
Fairfield is home to the London Mozart Players
WHAT DO YOU SEE FAIRFIELD HALLS BECOMING WHEN IT REOPENS?
Make no mistake, Fairfield is the most important part of the cultural offer in Croydon. It’s the biggest venue by far, it’s where the biggest investment is going in and it’s likely to have the highest profile. It’s a fabulous set of venues.
We will go through a procurement exercise this summer to develop an operating model. We are also having a peer advisory review with the Theatres Trust in June who will conduct a very thorough review of all aspects of the Fairfield development. It really has to answer so many needs in terms of what our residents want to see there.
They want to see our young people performing on those stages, they want to see it open more of the time with activity happening throughout the day, they absolutely want a quality classical music offer because that’s what the Halls were built for, we are lacking a focal point for dance in the borough, the Ashcroft is a lovely space for drama and there is also room for a good conference offer.
We have hotels in Croydon which do quite well but we don’t have much in the way of conferencing facilities and business tourism. That is undoubtedly going to be an income strand in a newly operating Fairfield. Financially it has struggled in the past and the building does need a pretty significant refurbishment.
HOW DOES A BIG PROJECT SUCH AS FAIRFIELD SIT AT THE HEART OF A REGENERATION SCHEME?
I think that works very well. Culturally led regeneration has been the success in Brighton over the last 15 or 20 years. What was a horrible car park for years became a beautiful modern library and if a cultural facility like that in the heart of a regeneration scheme is run in the right way, people do feel ownership of it. It is exciting here that people are up in arms about the Fairfield.
Goodness me, people are sat watching to see what’s going to happen over there but I would far rather people were passionate and excited than everyone was ignoring us. So people are watching this space.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO DEVELOPERS. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE THEM TO BRING TO THE PARTY?
For me it’s about having the conversations with the developers and the architects as early as possible. It’s another thing we have done very successfully in Brighton over the last best part of 20 years is quite a strong policy around art in the public realm with developments over a certain scale.
There is the same opportunity here with these big schemes coming forward and there are so many examples now of the benefits of art in the public realm and including public art in the broadest sense.
That means everything from a little trail in the ground through to major pieces or space for activity or a use of colour. I would like developers to be open minded about it and to see it as an integral part of the development not as a bolt-on. I think public art practice is much more understood and accepted nowadays. A cultural input can often provide the solution to the challenges on a site.