Off to the City of Culture

It was a great to visit Hull earlier last week for the No Boundaries Conference, supported by Arts Council England and the British Council. This ‘third edition’ of No Boundaries was jointly hosted by Home in Manchester and Hull Truck Theatre with a series of around 30 different presentations live-streamed from both locations.

Congratulations must go to both venues and the hosts Anthony Missen, Catharine Braithwaite, Amanda Huxtable and Lee Corner for managing the timings, technology and tea-breaks so effortlessly! It really was an inspiring couple of days with delegates listening to a whole range of speakers. My highlights have to include the fantastic trio of Cultural Connectors (Helen, Farida and Susanna) from the Creative People & Places project Creative Barking & Dagenham; Rachel Coldicutt from Dot Everyone who made me realise that Eastern Angles’ touring model is a lot like Starbucks’s ‘outlet on every corner’ marketing ploy (not sure how I feel about that!); Inua Ellams for his engaging take on immigration (and being ‘easy on the eye’ – his words – fellow delegates will understand!), Jess Thom for her very moving account of everyday discrimination and the fantastic John Lord who valiantly stepped in at the last minute to deliver a cracking speech on how his Bolton-based Housing Association use Arts Community Officers to make the lives of their residents more bearable. Oh….and a chap called Nick Serota gave his first speech as Chair of Arts Council England!

On a break I took a walk around the city and saw the Weeping Window Poppy display at Hull Maritime Museum by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper….