Peter's Grand Tour

The journey from Budapest to Pécs took around three hours. Again, lots of trees and greenery. Though just outside Budapest there was some really good graffiti art for a kilometre or two. There were also fields and fields of sunflowers and they were all facing the train and smiling at me. By coincidence one of my travelling companions took some papers out of her bag and promptly fell asleep. She’d already highlighted her work... I wonder if there’s something in the ink that induces sleep on long journeys?

Crumbs, I’ve just realised that i’ve just entered my fifth week. And I’m not half the shade of brown that I intended to be by this point. I’m going to have to do some serious baking.

I think I already knew, but I’m getting more evidence that no two cities that are Capital of Culture are the same. It means something different to each and each will make of it what it will. For Liverpool, it was our lifeline. I often said, pre-Tessa Jowell announcement, that if we hadn’t won, the Liver Birds would’ve flown away and Liverpool would have fulfilled the prophecy, and fallen into the sea. It was our saviour and we’ve turned it into some kind of god. We believe everything hinges on it and it owes us everything. We need to change our attitude and get on with what really matters - the work that we do and strengthening the arts infrastructure in the city.

Rant over.

There are so many commonalities and sometimes in Istanbul and Pécs the conversations that I had mirrored exactly those in Liverpool. One thing that is echoed is that without exception, artists and arts organisations think that the planning, programming and legacy issues are a mess ('catastrophic' was one word used in Hungary). The officials and those linked directly to the programming and the politicians say everything is going fine.

So back to Pécs. Not much physical evidence that they are to be Capital of Culture. Their buildings of beauty are revealed as just that, buildings of beauty, unlike some in Liverpool that have become billboards for the 08 logo (eg ABC cinema on Lime Street).

So, back to Pécs. One thing they really need to get sorted is how to sell train tickets. It took me 20 minutes to buy my ticket to Zagreb. The ticket seller kept moving things for no reason and opening and closing books and then moving things again. Then she disappeared for 10 minutes. How will they manage when they are overrun with tourists in 2010? I can’t imagine two cities more different than Istanbul and here. Istanbul with a population of around 14,000,000. Pécs has 170,000.

For the first time I felt out of my depth. The hotel I was staying in had 10 rooms. My fellow guests included a sports journalist from Germany who talked to me over breakfast about the Grand Prix and football. I wasn’t able to engage totally in conversation, as the only Grand Prix I’m knowledgeable about is the Eurovision Song contest (it’s called the Grand Prix in Europe). My other fellow guests were cigarette machine engineers from the Netherlands. We had a beer and ate crisps. One of them told me that there was no culture in Rotterdam - Capital of Culture in 2001 - just docks and muslims.

My meetings with the Artistic Director of the Bobita Puppet Theatre and an actor, Artistic Director of the (equivalent of) the Culture Company and two lecturers from the theatre department of the university (Pécs has the largest university in Hungary) were informative and revealing. Being Capital of Culture in 2010 was described as Pécs’ last chance after so much political, social and economic turmoil (compare with Liverpool). There have been between one and three resignations (or dismissals depending on who you speak to) and there are some exciting plans. The AD of the Cultural City Development is interested in collaboration with Hope Street (co-production, community engagement and artists from the city - there is a British Week in 2008 when the artists from Britain will only be from Liverpool.

The highlight of my stay was meeting Sznhay Marton of Mediator, an organisation that runs three outdoor/site specific installation/music/theatre/design festivals in Pécs each year. The company has just been given the old porcelain factory to use as its base and is a Creation Centre in the making. I spent the afternoon there finding out more about the plans to develop the building (if the landlord and funding is positive) and talking to the small but dedicated team of volunteers who are making the place happen. They’ve been there since March and transformed the place from a derelict shell to an adaptable performance/installation/making/rehearsal/experimental/worksop/living space. It’s rough and in the UK would fail health and safety and fire regulations at every hurdle, but it was inspiring and I got really excited by what it is and what the potential is. I was also inspired by the determination of Marton who described one of their 2010 lead in projects (taking place in 2008) that will involve artists from around the globe. By the end of the day he had visited Hope Street’s website, pasted the logo onto an A4 piece of paper and prepared a letter of support ready for me to sign, which of course I did. I even had a beer in the middle of the day.

I stumbled upon a Culture Coordinator working at the second place I stayed, a German guest-house. He told me about a festival that was currently taking place that involved artists from Essen, Pécs and Istanbul. I went along to the improvised dance performance in the tower within the ruins of the old city and met with the artists afterwards. The saxophonist from the Netherlands of Turkish descent has a sister working in South Africa helping kids with Aids. Via him I put her in touch with Adam McGuigan (www.adamstravels.com).

Three days was long enough in Pécs. I felt landlocked. There’s no river and it’s miles from the sea. I enjoyed some blistering sunshine but am looking forward to swimming in the sea. I woke the next day (my perennial 39th birthday) to be greeted by rain.

On June 21st, the hottest day of the year and a day when the TV and newspapers were warning of heat-stroke, I travelled with my 25 kilo suitcase to Budapest. The temperature was around 38 degrees. I loved it!

People have told me how fantastic it is to travel by train in Europe, so much scenery and you get to meet interesting people. The first part of my journey was with five people who didn’t understand the concept that air conditioning only works when the doors are closed. Despite this written in 5 languages (admittedly not in Croatian, which is a bit daft because this train goes through Croatia), they kept the door open. Our communication varied between me pointing at the sign and miming badly, and they smiling and fanning themselves. Fortunately they only stayed on the train for 2 hours. The next person entered the carriage, got some work out of her bag, took the top off her highlighter pen and fell asleep. So much for scintillating conversation. And as for the scenery... Well, I’m not a fan of being at one with trees and grass in England. In Croatia and Hungary they were pretty much the same.

Air travel for me every time.

[A note about Hungarian words: family names are first and first names follow, so mine would be Ward Peter. “Hello” means “Goodbye” and “Seeya” means “Hello”. Was this the inspiration for a shite Beatles song?]

Budapest is a city I’ve visited before and enjoyed the Turkish thermal baths, saunas and architecture. The transport is so good that I almost considered using my car less in England and using public transport. I banished that thought as quickly as it entered my head. Must’ve been the high temperature affecting my brain.

I walked along the Danube, visited grand buildings, visited old haunts and met a few locals. I also partook in plenty of physical exercise, as well as getting lost every time I ventured out of my apartment. Every time I boarded a tram, it went in the opposite direction, so I had to get off at the next stop to go the other way. I paid close attention to which direction the tram would go to take me home and every time my sense of direction failed me. I think the city sits on a huge turntable and every 30 minutes or so it rotates to fool the foreigners.

Walking along the streets at night I was surprised to see how many young people walk around drinking bottles of wine followed by chasers and beer. On the 23rd June (the closest Saturday to midsummer’s night) all the museums are open until 2am and offer free entry. I toyed with going on a museum tour, just for the experience, but instead chose to go to a bar for a different type of cultural experience.

I spent much time discussing why Budapest lost out to Pécs as Capital of Culture in 2010. Unanimously it was felt that the decision by government to award the title to Pécs was a political one; it is a socialist governed city, is close to Serbia, has a rich cultural heritage and needed the title. Parallels with Liverpool.

Everyone I met felt that it wouldn’t have made any difference to Budapest if it had been given the title, and that Pécs deserved it. Despite the universal positivity about the city, I was told that the planning was a mess, that there had been too many appointments and there were too many managers in post, there had been numerous resignations, there was a failure to engage with the local people and the whole affair was too closely tied into the city council....

During my stay I met the artistic directors of the Merlin Theatre (Macacs Laszlo), Budapest Puppet Theatre (Meczner Janos) and the Trafo Cultural Centre (Szabó György). I also met with Kórösi Orsolya a freelance cultural consultant who is International Projects Coordinator between Istanbul and Pécs for 2010.

I also met Lorant Krisztina, a friend and actor who worked with Hope Street in 1996 on our UK/Turkish/Hungarian co-production and did the Physical Theatre Programme in 1997. She's a huge star in Hungary, playing the lead role in their version of 'Neighbours'. She linked me to the artistic team at Pécs and is organising meetings for me in Graz and Vienna. We spent a lovely day by the Danube drinking beer, eating Langos (an extra two inches on the waist) and chatting. My final evening in Budapest was with old friend Cziraki Judit (who'd organised my itinerary), her husband and two gorgeous daughters.

Leaving the rain and cool weather of Turkey... I headed for Zagreb to the UrbanFestival www.urbanfestival.hr This festival develops arts projects in urban spaces. Its concept and politics are spot-on and Liverpool could learn much about designing creative projects in derelict urban spaces, and about developing long term projects with communities.

Artists submit ideas to the festival. Those selected begin before, or at the start of the festival and some continue long after the festival has finished. It is a festival of starting points and process rather than the usual fare of bringing a finished play or project and showing it. I first contacted Sonja, the festival director in July 06 and met her in Zagreb in January on a pre-sabbatical visit there. She also came to Liverpool in 2006. She should come back in 2008 to talk to artists about the festival and we should develop a model such as this, in partnership with BLOK (the organisation that produces the festival).

[Of course the problem would be our health and safety laws, fire regulations and licensing. These would strangle the creativity and turn such a programme into a festival of risk assessments].

The five projects I followed were led by artists from Chicago, Rotterdam, Berlin, Hamburg and Zagreb.

1. A People's Atlas - an exploration by local people of what Zagreb means to them. Within 5 days they produced a newspaper that was published in both Croatian and English);

2. Volksrekorders' Internet TV Platform - A series of 7 thirty minute films made by 9 artists with local people telling of their experience of Zagreb, living, working there, the politics, the corruption, their aspirations for the future);

3. Not Anymore/Not Yet a film to stimulate discussion about creative uses of desolate urban spaces. [Liverpool was featured. It was interesting to see clips of Wavertree, through the eyes of a German film maker presented to a Croatian audience as I sat in a run down cinema in a suburb of Zagreb]. I’d like to see the follow up stories as the film was 3 years old and Liverpool for one has changed). This film assisted my research into Creation Centres sparked loads of ideas;

4. Trik Casino Zagreb - the antithesis of what you’d expect at a festival. Instead of the audience paying to see an event/performance this invited individuals off the street to share a trick, any type of magic trick or other type of trick. For this they were rewarded with payment and they could enter the casino and spend the money at the makeshift bar or gamble and increase their winnings. The artists from Geheimagentur visited soup kitchens in Zagreb and invited the homeless community to share their tricks and for this they were rewarded with money;

5. Symposium of Invisible Film It would appear that the old cinemas are being sold, demolished or converted into shops. Archive films (pre-1990) were removed and are not shown. This film was a precursor to a film festival in July. If this were the UK, the project and the festival - along with Urban Festival would be invested in (Big Lottery, Heritage Lottery, Arts Council and particularly Heritage Lottery Fund). But instead the festivals and the work being developed is either undermined or ignored. I hope things change so that this work does not stop nor the enthusiasm and the passion of the organisers and artists does not wane. I hope that the ministry of culture and local councils begin to see the value of the work produced and of the heritage.

Zagreb is a hidden gem. It has beauty, culture, history and the people are amazingly hospitable. If you are lost, they will take the tram with you or walk with you to make sure you get to where you want to be. If you need an apartment, they’ll offer you a bed.

Zagreb jako jako lijepo

And so to Istanbul for a mixture of research, networking and looking for artists to work on Hope Street's projects in 2008. The four days in Istanbul were full-on. I was fortunate enough to meet with 10 organisations, all had plenty to say about European Capital of Culture 2010, when Istanbul shares the title with Essen (Germany) and Pécs (Hungary).

It’s interesting to hear about the anxieties that artists and organisations have about the expectations, how it is being organised, the themes (of Earth, Fire, Water etc). There are organisations that are embracing the year and have high hopes and will stage ambitious projects (Semaver Kumpanya) and there are organisations that believe that their contribution to the year is what they do (Garaj Istanbul), that there is a need for the infrastructure of the arts to be strengthened and that their ambitious and ground breaking continuous programme of work is what should be embraced by 2010. So they are not doing anything additional, because they believe that what they do and what they want to do in 2011, 2012 etc is what 2010 should be about.

I was inspired by my meetings with Semaver Kumpanya and Garaj Istanbul and have learned from both organisations. I’m keen to continue a dialogue with them and we are approaching the artistic director of the former to direct one of our projects in 2008. They are interested in involving actors from Hope Street in their 2010 project.

I met representatives of the Contemporary Performing Arts Initiative and members of the 2010 Artistic Programming Committee associated with Santral Istanbul who were concerned about parts of the programme, the lengthy committee meetings, the in-fighting and 2010’s legacy. Their concerns mirrored much of what has been, and is being discussed in Liverpool.

Istanbul has numerous festivals every week, art and ‘culture’ is embedded within the fabric of the city. What they admittedly lack, which Liverpool has been good at for the last 20 years, is engaging communities in the arts, contributing to the social and political development of the city, and making a difference to excluded communities. The models I described were of interest to several organisations. I was asked if models that Hope Street has developed are transferrable and I've been invited to speak at a conference in November.

The Tünel Street Art Festival was in full swing during my stay. There was a varied programme and I met with some of the artists and the festival director. The organisation had just been given the use of a dilapidated building in the centre of Istanbul, a prime spot with loads of potential. A rich Italian businessman offered them the use of the building for free.

Rich business persons in Liverpool interested in offering us a building to develop as our Creation Centre should contact me at peter@hope-street.org

I’d intended the first week of my sabbatical to be a transition from work to sabbatical, time out and absorbing myself in others’ creativity... To this end I planned to go to the Ordu International Children’s Theatre Festival on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. Hope Street took Drogo Island there. The play was scheduled for the second day of the festival, which meant that we could watch the rest of the shows in the festival and I could take time out to meet with other companies and relax...

Not so. I arrived in Istanbul to a flurry of sms messages: Katie and Dave, two of the actors, were ill. Katie in hospital with suspected food poisoning. Not so. It was appendicitis. By the time I was on my transfer flight, she was undergoing an appendectomy. (Dave was OK, just a touch of man-flu). Instead of arriving in Ordu to help with the technical rehearsal, my first stop was a florist and then the hospital. Katie was doing well, keen to perform at the end of the week... As if.

The other news to greet me in Istanbul was that the theatre company from Algeria had been involved in a coach crash: 13 in hospital; one unconscious for several days.

Shows were cancelled, the programme was rearranged and the municipality and Tobav (festival organisers) spent much time visiting artists and delegates in various hospitals 170 km apart. Incidentally, anyone fearful of being admitted to a Turkish hospital, don’t be. Katie was well looked after, the hospital staff were terrific and the place was scrubbed spotless.

To cancel Drogo Island wasn't a consideration. So thanks to the hard work of Dave, Jan and Rachael - Bronagh, who’d come out as assistant director and technician, was rehearsed into Katie’s part. And techno-phobe Peter took on the role of sound operator and of running the tech. We managed to see all the shows in the festival between us and rehearsed for three half days. Where did those days on the beach go...? We got one tan-fastic day on the beach - on the last day of the festival. Our technical rehearsal finished at 3am; the first performance was at 11am the next (same) day. The show was a success and all credit to the actors for their sheer graft and flexibility.

There was a mixture of shows from international groups, including Lithuania and Germany, and from theatre companies from Turkey. The Algerians made it to one performance and took a bow and were the life and soul of the welcoming party.

For me, it was a variation to the usual work I do now and it was a challenge for all of us. Nothing went according to plan, but at the end of the day does it really matter? Go with the flow and make the best of it. Keep things in perspective. When people (usually arts managers) tell me how bad things are, and how such and such a person has done this or that to offend them/scupper their plans or whatever, I often use the phrase - “did anyone die”. It’s my (ironic) way of saying, “get things in perpsective”. I was pleased we all got to the other side of this troubled festival and to be able to say that no-one died. It could’ve been so different.