Backing for 2013 bid

Alison who is the manager of the Newbuildings Youth and Community Centre says that a winning the designation would bring fantastic benefits to all areas of the city.

"I think it would be absolutely fabulous, we love our city and it would be absolutely fantastic. I think some people don't realise just what a big deal it would be but if we do get it I'm sure the excitement will start to spread," she said.

Alison has already seen the value of cultural projects in building a sense of ownership of public space within a community through the Newbuildings Community Association's involvement in the creation of 'SHOAL' a piece of public art representing the salmon fishing heritage of the area and inspired by ideas from young people from Newbuildings, Lettershandoney and the Foyle Road.

"We wanted people on both sides to be involved to come together and talk about their difference and what was common and the big area of common ground was around fishing. There was lot of fishing in Newbuildings and on the other bank of the river out the Foyle Road. People who previously wouldn't be involved in community projects have got themselves involved through the art project and some of the young people got involved have stayed involved even though they have moved into their late teens. We would often lose them at that age but they seem to have remained engaged."

Alison was one of the speakers at the The 'City in Transition' conference took place at the Waterside Theatre last week which was organised by the North West Carnival initiative and Derry City Council to bring together individuals, community groups and statutory organisations to create an inclusive platform to assess the role of creative activity in public space and bringing communities together.

Vital

Alison believes that getting local communities like that in Newbuildings on board will prove vital in creating a successful bid for UK City of Culture 2013 status.

"I think the consultation is very important. You have to plan the consultation you have to go to go people at every stage, not just halfway through or near the end when plans are already drawn up. If you can talk to people when you are working with an empty space and ask them 'what do you want in that space?' When you do that, people see the value of art as far as regeneration and they want to become involved in other projects. If people are consulted they have an emotional engagement with the art that they otherwise wouldn't have had. That's why it worked so well for us. We were involved from the very start through Derry City Council who supplied the community artist. The idea for the salmon theme came from our community. I think that process is already happening. ILEX has engaged with communities, certainly through the City Scope survey that we were involved in and I think that will continue through the culture bid," she said.