Keep city alive with the sound of music

COULD York develop as a City of Music, or might such grand hopes disappear into the sky like those French drummers who took BBC Music Live to such spectacular heights over the May Bank Holiday?

Since the close of that four-day event, when York enjoyed a national music profile not previously associated with the city, there has been a ground swell of good intent to build on the momentum provided by the myriad events across York.

It was Peter Boardman, commissioning manager for York Leisure Office, who best summed up the hopes for the future, inspired by the festival's diversity.

"With the help of the BBC we were able to give prominence to musical talent from across the generations. It just shows the potential in York for developing as a city of music and we hope to build on Music Live's success next year".

Mr Boardman says plans are in motion to run a Music Live weekend event next June. "The BBC wouldn't be here of course, but the previous year we added our own festival to the BBC's Millennium Music Live event, and the BBC was very impressed by that festival.

"We very much want York's bands, choirs and musicians to be seen by wide audiences, so we want to do that kind of festival again with a couple of headline acts to set the standard.

"We're also looking to develop how to use it as a showcase and involve not only performers but for promoters and agents to see the range of music available in York to help bands and musicians move on to bigger things."

Mr Boardman would like to see the injection of sponsorship. "So far we've done it on a shoestring, but there's a limit to what you can expect people to do for nothing, so we want to attract sponsors, as we'd like to maintain the big Parliament Street stages and Museum Gardens marquee that we had this year because the BBC were involved."

Another voice striking a positive tone is that of David Porter, the Yapham-based jazz and literature promoter, who sought fresh pastures in Hull, Ilkley and Leeds after his inspirational tenure as York Arts Centre artistic director ended in frustration and exasperation a decade ago.

"We used to promote jazz very successfully at the Arts Centre in the late Eighties and early Nineties but the well-documented problems of that venue forced us to concentrate in other areas.

"The good news is that it's only now, after almost a decade of hard times that the cultural infrastructure is about to turn in York. Now is the time that it's attractive for promoters to return to large-scale contemporary gigs."

Boosted by his promotion of the sold-out Courtney Pine concert at York Theatre Royal during BBC Music Live, Mr Porter's company, Creative Arts Promotion, has received backing from Yorkshire Arts and York Leisure Office to stage major jazz events in the city.

To that end, from November 16 to 18, he will present a weekend of international jazz featuring American stars Scott Hamilton and Ray Bunch, Joshua Redman and the Loose Tubes innovator Django Bates, at venues York Theatre Royal, the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, National Centre for Early Music, Grand Opera House and Barbican.

"The confidence to go down this route and invest in York is due to the emergence of flagship initiatives such as City Screen, Early Music Centre, SightSonic Digital Arts Festival, the new Literature partnership and, especially, Music Live as encouraged by York Leisure Office in partnership with Yorkshire Arts," says Mr Porter. "It's an exciting time to be involved in York again."

Tim Hornsby, the entrepreneurial spirit behind such caf bars as Fibbers in York and the Blues Bar in Harrogate, is more cautious. "On the one hand, the music scene in York is very healthy and as ever there's an enormous young band scene, and it's really pleasing to see bands progressing," he says. "On the other, I have to say that although Music Live is a nice event, and it's good that everyone gets involved, it's forgotten about by the next week, and it doesn't make a long-term difference. York already has a healthy local scene driven by the likes of us and one special event in one year won't alter things."

He believes the city needs a venue with a 400-500 seat capacity. "But the trouble is, that venue can't stand alone; it has to be part of something else. There's no money to be made in music at this level; you do it for love. The dance scene is where the huge money is, and that scene is very fickle; it comes and goes and moves on.

"So I think it's going to take a brave person to open a 400-seater, and that person is not us. It's difficult enough to fill a 200-capacity venue each night."

Those sentiments no doubt hold resonance for music, literature and art promoters York Arts Arena, whose residency at the De Grey Rooms ran aground, that building being too much icing and not enough cake mixture, despite the popularity of the jazz and blues club nights in the Oak Room.

Chairman Ian Cooke says: "We've endeavoured to do our best within considerable constraints; we were immediately up against the problem of not being able to apply for funding for disabled access. We limped through to this year, and now we're looking again to see if we can make any avenues anywhere in another building.

"But my observations are, firstly, that there are very few venues with a 200-300 capacity; secondly, from an economic view, there's a perception that if a venue is within the city walls it's viable but expensive; outside is neither accessible nor viable.

"Nevertheless, a regular venue for the Arts Arena is something I still believe can happen and we shall continue to work towards that. Unless you're putting on something regularly you don't build up the public confidence that leads to regular audiences. Once you have that consistency then other things will build around it, as has happened in Leeds and Nottingham."

Interestingly, York Leisure Office is "still trying to press ahead" with working with York Theatre Royal with a view to re-developing the De Grey Rooms, according to Peter Boardman. The ultimate goal would be to turn the ballroom into a 350-seat auditorium for theatre and music - a prospect sure to concern conservation bodies.

"We need to establish what can be done with the fabric of the building; we have to present that case to English Heritage and we need to get to that stage quickly," he says.

Not for the first time, the need to preserve York's architectural history could stand in the way of musical and artistic progression.

Updated: 11:28 Friday, June 15, 2001