2014: even more jam packed with culture and heritage!

[prev] …the museum. And what we’re trying to do is mix those up and show that these things can move from one quarter to another, and that heritage can also be arts, and we can make plays about this, such as we did with Dark Earth [2013’s community play, performed at Flag Fen]. I think we’re also trying to show that looking back at the past is not just about dead people; heritage is also about what happened last week. And, actually, 40 years ago is still fairly recent, and is affecting what people do today and what they think they are in Peterborough.

‘Dark Earth showed that people who hadn’t acted before could come along and be part of something bigger’

Do you believe that the arts can actually stimulate positive change?
I do, I do. At the moment, with River Lane, we’re talking to businesses, and we want people to come and get involved with the play. We don’t just want people who have performed before, we want people to come and do something different. They’re in the safe hands of professional directors and creative people, and Dark Earth showed that people who hadn’t acted before could come along and find it an interesting thing to do, and be part of something bigger. And we’re trying to encourage businesses, so that three or four people come along to be part of the community play. You don’t have to come on your own. You can bring friends with you, and you’ll be cast and there’ll be a play written around you.

So, it celebrates community at all levels – a team-building exercise, in effect?
Yes, and the people who were in Dark Earth really got a huge amount out of it. They got a review in the Observer on the last day, and they really felt like they had contributed to something, and came away with a feeling of solidarity. There’s nothing like that group dynamic. Then when you do something that has some connection to the city itself, and is something that hasn’t been done before, it gives it an extra kind of zizz!

‘This is a chance to be even more engaged and to actually be an active part of it, rather than watching passively’

Has it been hard to persuade people to take an active part?
These days I think people are looking for those opportunities. In the past, most people would go to church and that would provide a sense of unity and togetherness. People are looking for a subsititute for that. One good way might be to go to a football match or sports event. You go, cheer your team along and you’re all part of it. Well, this is a chance to be even more engaged and to actually be an active part of it, rather than watching passively.

Do you think some part of us craves this basic involvement all the more these days, now that so much happens at a distance – online, on TV…?
I think so. If you look at anything that’s happening live – whether it’s pop festivals, sporting events or theatre – attendance is actually going up. People spend masses of money being there, being part of the event. It’s not being squeezed out by the digital. Live events are still what people crave more than anything else.

What do you see as Peterborough’s potential for the future?
We’re in the middle of a recession, which is such a tough time. But I think it’s got the chance to reinvent itself, and to develop an ambition to ask for more resources. Peterborough’s now looking at investment, and some of us have started lobbying, getting in £160,000 for the Forty Years On project, for example. I think that will continue. And Peterborough has responded. We had hundreds of volunteers for Forty Years On – nearly a hundred for Dark Earth, and more again for River Lane. The festivals have been a huge success, and there’s Metal coming in as well, doing public engagement work, then there are things like the Broadway theatre reopening, coupled with the work Vivacity is doing… I think you’ve got an interesting cross-fertilisation of organisations now. They’re not all based in Peterborough, but they’ve… [cont]