Julie’s Bicycle and the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse invite you to join a conversation about cultural buildings and the pivotol role they play in understanding values and shaping resilient creative communities.

Over the last decade the idea that culture, communities, economics and the environment – in short ‘sustainability’ – are intimately connected has become pretty much accepted. What is less clear is how this translates into practice; too often different aspects of sustainability conflict with one another and bigger picture thinking is buried under a ‘business-as usual’ approach to cultural management. Through the story of the Everyman’s new building, Executive Director Deborah Aydon will be joined by a panel of environmental, social, cultural and economic thinkers to explore ‘cultural value’ and what it means to go beyond ‘business as usual’ and create forward-thinking sustainable spaces.

Guest speakers include:

• Deborah Aydon, Executive Director, Liverpool Everyman
• Steve Tompkins, Architect and Director, Haworth Tompkins
• Peter North, Reader in Alternative Economies, University of Liverpool
• John Holden, Associate, Demos; Visiting Professor, City University London; and Advisor to the AHRC’s Cultural Value Project
• John Kiefferwriter, policy adviser and consultant

The event is open to artists, local community members and audiences, local political representatives and will explore questions including:

1. We hear a lot about ‘values’ at the moment – every political party is laying claim to them. But what are we really talking about when we speak of ‘values’? Why is this important?

2. What ‘values’ do we want cultural buildings like the Everyman to embody? We tend to think about these spaces in relation to people and community, but what about our environment? Is the relationship between the environment and social wellbeing made clear?

3. What were the design principles behind the new Everyman? How were those choices developed and how does it meet the specific needs of this project in this community?

4. The creative economy is currently based on an assumption of perpetual growth, much like the wider economy. Is this the right model and, if so, how does it currently serve our cultural interests?

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Construction is underway on the Royal Opera House’s new Costume Centre at High House Production Park and JB were pleased to join our Culture Change partners to mark the occasion.

Designed by Nicholas Hare architects, the Centre will join the Bob and Tamar Manoukian Production Workshop – where all the ROH’s sets and scenery are made – on the 14-acre site in Thurrock. The Costume Centre is a partnership between the Royal Opera House, South Essex College and Thurrock Borough Council with support from the East of England European Regional Development Programme and the Foyle Foundation.

It will house all the costumes for opera and ballet productions currently in the repertory, which will enable the stock to be managed more efficiently, as well as reducing road mileage, transport costs and carbon footprint. The site will also house costumes obsolete productions so that designers may reuse or refashion costumes. The costumes will be kept in carefully controlled conditions to ensure they are properly conserved.

The building itself will be of the highest environmental standards, set to achieveBREEAM excellent status, best practice in sustainable building design.