Russell Borthwick, chief executive, Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce
Aberdeen’s cultural ambitions are a key element of our economic ones and this is an area where we are seeing a lot of positive change with a growing passion to redefine our future.
Organisations throughout the region are now working more closely together than ever before to agree and deliver our renaissance region vision and culture is a key part of this. We believe the new 10-year Culture Aberdeen strategy will play a big part in continuing the city’s transformation into a cool and cultured place.
How many cities of the world do you have on your ‘favourite places’ list and, more importantly, can you pinpoint exactly what it is that makes them so appealing?
A panel of Time Out experts last year ranked 75 locations according to six criteria: architecture, arts & culture, buzz, food & drink, quality of life and world status. It was little surprise that New York topped the list, followed by London, Paris and Berlin but what would happen if we were to measure Aberdeen by the same yardstick?
We are already Scotland’s capital for food and drink production, regularly feature at the top of quality of life surveys and offer stunning man-made and natural architectural wonders the length and breadth of the region.
There is upwards of £42million of investment going into Aberdeen Art Gallery, the transformation of the historic Music Hall and the addition of major international events like Nuart, the Tour Series cycling and the painted doors project to a year-round programme of contemporary and cool art, jazz, light and comedy festivals is changing the cultural outlook of the north-east.
These events bring colour and vibrancy to the area and are just the start of developing a world-class events strategy that aims to change the way people see us.
The first Great Aberdeen Run last year brought thousands of visitors to the city region for the first time and the Kelpies creator Andy Scott’s new installation, the Leopard, is a striking addition to the £107m Marischal Square development in the heart of the city centre.
Favourite destinations are special to lots of different people for lots of different reasons. Aberdeen is the impressive and unique gateway to an amazing region, the heart of a modern, economically strong and thriving regional economy driven by successful business, with world-leading skills and education and an internationally attractive leisure, tourism and retail destinations.
Talking to people in other parts of the UK there is still a sense that the North-east is somewhat infamous for being a cold and inaccessible outpost with a ‘glass half-empty’ outlook. Our cultural credentials are strong, what we need to get better at is articulating an authentic narrative that accentuates all the positives that we already have and the exciting plans in place for the future – but that mobilises the people of the region to become our storytellers.”