Phil Redmond is to chair a commission into how Liverpool can maximise the potential of its creative sector.
The creativity and innovation commission, set up by Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson, will look at how creativity can be “stimulated, nurtured and fostered” within schools and communities, how innovation can grow more businesses and how different sectors can work together.
The commission will also include the BBC’s Peter Salmon, Alistair Machray from the Liverpool Echo and Claire McColgan, director of Culture Liverpool.
Phil Redmond
Evidence from the sector, which employs 12,000 people in the city, will shape the commission’s recommendations.
Redmond is best known for creating TV series including Brookside, Hollyoaks and Grange Hill.
He said: “Liverpool has always been regarded as a ‘pool of creative talent’ and what the Commission will look at is how best we harness that heritage for future growth.
“What is it about this particular place that created the world’s first wet dock that revolutionised global trade that in turn made it, at one time, one of the richest places on earth? How that influenced its culture so that even through economic decline it further inspired people and their ideas that then went on to have global impact: whether engineering, architecture or literature or football or shopping or music, education, science and the arts the list of Liverpool firsts continues to expand.
“Everything, in the end, comes down to an idea. And that usually means someone, somewhere has been inspired to a single act of creativity.
“The Commission has been drawn from people with experience of developing creativity as a cultural tool and its role in social history and will be looking, above all, at what has, what does and what will continue to influence people and their ideas: then bottle it.”
Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, added: “I have asked Phil Redmond to look at what more we can do to try and take the city to the next level and make sure that current and future generations have the best possible chance of developing their full potential.”
The other members of the commission are:
- Peter Salmon – Director England, BBC
- Stuart Cosgrove – Director of Creative Diversity at Channel 4
- Alastair Machray, Liverpool Echo Editor in Chief
- Sir Ken Robinson – an internationally recognised expert on creativity and innovation
- Dr Denise Barrett Baxendale MBE – Chief Executive of Everton in the Community
- Dr David Fleming OBE – Director of National Museums Liverpool
- Aideen McGinley OBE – BBC Trust member
- Claire McColgan MBE – Director of Culture Liverpool
