Agenda item

The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“2 Key Issues

2.1      The programme of civic meetings included Mayor Dean of Nashville, Music City Council, Metro Council, Warren Center for the Humanities, Curb Centre for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy, Nashville Convention Bureau and meetings with the Director of Economic and Community Development and Sister Cities.

     Outputs from the visit are as follows:

-       Following an invitation from the Council Elected Members, a delegation of up to 15 industry professionals, elected officials and community members have confirmed attendance at Belfast Music Week (13–17 November 2013).  There is further potential for Mayor Dean to attend with the confirmed Metro Council Members.  Members will be aware that Belfast Music Week, which included over 250 events in 70 venues, had an economic impact of over £2.08 million for the city and is a celebration of local bands and venues, featuring live music performances, workshops, seminars and networking events.

     The delegation will include the following who will deliver industry programmes:

1.    Randy Goodman, Co-Chair (with Mayor Dean) of the Music City Council and former Global President of RCA Records with key US industry representatives from the Music City Council including Ken Levitan, founder and president of Vector Management (Kings of Leon and Emmylou Harris).  The Music City Music Council is an association of business leaders charged by Mayor Karl Dean with developing strategies toward heightening the awareness and development of Nashville as a global music city and is a partnership between the Nashville Mayor's Office, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau.  This includes the development of creative enterprises, publishing, artist development, technology, media and cultural tourism.

2.    Key representatives from Google and YouTube to present Google for Creators, an initiative to empower cultural industries to better create, expose and promote their art, build bigger audiences and monetize content.

3.    Nashville Industry businesses who support creative and cultural industries both in traditional and technology infrastructure.  Further outputs include:

-       Queen’s confirmed a plan to host a festival of creativity of the Creative Arts and Collaborative Humanities in relation to linkages between the two universities.  This includes cultural tourism products developed in partnership with Belfast City Council, including the new Belfast Soundwalks project linked to Literary Belfast, Dept of English, Sonic Arts Research Centre, through the Institute of Collaborative Humanities.

-       New Creative Industry linkages with the Nashville International Film Festival who will include a Belfast premiere in their 2014 programme.

3   Resource Implications

3.1      A cost of no more than £5,000 for a Civic Itinerary for the delegation and reception at Belfast City Hall to be found within the Tourism, Culture and Arts 2013/14 budget.

4   Recommendations

     It is recommended that Members:

-       Receive a presentation from the Co-Chair of the Nashville Music Council

-       Approve Officers putting together a Civic Itinerary for the delegation and to host a reception at Belfast City Hall at a cost of no more than £5,000

-       Approve including key partners such as the US Consulate, DETI, DCAL, Invest NI, Arts Council NI, Creative and Cultural Skills, Visit Belfast, NITB and Tourism Ireland to ensure a joined up approach in relation to positioning Belfast as a Creative and Cultural City.

The Committee adopted the recommendations.