Cities have always been important areas for creativity and the exhibition of arts and cultural activity. In recent years the growth of arts and creative industries has been seen as a priority. What makes cities special places for arts and culture? And where do cities and the arts go next? Peter Bazalgette, Chair of Arts Council England, puts forward his vision for arts and urban areas. Col Needham talks about the importance of Bristol in establishing the Internet Movie Data Base. Charles Landry (Comedia) and artists from Arcadia - responsible most recently for the giant spider show in Queen Square - respond.

Speaker biographies:

Peter Bazalgette is chair of Arts Council England and former chair of English National Opera. He has raised funds for arts and media organisations, notably as chair of The Crossness Engines Trust (a steam museum) and as deputy chair of The National Film and Television School. He serves on the boards of market researcher YouGov, and digital advertiser MirriAd and is on the Advisory Board of BBH. He is the president of The Royal Television Society and a non-executive director of ITV. He previously served as the Chief Creative Officer of Endemol and devised several internationally successful television formats. He was also a non-executive director of DCMS. He writes a regular food column for the Financial Times. He was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to broadcasting.

Charles Landry is an international authority on the use of imagination and creativity in urban change. In 1978 he founded Comedia, a globally oriented consultancy working in creativity, culture and urban change. He has completed several hundred assignments for a variety of public and private clients and given workshops in over 55 countries. In 2008/09 he developed the 'Creative City Index'. He has written several books including: The Origins and Futures of the Creative City; The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators; and The Art of City Making.

Col Needham is the founder and CEO of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). IMDb grew out of a personal database of movie information which he created as a teenager, combined with similar data collected on the Internet in the late 1980s/early 1990s. He published the first version of IMDb online in October 1990 and co-ordinated IMDb as a worldwide volunteer effort from 1990-1996. IMDb became a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com in 1998. Working from Bristol, he continues in his original role to this day. He received a 2014 Creative Coalition Independent Spotlight award for his work to support independent filmmaking and was a jury member at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

Immediately following this session there will be the launch of a new report: The Future of Culture in UK Cities, which investigates the status of culture in the UK and asks how culture might help cities to flourish over the next 10 years. The report reveals a surprising confidence in UK cities and – in spite of funding pressures – a refreshing spirit of collaboration within their cultural sectors. Written by BOP Consulting, the report is based on interviews with 50 opinion leaders in 12 cities. The Future of Culture in UK Cities report will be launched by Alex Homfray (Director of BOP) with Chris Murray (Director of Core Cities Group) and Sir Peter Bazalgette (Chair of Arts Council England).

Join us in the Watershed link bar 12.05-12.20 for the launch.

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