Danny Boyle: City of Culture win would be inspirational

Tyne Tees
Sunderland
Friday 29 September 2017 at 5:41pm

Danny Boyle. Credit: Clemens Niehaus/Geisler-Fotopres/DPA/PA Images

Danny Boyle, the film-maker behind Trainspotting and the opening extravaganza at the London 2012 Olympics, has told ITV Tyne Tees of the benefits a City of Culture win could bring to Sunderland.

Speaking in Sunderland, he said as well as financial benefits, a win could help inspire local artists who may not yet have realised their talent and ambitions:

It's part of the process by which a city clearly has the ambition to reach for something and you hope that Sunderland's rewarded with it, especially as I'm here in Sunderland, I'm backing Sunderland's bid. Obviously there's a visibility benefit, there are lots of economic benefits which are fairly proven I think now, but I think more importantly for me personally is what it does for the people of the city. Ne'er do wells will say it's a waste of money, but there's a silent group as well who actually see events that will inspire them, either into being a better person but it may also tickle an ambition that a person has. There'll be a JK Rowling out there and he or she may never get the courage to write, but events like this will make them chase something. When I started out culture and the arts were seen as being quite feckless, a bit indulgent, but now traditional professions that we once aspired to have become more insecure and less valued. There are certainly more jobs in culture, and there's been an explosion of jobs in television. I find it hard to hire crew because they are all working.