Reignite 3
I adore York. It’s held a special place in my heart for as long as I can remember. One of my very first memories is of my besuited and bespectacled father returning to our London home bearing a present: a thumb-sized concertinaed book embossed with a golden image of the Minster containing tiny (and rather blurry) black and white photos of the city’s views. I delighted in it. Old books were his thing, and I suspect I attributed unwarranted value to this tiny burgundy ‘leather’ bound volume, seeing it as a parallel to those important-looking and out-of-bounds dusty tomes that lined the shelves above my head. Whatever my thinking, I invested my three-year-old imagination in it and the place it described. Little did I know then that his frequent visits north heralded a future that would, by 1970, see our whole family relocating from West London to a small village just north of York, leading to me falling in love with the place itself. Over the years, I have become increasingly grateful to the city for the sustenance and encouragement it has offered me. It’s somewhere that I am still (despite my daily commute) very proud to call home.
So, events like last night’s Reignite 3 make me extremely happy. Thanks to Cherie Federico (of Aesthetica) and others (too many to list here), the city feels as vibrant as I’ve ever known it.
Reignite is an initiative that aims to amplify and expand upon York’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts, awarded in December 2014:
A meeting point for ideas and creativity for two millennia, York’s rich history combines with our status as the UK’s first UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts to act as a powerful catalyst to attract, encourage and help grow York’s cultural and creative sectors.
York joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in December 2014, one of only 12 UNESCO Creative Cities in the UK, and moves in a global network of 246 Creative Cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor in sustainable urban development.
Reignite aims to encourage everyone in the City of York to think bigger and bolder, working together across sectors—creative, heritage, retail, hospitality, education, transport, and services—to make the UNESCO designation demonstrably relevant and meaningful for residents, businesses, and visitors alike.
At last night’s event, Helena Jones of AY-PE talked to a packed Tempest Anderson Hall about her company’s global work from offices in York. Louis Bamber from Button Down spoke about the hugely exciting TV projects they’re working on from within the shadow of York Minster, and Tim Leigh, Managing Director of Stage One, impressed (and amused) us all with the scale and variety of their work on the Olympics, World Cup opening ceremonies and everything in between. Each of them shared an enthusiasm for York, and Louis talked eloquently about how, in a London-centric industry, being based in the city was not only a differentiating story but a big influence on his company’s cultural attitude and their approach to their work.
After the talks, York Art Gallery hosted an event that allowed the very enthused audience to connect with one another.
Reignite looks firmly towards the future. That said, and perhaps this is simply a product of my age, many of my conversations last night looked backwards as much as forwards. It was very good to see Mark Fordyce, Matt Lazenby and Gill Greaves, all erstwhile partners in previous initiatives to ‘ignite’ collaboration between York’s creative businesses.
It was very good, too, to meet Pete Brandon, Louis’ joint MD at Button Down, and to share the trials and tribulations of our mutual relationship with our local football team, York City. Having trawled our way through a back catalogue of shared experiences at the hands of ‘The Minstermen’, we all (Button Down and Viridian / Motion people) ended up in the Eagle & Child.
As I have said, the evening made me extremely happy and excited. I started my first creative business in the city back in 1996, and I have been part of various initiatives intended to promote the city’s Media Arts profile since then. There was Creation, a creative network formed in 2000 (with Charles Cecil and James Houston), and the Sightsonic digital arts festivals of the early noughties. My current company, ViridianFX, was born out of a relationship with the University (a relationship that itself grew out of the Creation network), and so the collaborative possibilities that the city offers mean a lot to me. It was wonderful to see and hear from all generations in York —new faces & old— and to witness a level of excitement and belief that I haven’t witnessed here before.
York has always struck me as a place blessed with the spirit of congregation. The city has been a significant gathering place for two thousand years. Having largely sidestepped the Industrial Revolution (aside from the railways, which kept it connected), it retains a scale large enough to have clout but small enough that a collaborative conversation is only ever a short walk away. In a world increasingly asking how we live and work alongside AI and one another, York feels full of possibility. Last night felt like an embodied affirmation of that potential, a potential that seems increasingly likely to be realised.
It’s wonderful to see Cherie and others working so tirelessly to navigate a future for the city that feels both thrilling and achievable.
Whoop.
At the first Reignite event in September last year, I gave a talk stressing the importance of educational pathways within the city, the full text of which is here.
