Reading Roars!

Reading residents are being asked by Reading Borough Council what they think the town needs to make it a “truly cultural” city. 

Interested parties can share their views during an event held on Tuesday 29 July at Reading’s Town Hall, or alternatively submit them via the council’s website.  Ultimately, a new Cultural Strategy will be produced.

So, how can we make Reading a truly cultural city?

First of all, Reading is not a city.  It’s a town. 

Secondly, what is meant by ”cultural” and “truly cultural”?  Culture is a word that’s not easily definable.  It includes music and cinema, art and literature.   We also have “consumer culture” and “binge-drinking culture” (both highly evident in the town). 

There are also more obscure manifestations of culture, such as flash-mobbing and spraying on public walls (both rightly or wrongly).  As such, any expression or product of human work and thought could be seen as culture.

Following on from this, what does “truly cultural” actually mean?  What is it that we want to achieve?  How will we know when we get there (how can we measure this)?

It could be argued that with local “treasures” such as the world-famous Reading Festival, Reading Water Fest, Reading Fringe Festival, Reading Museum, Rising Sun Arts Centre, South Street Arts Centre, Hexagon and Progress Theatre, Reading is culturally rich already.   The town’s ”art scene” is commended in backpacker bibles The Lonely Planet and Rough Guide, with particular mention of Reading Festival and (curiously) WOMAD (indeed, very little else is said about the town).

Would truly cultural mean more events?  A greater diversity of cultural expressions?    

Keeping it simple, I believe that more could always be done to encourage the development of ”culture” in the town, with a particular emphasis on keeping it local (local themes, local artists etc.).

Here are some ideas:  

Put on another annual festival (or two).   Choose from the following:

• Music, arts and dance.  Yes, a WOMAD replacement.  WOMAD was a terrific event that Reading formerly hosted, now staged in Wiltshire.  Please let’s have an equally strong festival to take its place.  Evening Post readers appear to agree, with 59% of website poll respondents voting that they would go to WOMAD this year - but only if it was in Reading.
• Film. An annual film festival showing independent productions (especially locally made) and offering prizes would be brilliant.
• Digital.  Brighton has one (with workshops, discussions and networking opportunities) - let’s have one for Reading, too.  I can see it being very successful, as Reading is home to exciting technology startups as well as established players such as Microsoft and Oracle Corporation. 
• Food. Gastronomy has really taken off in Britain in recent years as a passion.  We have gastropubs, celebrity chefs and food markets all fuelling the nation’s appetite.  In Reading we have a farmers’ market and organic market (Global Cafe).  Let’s develop these into a food extravaganza showcasing food from the region (such as meat and dairy products, and beer).  We could also promote Reading food overseas (and help destroy the perception that all English food is awful!).
• Fashion.  I don’t know too much about this (as you can probably tell by looking at pics of me on this blog), but I’m aware that it has a huge and growing following, thanks to the likes of Gok Wan, Trinny and Susannah, and erm…
• Literature.  Put the reading back in Reading.
• Urban art.  Banksy is big.  Let’s have a graffiti competition in the town (using walls produced for this purpose) to determine who’s the top tagger.  

Create a cleaner, greener and nicer environment.  By this I mean:

• More pedestrianisation and green spaces.  Reclaim Reading’s streets for the people!  Much has been achieved in this area already, which is very encouraging. I’d expect this would draw more people out of their houses and develop new connections.   It should also attract more street artists.
• Commission pieces of art by local artists.   I’d love to see more features in Reading town centre.  At present, the retail aspect is too strong.

Deploy a town-wide WiMax network.  This, too, should attract more people to our public spaces and announce Reading as a ”digital” town.  It would be great for virtual workers and great also for fostering online creativity.

Organise more creative workshops. Let’s offer the town’s young people the opportunity to try something new, such as experimenting with digital media (blogs, podcasts) or musical instruments. 

Designate an annual Culture Day. One day of the year, to bring attention to the town’s cultural attractions. 

Support the independent retail sector.  A “clone town” (for that is what we have in the form of Broad Street and The Oracle) is not especially inspiring, in my opinion, but there is hope.  The Oxford Road (or at least part of it) is a bit of an indie hub, as demonstrated by the likes of Workhouse Coffee, Art Junction Cafe and Moondog Cafe (is it Moondog?), and that can only be a good thing.

What makes a town unique?  It is said that the people make the town.  It is true of Reading, in my opinion, derided by some outsiders who describe it as “soulless” or a “commuter town” (quite a derogatory tag). 

There really is more to Reading than a busy railway station, commercial high street and shopping centres.  There are buzzing personalities who give the town a distinctive identity, through their community deeds for example, or their running of independent cafes and historical pubs.

It is a theme that I am exploring with a new podcast series, Roarcasts.   In this series, I aim to find out through informal conversations what makes busy people (local business owners, artists and community leaders, for example) in Reading tick, why they do what they do in Reading (as opposed to anywhere else) and what they have planned for the future.      

The series begins with a chat with Tutu Melaku of Tutu’s Ethiopian Table, the Ethiopian restaurant and catering service based at Reading’s Global Cafe.  In Roarcast #1, Tutu revealed to me why she started Tutu’s Ethiopian Table, what her most popular dish is, the importance of Ethiopian coffee and more. 

Before going any further, I should add that I was inspired by podcasts giants Nick Saalfeld and Mike Southon with their Beermat Radio podcasts and Alex Bellinger of SmallBizPod fame.  As for the apparently curious name “Roarcast”  (sounding somewhat like “broadcast”), this was wittily suggested by Joff Hopkins of Reading 107 FM.

Without further ado, the running order for Roarcast #1 (11 minutes 10 seconds) is below.  Please let me know what you think.  It’s a first for me, so plenty of room for improvement!  At times you will hear the sound fade out and in.  It’s a fairly crude editing technique for when I want to snip certain sections, but I’m a newbie and expect to come up with something better.

• 00:00:00  Introduction
• 00:00:48  Tutu’s Ethiopian Table: how it started
• 00:02:46  About the food
• 00:03:29  Authenticity, Fair Trade and keeping it local
• 00:05:52  (Ethiopian) coffee and popcorn
• 00:07:30  The most popular dish
• 00:07:57  Global specials: food from other countries
• 00:09:00  Ethiopian music and dance
• 00:10:10  Tutu’s Ethiopian Table opening times

 Roarcast #1: Tutu Melaku and Tutu’s Ethiopian Table [MP3]

A 5km walking/running challenge is to be held at Palmer Park on Sunday 6 July in aid of Sense, the deafblind charity.  If you think 5km is not much of a challenge, you can try the race blindfolded (with the help of a guide).  

For more information, ring 01372 840321 or contact Ed Charles at ed.charles@sense.org.uk.

I keep thinking that, on the talent front, Reading should be more like bohemian Brighton.  Or Oxford. 

Brighton has formidable digital talent (must be something in the sea air) and is quite rightly regarded as a creative hotspot.  Reading has its fair share of geeks, yet does not share the same creative accolade as the seaside city. 

Oxford has produced an abundance of musical talent in recent years, but where is our Radiohead or Supergrass?  We seem more content with hosting word-class acts (itself not a bad thing) than producing them.

Rescue is on its way, it would appear.  Fabulous and Undiscovered is a recently launched glossy magazine aimed at getting undiscovered talent noticed.  More information, including a sample magazine, can be found on the FU website.

Now, back to my movie script…

I’m not feeling so perky this afternoon, thanks to the wonderful institution that is the Reading Beer and Cider Festival. My, how it’s grown! I’d been on 3 previous occasions and remember it being a fairly intimate event. Now there are 2 big tents - and a longer queue to get in.

Damn that queue. I was waiting for 90 minutes to get in. Walking across the strip of land separating the entrance from the long line of patient humanity was an absolute joy. However, once in I discovered that the tent was only half-full (or half empty, but let’s be positive). So why force people to wait an hour and a half to get in? It just didn’t seem logical. They must come up with a better system next year.

The other major surprise was the beer shortage. There were so many pink cards. Cards indicating empty barrels. This was early Saturday evening (around 6pm) approaching probably the busiest (and most profitable) time of the festival - and most beers had gone. Not ideal. But no matter - I was there mainly for the Belgian beers (I recommend the fantastic Captain Cooker) and there appeared to be many continental bottles still available. I really wasn’t disappointed and spent the next hour or so nerdily adding notes to the official festival guide.

Of course, when you are drinking stuff that is around the 10% mark, you’re going to have to eat at some stage - or face an early trip home. Thankfully, the food stalls (Thai, pies, crepes…) were pretty good. I was very pleased to see a familiar Reading face serving the festival public: Greg of Workhouse Coffee. The fact that he was about 5 minutes away from Reading’s other giant Tesco store amused me. Greg and Tesco seem to go together (sorry Greg). Anyway, his delicious croissants combined suprisingly well with my Proefbrouwerij Boerken (9.5%, ‘Dark brown ale, with hops and caramel’). A new breakfast treat, perhaps, though probably best sampled during the weekend.

On the whole, the festival vibe was magnificent. There were many young people (students, possibly) sitting on the grass, enjoying the warm weather. Others danced indoors to the entertaining (if a little unoriginal) live music. It really did feel like a giant pub, very much unlike the Great British Beer Festival. I went to the Earl’s Court event last year and it felt cold, clinical, harsh and soulless. It had all the charm of a nuclear bunker. As a conference venue attracting badge-wearing buyers in suits it’s great. But you can’t stick a beer festival in there. It’s just not right.

The Reading Beer and Cider Festival will undoubtedly continue to grow in size and importance, perhaps one day equalling Reading Festival in size (why not?). All very good, but many traditional pubs serving exactly the type of ale sold in the festival are facing a less rosy future. It’s a changing world indeed.

I’ve been blogging for about 3 years now, covering topics such as Reading FC’s breathtaking first season in the Premiership, the town’s dating scene, pubs and pies, and so on.

It’s graffiti, however, that consistently attracts the majority of visitors (the term accounted for 78% of searches in the last 30 days), most of whom are American, and all because of an image I posted of a beautifully painted wall.

So, here’s something to gorge on, graffiti lovers: the same wall (exterior wall of The Turks pub) as it was and how it looks today. Banksy it ain’t. I prefer the original.

Actual wall

Previous wall