ADVERTISER editor Glenn Ebrey asks - is Croydon a place for culture vultures, or have the vultures taken all our culture?
JUST after the previous election in 2010, the council had to make cuts. As much as we might not like it, the axe had to fall somewhere. The recession and subsequent programme put forward by the coalition meant councils, including Croydon, were left with little choice but to make savings somewhere.
After a public consultation, our council decided to take the guillotine to the arts.
This meant no more Croydon Summer Festival, no more Croydon MELA, and no more David Lean Cinema.
Since then, we've seen the curtain come down on the Warehouse Theatre and, more recently, it looks like the London Mozart Players will no longer be exclusive to our borough.
If you look at Croydon's social calendar, almost all the big events – Purley Festival, New Addington Carnival, Addiscombe Carnival, the big firework displays, etc. – are organised, run and funded by businesses and volunteers.
Not a penny comes from the council.
The debate was re-ignited a couple of weeks ago, when we ran a story about an award-winning mosaic in East Croydon, being left to fall into a rather sorry state of disrepair.
The article attracted thousands of views on our website and plenty of mournful comments, lamenting it as the latest example of the death of culture in Croydon.
But there are two counter-arguments against this discourse of 'council kills our culture'.
Firstly, at the time of the cuts, the council carried out a consultation which found people would prefer to see the axe fall on the arts, rather than any impact on areas like schools, roads or bin collections.
Assuming you support the argument that the council had to cut somewhere, surely it picked the right area?
It can also be argued that Croydon is developing a new kind of culture.
That new events like the Purley Festival and South End Food Festival show the power of community at its best.
That the underground music scene and venues like Matthews Yard show a vibrancy and energy – an edgier cultural offer for a new era.
And that, as with the recent revival of the David Lean Cinema, we are starting to see tangible, real signs of a cultural rebirth in our town.
There is still more to do – the most obvious gap being the glaring lack of a big, flagship event or celebration in our town centre.
But it's not wholly fair to say Croydon ain't got no culture.
You just have to look in the right places for it.
