Governments are using culture to spur economic regeneration

livemint.com:

Manchester, has long reflected the city’s ambitions. Thanks to its proximity to the River Irwell, the site became a hub for the booming cotton and timber trades during the Industrial Revolution. After the second world war, as the city’s economy turned towards services, Britain’s first purpose-built television studios were set up there.

(Most of the studios were closed or relocated in 2013.) Now the area is undergoing yet another transformation. On June 30th a multi-use arts venue on the banks of the river—costing £211m ($268m) and spanning more than 140,000 square feet—welcomed its first visitors. The building, initially called Factory International but recently rebranded as Aviva Studios, was announced in 2014 by George Osborne, then the chancellor of the exchequer.

It is mostly funded by the government and Manchester City Council and is the biggest investment in a cultural project in Britain since Tate Modern in 2000. Mr Osborne saw Factory International as part of his “northern powerhouse" policy, which aimed to boost the economies of places such as Manchester and Newcastle, and to shift jobs, investment and influence away from the south-east of England. According to recent data from the Office for National Statistics, London’s gross value added (GVA, a measure of output) is around 10% higher than the total of 11 other “core" cities, including Manchester.

Mr Osborne has since left politics—he is now chairman of the British Museum—but talk of “levelling up" continues. The venue was designed by Ellen van Loon of OMA, an esteemed architecture firm, and its façade evokes Manchester’s mishmash of period buildings. Inside, a vast warehouse space can be configured in various ways; thanks to high-tech acoustic walls,