The Brighton Paradox: THE CUSP

[00:00:00] This podcast is brought to you by Always Possible, alwayspossible.co.uk

[00:00:14] This is where I bow out. Thank you for joining me on this crazy investigation.

[00:00:21] You've only heard about 10% of the audio we recorded but it has still been a long series

[00:00:27] so bless you for keeping up. In this final episode I'm going to hand over to my contributors

[00:00:33] and hear their wishes for the next decade, hopes and dreams, fears and anxieties.

[00:00:39] I won't keep interrupting and tell you who's speaking, I'll put that all in the notes,

[00:00:44] numbering who's speaking and where they're from. This sprawling conversation about

[00:00:50] Brighton and Hove's prosperity is already continuing outside of this podcast, of course it is,

[00:00:56] but it's starting to take some new shapes. It's already forcing and inspiring some action

[00:01:02] and I've been delighted at the response and the rolling up of the sleeves that started to happen

[00:01:07] in new ways but it's up to you to own your part of that. Be brave enough to question your assumptions

[00:01:14] and to look outside your bit of the village, your bit of the Brighton and Hove bubble.

[00:01:21] I've divided these closing conversations and observations and thoughts into four pillars

[00:01:26] that I think reflect the journey we've been on over the past few weeks and months

[00:01:31] and through the past nine episodes leading here and these four pillars are keeping Brighton weird.

[00:01:40] How do we keep the city as the UK's laboratory and how do we grow that philosophy

[00:01:47] and paying it forward? How do we make space for young people and new generations of all

[00:01:53] ages coming into the city to shape lead and disrupt and feel that their talent and their

[00:01:59] ideas are included and nurtured? And how do we fix the ecosystem? Being brave to make long-term

[00:02:08] change to the city's infrastructure, for communities, for business, for visitors

[00:02:15] and community power. How do we harness the energy of everyone everywhere to shape the culture,

[00:02:25] the identity and the opportunities within the city and the whole city and maybe even outside of

[00:02:32] the city? The Kiss wall is still standing. It's still weird, it's still magnificent like the city

[00:02:41] itself. The batterings and weather marks might just be signs that this is growing up rather than

[00:02:47] failing out. Brighton and Hove is the best city on earth, but if its people are serious about

[00:02:55] working together on bridging economics, community, creativity, opportunity and confident, messy,

[00:03:02] sustainable spaces to test new things it needs to be so much better than that.

[00:03:12] My name is Richard Freeman and from Always Possible, Plus X Innovation Hub and Low-Fight Arts,

[00:03:23] supported by Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club. This is the Brighton Paradox.

[00:03:36] Part one, how do we keep Brighton weird and better develop the city of Brighton and Hove as a

[00:03:42] conscious laboratory of innovative, creative, progressive, scalable, investable ideas?

[00:03:50] So why don't we all just more collaborate and share experience, share knowledge and certainly share

[00:03:57] the financial side as well because a lot of the time that is why individuals and businesses

[00:04:01] struggle because they're not having the financial support. So why not, you know, pull our

[00:04:06] resources and actually work more collaboratively together and enhance the offering and just what

[00:04:12] we've touched on really to drive that message out outside of Brighton. That yeah, we are a diverse

[00:04:17] friendly great city but business-wise we are also collaborative and we want people to come here

[00:04:23] from outside to bring fresh ideas. That's kind of my future vision for Brighton.

[00:04:30] That kind of weird artistic accelerator that we were on at the fuse park is like I'd love

[00:04:34] to see more of those. Not one's focused on like okay you will have a business plan at the end of

[00:04:38] this which might be one of the outputs of that, you know that's fine but you know also you know

[00:04:44] space to play and actually connect with people who are not from your skill set. I would like

[00:04:50] more of those kind of spaces and as I say you know better more accessible education and also

[00:04:56] just doing more work to bring down that inequality that Brighton has, you know

[00:05:02] reaching out to those communities externally and seeing as those as innovation spaces, you know,

[00:05:08] seeing those people's ideas about how they can make the city better being taken notice of

[00:05:14] in some way and that's really hard. That is the hard work like it's much easier to

[00:05:19] put up a fancy building and bring a bunch of kind of middle-class people together

[00:05:25] to work on their business ideas. That's like easy, you know there's plenty of people that

[00:05:28] want to do that but I think you know doing that really deep work of bringing in those people that

[00:05:34] don't have access to those things of which Brighton has a lot of people that are like that and this

[00:05:39] really really shocked me. You know we were doing, this is years and years ago, we were doing some

[00:05:45] work I think it was in Muldkeum actually, we were doing some work there around bringing some

[00:05:50] of the maker club robots and bits and pieces to one of the community centres

[00:05:54] and it just kind of came up in conversation that you know a couple of these lads that were there

[00:06:00] had never seen the sea before and I know that sounds mad right but that's actually happening

[00:06:06] that's a real thing that happens that they feel so imagine feel so disconnected from this city

[00:06:15] that you wouldn't feel like you're the kind of person that could walk through it

[00:06:21] to get to the thing that's on your doorstep. I don't think people understand that kind of

[00:06:26] mentality in Brighton, I don't think they even think it's possible but it is

[00:06:31] so I think you know there's there's so much work to do around that that isn't being done.

[00:06:39] Brighton you would always say is such a collaborative space it's really accepting

[00:06:44] and friendly and it's great to work here however having worked in the innovation and startup space

[00:06:50] in Manchester I found that to be a lot more collaborative than Brighton surprisingly and I

[00:06:56] think it's because although we are a city we are you know almost like a small town and there's

[00:07:01] kind of that sometimes small town mentality that if you have say you know kind of competitors

[00:07:08] coming into the city there's almost like this defensive reaction rather than you know bigger

[00:07:13] cities that sometimes look at it as an opportunity so it's an opportunity that we have more competition

[00:07:18] because that's going to improve products and services for everyone involved and actually why

[00:07:23] can't we collaborate with you know not see them as competitors so much as collaboration and

[00:07:28] partnerships and I think that's where you know looking forwards to the next 10 years for Brighton

[00:07:34] I think there's huge opportunities for us you know supporting entrepreneurs the organizations

[00:07:40] that are involved in that space to come together a bit more and work on collaborative projects like

[00:07:45] you know this podcast is a great example of bringing everyone's expertise and thoughts together

[00:07:50] rather than working in silo. The idiosyncratic and eccentric nature of Brighton can never be

[00:07:58] planned I did my dissertation as you know on on town planning and the idea that you can

[00:08:04] plan a community doesn't work you can plan roads and amenities and but you can never plan

[00:08:10] how human beings will react to that so outside of the day-to-day running I don't think anyone can

[00:08:16] really plan how this city would go. I think that the things that would dictate it in the future

[00:08:24] house prices one of the reasons that a lot of people moved to Brighton was because

[00:08:30] you had the vibrancy of parts of London without paying London house prices we are now paying

[00:08:36] London house prices the amount of people amount of dfls is dramatically increased but

[00:08:45] I think that will play into our hands if this sort of tech dream comes true maybe we'll look back

[00:08:52] on 10 years and you'll be asking me yeah so you know how do you think now we've had 10 years

[00:08:58] with the Soho house era uh the you know maybe it's just because I've got two digital nomads

[00:09:06] living at my house at the moment who flipped their time between New York, Lisbon and whereas before

[00:09:13] they would have based themselves in London they come down and stay here because you know if the

[00:09:18] bandwidth if the broadband bandwidth is good enough they can work anywhere and I think we'll

[00:09:24] carry on being a service an entertainment service industry and that'll be the sort of bread and

[00:09:30] butter but I think the future of the city is probably dictated by how much of the tech industry

[00:09:36] decides that you can you don't have to live in London to be a mover and a shaker last week I

[00:09:43] was in San Francisco and it's quite interesting seeing that there's always been so when I first

[00:09:48] went to San Francisco I was like this is the American version of Brighton this is the closest

[00:09:53] in terms of its history and its past and how different and liberal and

[00:10:01] alternative and forward thinking and gay it is it's like it's got so many parallels and at the

[00:10:07] moment San Francisco is riding high on tech people who don't want to live in Silicon Valley because

[00:10:14] it's dull they want to be in a city they want to have that edge of a city and they're prepared

[00:10:19] to pay high rents now obviously with that comes the downside that you know the homeless problem

[00:10:23] and the drug problem people moaning about the rents come up but that is the life of the city and it

[00:10:28] makes makes it keep its vibrancy as well as its kind of economic well-being so my dream would be

[00:10:34] that lots of tech and media people follow Sauer House and buy up in Southwick it's the new

[00:10:42] Hoxton and give some some more life to us than just being the kind of place to service people who

[00:10:50] want to come down for the weekend and post pandemic the amount of people who are working from home

[00:10:56] more I think they'll be a general exodus from London a sort of a brain drain from London

[00:11:02] of people who don't realize that they don't have to live amongst all that noise and pressure

[00:11:08] and whatever I love that Brighton is a laboratory I think is like the perfect description of it

[00:11:15] because I think it kind of is that but there's just some tiny little things that that could be done

[00:11:20] that would actually totally transform that and I think that's such a beautiful idea as well

[00:11:27] that it is a place to incubate before people do move on because I do see it very much as a

[00:11:33] launch pad for sure and yeah I would really want to see more of more of those things and just being

[00:11:39] able to kind of have that process of like here's where you go if you have this small idea that

[00:11:44] you just want to test and maybe you want to find collaborators and here's where you can go if

[00:11:48] you want to like scale those things up and here's where you go when you know you're really

[00:11:52] ready to you know catapult yourself into the world and that along that journey that it's not

[00:11:57] just a business accelerator or an art program but just saying like what are all these things that

[00:12:04] you may need because I want to speak to and with my work I speak to you know video games designers

[00:12:10] and neuroscientists and like yoga people and I kind of like want them all involved in that process

[00:12:15] and I think being able to have that fusion of things available and the resources to enable

[00:12:21] people to do that I think would be so valuable because we've got all the makings of the things

[00:12:26] here we've got all these universities and arts organisations like research research startups

[00:12:33] but it's just saying like well how do we how do we put everyone in the room and incentivize them to

[00:12:38] do that as well. One of lots of people who are attracted to Brighton and end up staying

[00:12:43] and I think it is attractive Brighton conspired to keep me here though and I think it does that

[00:12:49] by helping keep things fresh and exciting and I loved there was a story from a few years ago

[00:12:58] where at Brighton Festival which is this incredible festival that brings in all sorts of

[00:13:02] different people from around the world to come and present and perform and all of this sort of

[00:13:06] stuff and I was in a pub over the way from the dome and ended up having a lock-in with two

[00:13:14] of Nelson Mandela's grandchildren and the bass player from Napalm Death and then we all went

[00:13:19] on to a house party after that I've still got Ndaba Mandela's phone number in my phone or any

[00:13:26] time I'm in South Africa but it was just this amazing kind of wondrous moment in like being

[00:13:34] part of Brighton, being part of the city, part of the festival and I think everyone who's been

[00:13:38] to Brighton or spent some time in Brighton has a story like this it's part of the wonderment

[00:13:43] that is Brighton and Hove and I just invite people to come and experience some of that for

[00:13:47] themselves if they haven't already. A couple of things I think have been interesting over

[00:13:52] the last couple of years which I didn't mention was obviously the rise of co-working spaces

[00:13:57] the early co-working spaces, the skiff, you know yeah the skiff and the works were like

[00:14:02] early adopters and I think the people that run those are really interested people to talk to

[00:14:06] obviously a lot more co-working spaces have cropped up so I think there are smaller communities but

[00:14:10] these communities and micro communities arranged around physical locations rather than spread out

[00:14:15] across the town. Like the emergence of places like Soha House moving to Brighton as well could

[00:14:21] be a really interesting opportunity to get communities together because I think the

[00:14:25] communities are often quite independent you've got the web design community, you've got the

[00:14:30] games community, you've got the kind of maybe more you know creative you know illustration

[00:14:34] kind of communities and what have you and having places where people can come together

[00:14:39] and it might be that some of the activities you're doing if you're not interviewing

[00:14:43] Soha House or the people at Soha House that might be worth doing, it might be worth trying to

[00:14:48] kind of run some initiatives together. At the same time I can imagine there might also be a

[00:14:52] completely understandable backlash against something like Soha House going external you know

[00:14:57] big London loads of money bunch of wankers coming down to Brighton I think that's

[00:15:02] interesting but I think I do not think that Soha House would have existed in Brighton 10 years ago

[00:15:08] because of the kind of the edgy, punky, independent kind of like you're not from around here get out

[00:15:15] we're doing our own thing and I think the fact that it can exist now and is not struggling to

[00:15:21] get members is an example of a different middle class sort of you know change in Brighton

[00:15:28] for the better or for the worst but I think its existence here is a symbol and it's not in Bristol

[00:15:34] it's not somewhere else it is a symbol of a entrenched kind of middle class but in a really

[00:15:40] nice way kind of flagging the sound of where Brighton sits in the kind of the hearts and

[00:15:48] mind of the UK creative community. I think it will become harder because the problem slightly

[00:15:54] is that even if we had a not saying a supporter council because they are supportive but if we

[00:16:00] had an Afro council it needs a certain quirky ad hoc sort of quality so this great place

[00:16:08] we're in here plus six you know it's not really the right place for a dirty community arts make

[00:16:15] it all scrubbly look what we've got in the corner we could use six of those let's cobble

[00:16:19] that together into something it doesn't quite fit it's much better for new media and it's much

[00:16:25] better for making and in the sense of design and making and they're great spaces but you can't

[00:16:31] quite see it and we might get put into new England house but that's like dark cavernous you know

[00:16:38] and yeah we had to say that so you know it hasn't got that feel you know they were saying

[00:16:44] well we could move all the polling booth stands that the council keep in this is where we were

[00:16:48] the council sold our building under us despite people upstairs putting in a very similar offer

[00:16:54] to have it I think that there's a lack of understanding I'm a very tatty messy sort

[00:17:04] of scrapply might have a bench that's full of all sorts of shit pulling bits around so you

[00:17:09] know that naturally that's possibly not the only way of being but there is an element where that

[00:17:15] is a part of creative practice so if there's no space for that it becomes slightly problematic

[00:17:23] because I find things happen because of our conversations with people in the loose networks

[00:17:30] you know so we're working with kerosene in the RUAC and things like that says because

[00:17:33] we've done something with them I did a blue camel club I liked it so much that we just do

[00:17:38] it we don't care we want to do it because it's such fun so we go and put a load of lights and we

[00:17:42] have to choose the theme we do spring or something and we take everything we can find out of our

[00:17:46] stock and just hang it up and enjoy an evening that's quite unique you know and that is a very

[00:17:54] bright the blue camel is another example of a very bright thing isn't it so it's people with

[00:17:59] learning disabilities and their mates but it's not you know cosy to it and it's not all

[00:18:06] poor dear it's not pity it's full on you know it's like the union bar when I was at college

[00:18:11] in because I went to college in the sort of punk era so it's a lot of really good quite hard music

[00:18:17] live and people just really having a good time and everything's blurred then isn't it because

[00:18:22] you're not nothing but that that's a great tribute to Brighton's ability to not be there there dear

[00:18:30] we've got a special night where you can watch a film in the daylight and make noise and fill

[00:18:34] on a form on your way up yeah and then yeah be assessed at the end part two how do we pay it forward

[00:18:44] ensuring that Brighton and Hove is a compelling place for young people to stay

[00:18:48] and to build lives and to keep sharing the energy and potential of the whole city

[00:18:53] drawing on the expertise and experience that has built over generations yeah I mean especially

[00:18:59] I think the whole thing about Brighton getting a bit more middle-aged you know and it's five

[00:19:04] getting a bit more middle age because people have had their brilliant times here like myself and

[00:19:10] that's how I'm gonna stay here and you know it's always been a stitch up the

[00:19:15] culture establishment that's always been there that's not new you know and I think there are

[00:19:20] more drivers to things like greater diversity and access than they're they're worth 30 years

[00:19:27] go actually you'd be banging on the doors and everyone would be ignoring you you know I don't

[00:19:31] think that's a changing thing necessarily but that's not the same as me saying young people should

[00:19:36] just you know buck up and get on with it because it wasn't easy when we were kids what I'm more

[00:19:40] trying to say is like there's a lot of work to be done you know to change those things

[00:19:45] and maybe what you'd expect them there to be more of and there isn't is the fact that

[00:19:49] people who had had that experience when they were younger and trying to start out haven't

[00:19:54] necessarily translated that as seeing as their duty to you know put the ladder down or put their

[00:19:59] hand out to do that and I think that's a really important thing that you'd expect more of I think

[00:20:04] than is around you know and like how everyone can take a bit of a greater role in

[00:20:11] feeling the responsibility to do that I think is really really important because that hasn't

[00:20:15] changed and it should have done if we'd all lived through it the first time.

[00:20:19] Well I am an independent artist so I'm trying to build a business and your organization always

[00:20:26] possible has really supported me in trying to build that but I feel that there are other

[00:20:32] organizations business support organizations and hubs that don't necessarily understand

[00:20:37] what I'm trying to do they still maybe have a concept of the music industry as it was in

[00:20:43] the artists we're trying to become famous or make it or become signed when actually a lot of

[00:20:50] artists now are trying to build a small business and I would like to see more support for musicians

[00:20:56] and creatives and actually becoming more business minded and understanding how they can build those

[00:21:01] those businesses and sustain themselves without you know becoming famous or even nationally known

[00:21:08] I'd like to see that I'd also love to see a way to connect the creatives in the city I don't know

[00:21:16] if that exists I haven't found it yet but some sort of hub where we can all get to know each other

[00:21:22] and create something together and collaborate and build something something that's in line with

[00:21:27] or lots of different events or projects that are in line with helping us succeed.

[00:21:32] When you're a creative a lot of us don't naturally aren't naturally inclined to be

[00:21:36] business people but in order to survive we need to become entrepreneurial we need support with that.

[00:21:42] I'm definitely here for them I don't know if I'm uh no one's asked me for help

[00:21:51] so I don't know but yeah I follow lots of lots of them on on Instagram and Facebook and what have

[00:21:58] you um and I love what what they do as well like Alfie Ordinary and all that crew I just I

[00:22:04] think they're brilliant but I don't think they need my help they're doing really well so you know

[00:22:10] I'm not sure I could offer them any nuggets of wisdom that they haven't already figured out

[00:22:16] for themselves so it's exciting to see how vibrant that whole sort of scene is actually in Brighton

[00:22:22] you know we were kind of hidden away 25 years ago to some degree and they have a much higher

[00:22:28] degree of visibility um and acceptance I think among people I think largely because of

[00:22:35] Rupals drag race on TV people view drag as a proper job now or lifestyle yeah it's not it's not yeah

[00:22:45] yeah. Julie Birchell said in Brighton you're either old or you're dead or I think she said it was

[00:22:51] and the the people who were young in the 20 years ago that you said were making

[00:22:56] vibrant artistic things they are now in their 60s 70s and I think tapping into their their ideas

[00:23:04] alongside the new graduates of the city and the students of the city um really kind of finding out

[00:23:13] where the talent lies there are so many people in the city who are amazingly talented people like

[00:23:19] Nick Pyn for instance an amazing violinist and strings player there's amazing artists

[00:23:28] and there's enough kind of nosy people throughout the city who know where this rich talent lies and

[00:23:34] I think you want to tap into the talent of all genres by getting in touch with people who

[00:23:41] people who know about it I think. I think it's just about supporting and incubating breakthrough

[00:23:49] professionals leaders and and organizations but but the success measure is not how well

[00:23:57] you grow them and that becomes part of you as an organization um I think it's the success measure

[00:24:03] is actually can they then just become completely independent and smash it you know and that's

[00:24:09] obviously the process of doing that what you that was talking about being responsible with some of

[00:24:14] the power is that at some point like the their work might might actually overtake yours and you

[00:24:19] have to then let go of of that and let them have the full credit for it because it's that's

[00:24:25] that's how it's what it's going to take the amount of people that are going to have all

[00:24:28] these great ideas and potential for breakthrough and innovation and stuff like that and nearly

[00:24:32] make it but not quite and then disappear again probably outweighs the number of people that

[00:24:36] will will break through and sometimes it will be because of the status quo I think that's for me

[00:24:42] what needs to happen um is having is recognizing that if you're in that position of of power or

[00:24:50] resources or sustainability and just and recognizing that at some point down the line

[00:24:56] you're going to measure your success by to what extent you can let someone else take the credit

[00:25:02] and and and fly so what I'd like to see happen is that we attract organizations whether those are

[00:25:13] technological organizations whether those are may not even be in our traditional strengths around

[00:25:22] leisure and tourism but we become a destination or and we attract organizations that then

[00:25:28] create opportunities for people here to progress and to develop and to develop their knowledge

[00:25:35] and that becomes something that fulfills the city so people can see their opportunities I think

[00:25:43] for young people Brighton does have a good level of education particularly in the post-16 it has two

[00:25:51] excellent six-form colleges they when I was in the council something like 36 percent of attendees

[00:25:59] at the two six-form colleges came from outside Brighton I don't know if that's true still

[00:26:05] has two universities so there's music wise there's lots going on it lacks old buildings that can

[00:26:14] house and and change and accommodate so the cultural hub if you'd like is based around places like

[00:26:25] Brighton Dome and the pavilion and the buildings around that area we don't have a lot like if you go

[00:26:32] to other places they might have old marine naval buildings like Plymouth has that and as does

[00:26:39] Portsmouth so we sort of lack that I think our proximity to London is a good thing and a bad

[00:26:48] thing because we lose people very quickly out of the place people see opportunities elsewhere

[00:26:57] I don't think for young people and my daughter is 25 almost 25 now I think her and her friends

[00:27:05] don't see this as an exciting place for a career I don't think they identify opportunities here

[00:27:14] I think it's is the place you come back to perhaps when you decide to have children or you want a

[00:27:20] slow slightly slower lifestyle it's not it doesn't exude a feeling of opportunity that's my

[00:27:31] perception and having talked to them all of her friends live elsewhere now I don't think anybody

[00:27:37] still and if they do they're seen as not progressive and not ambitious that's just one viewpoint

[00:27:49] I think there's a huge healthy culture of that like the stuff that plusics are doing with

[00:27:53] universities of very strategic and providing huge access to tenant and as well as expertise

[00:28:00] and knowledge that you wouldn't previously would have got I'd be really interested and see the

[00:28:04] retention rate compared to any other university with people staying in the city that they've

[00:28:08] studied in for higher education I think we'll be up there quite high probably minus London

[00:28:16] but my biggest thing and the reason why I do what I did was I had a huge interest in the

[00:28:22] Dragon's Den and the Apprentice Grow Gap and I loved the idea that you had 100 pounds

[00:28:26] and you could turn it to five much about fell in love with that concept and the ability of doing

[00:28:30] that but I remember growing up there was never a company that I could point to and go they've

[00:28:35] done that they've they've they've doing it like you heard of obviously AmEx and EDF Energy and

[00:28:41] Southern Water you always hear about them but you never really hear about any ones that sort

[00:28:45] of came up from from it it's only been recently you hear about some of the big success

[00:28:50] stories there's a big recruitment company that sold for loads and as well as there was the

[00:28:54] the data social media data company that also went and sold for half a billion

[00:29:00] but you didn't really hear of that I remember if I was growing up and I sort of saw that company

[00:29:05] and wanted to do I had a the ambition to be able to go and do it myself or be able to copy

[00:29:10] that and I think that's what gives them the head starts in other areas but I think we've got

[00:29:15] all the the ingredients if you will and with extremely strategically based compared to

[00:29:21] any other sort of city when it comes to it we're only a short trip to London

[00:29:25] Gatwick's only there just up the road it's it's extremely well placed if you're looking at the

[00:29:30] logistics and infrastructure way except we've got a really nice beach and everything else that

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[00:29:50] Always Possible works with ambitious businesses charities and public services

[00:29:55] that are thinking about what's next from architects to aerospace companies puppet

[00:29:59] theaters to primary schools business networks to big data analysts if you're wanting to be brave

[00:30:04] with some big decisions or to be clearer about what to prioritize then an award-winning workshop

[00:30:10] from the Always Possible team is a brilliant starting point we care about just one thing

[00:30:16] building ideas that work for creative intuitive and practical expertise consider Always Possible

[00:30:23] as your strategic partner find out more about how we could power up your mission visit AlwaysPossible.co.uk

[00:30:44] Hello Chris here producer of the Brighton Paradox I just want to take a few moments to talk about

[00:30:50] some really important organizations that are helping this project to happen and who are part

[00:30:56] of Brighton and Hove's backbone in the 21st century the Albion a football club that earns its place in

[00:31:02] the Premier League more and more every day showing leadership on and off the pitch this really is

[00:31:09] a club for of and from Brighton and Hove and was a partnership between Brighton and Hove long

[00:31:16] before they officially joined together if you don't follow football the club's role in the

[00:31:21] local economy the extraordinary work of Albion in the community and the ambition to be a constantly

[00:31:27] innovating space for new ideas in business and sport all of these make it far more than just

[00:31:32] a successful football club and Plus X Innovation Hub on Lewis Road jumped on board right away

[00:31:40] many of the interviews you've heard took place in their state-of-the-art podcast studio

[00:31:45] and their generosity and curiosity demonstrates that their commitment to business collaboration

[00:31:50] innovation and celebration is real our project partners have kept the wheels turning with support

[00:31:57] advice and help with production costs United Us is one of Brighton's most forward-looking

[00:32:03] creative brand and design agencies the University of Brighton's Help to Grow management program

[00:32:08] is providing business school level expert support and mentoring to ambitious local

[00:32:13] businesses with 90% of the costs funded by government this whole project is an

[00:32:18] experimental collaboration to learn more about our partners those mentioned and many others

[00:32:25] please check out the notes to this episode on your podcast platform part three how do we fix

[00:32:48] the ecosystem so that long-term plans for infrastructure public services inclusive healthy

[00:32:54] and sustainable living are not just strategies but actually implemented i'm going to go

[00:33:00] through my list because i think it's important to get everything covered which is if that's

[00:33:04] okay um our local media would tell the truth about the climate emergency and what we can do

[00:33:09] to stop it today we'd have free public transport for everyone people wouldn't own cars controversial

[00:33:16] we wouldn't allow cars or vans to enter the city there'd be park and rides and emergency vehicles

[00:33:21] only all deliveries into the city and across the city would be made like organizations like

[00:33:27] zedify using electric cargo bikes or vans there would be share cars on every street we'd all bank

[00:33:33] with triados or the co-op or any other ethical bank i don't work for them and i'm not getting any

[00:33:38] money from them and we certainly individually in our businesses bank with barkleys hsbc or net west

[00:33:44] and other high street banks that use our money to fund fossil fuels we'd all have mandatory air

[00:33:49] source heat pumps solar panels community owned ground source heat pumps and fully insulated

[00:33:53] homes every food shop would sell locally grown food not in single use plastic and packaging

[00:33:59] we'd have bike lanes trees growing projects on every street the place would be filled with trees

[00:34:04] and food plots instead of car parks we wouldn't have a bin problem because people wouldn't buy so much

[00:34:09] shit and we wouldn't create waste all our fast fashion shops that bring the out of towners into

[00:34:15] church or square wouldn't sell any fast fashion we stop focusing on economic growth and start

[00:34:20] focusing on degrowth nobody would deny man-made climate change is here and it's going to get

[00:34:25] worse and they would work together to stop it in every way possible we'd lobby for better train

[00:34:30] services instead of taking out bike lanes in the city all second homes in bite and wouldn't be

[00:34:35] allowed and they'd have to be given back to the city and no more second homes would be allowed in

[00:34:40] the city everyone would plant trees instead of having massive lawns or concrete driveways

[00:34:45] most restaurants would compost be vegan and have no food waste at the end of the day

[00:34:51] nobody would throw away good food in the city from their own fridges and cupboards

[00:34:55] every needed vehicle would be emission free every councillor would put the climate emergency at the

[00:35:01] top of their agenda and work collaboratively with other parties to make this happen

[00:35:06] and every business in the city would be cutting their emissions to net zero by 2025

[00:35:11] and be working together to get there together supporting each other regeneratively

[00:35:16] there save my peace save my peace

[00:35:26] I think one thing we really need to be aware of over the next 10 years is making sure we've got

[00:35:31] the right enabling places for people and businesses to grow because if we can create the infrastructure

[00:35:38] the people will do the rest and I think one of the big concerns is talent and losing talent

[00:35:44] because if young people can't afford to live in the city then we've got these universities

[00:35:50] and we're training people to go and go and work and live somewhere else and I think we've also

[00:35:54] got the huge affordability challenges for everyone in the city social inequality for example so we

[00:36:01] really need to fix that and we do have difficulties because we have the sea and the and the downs

[00:36:08] and we don't want to build on beautiful greenbelt land and we don't want to ruin beautiful

[00:36:14] architecture but perhaps there are some innovative ways that we could for example repurpose

[00:36:19] retail that's no longer needed into lower cost accommodation I think the building of student

[00:36:24] accommodation is relieving some of the pressure on some of the lower cost housing and things like

[00:36:29] that so that kind of planning is probably what we need to make sure we've got a city that works

[00:36:34] for everybody and it's more affordable than it is currently oh uh what would you like to see less

[00:36:40] off probably less seagulls there's too many seagulls but I know that's not probably

[00:36:46] that's not achievable um there's a lot of cars around the centre and again I don't know there's

[00:36:52] some way in which you can address that because I think that can be quite off-putting certainly for

[00:36:58] tourists as well so the congestion issues is probably a concern um you've then got the other

[00:37:04] issue with parking um because there's always challenges around parking so I'd like to have more

[00:37:08] parking more parking for a few cars so I've no problem getting my car parked then if it was

[00:37:14] possible I'd like to see some bigger businesses obviously remaining in the city and coming to the

[00:37:18] city that would be great and I understand they might not be able to make it into the city centre but

[00:37:22] you know on the outskirts no I mean I actually I'm a big fan of Brighton um you know I do want

[00:37:28] to see it doing well and I think it's got to retain that confidence in itself to be able to

[00:37:33] move forward in the next 10 years we've just a small thing in a way but to me it's big which

[00:37:40] is the hippodrome I love that hippodrome building in middle street and my office is right opposite it

[00:37:46] so right from the start of being elected as an MP I walked past a dilapidated sad hippodrome with

[00:37:52] graffiti on the outside and holes in the roof and I've tried and tried and I worked alongside

[00:37:58] some fantastic people the the CIC the hippodrome trust and people to try to find a new owner for

[00:38:03] that hippodrome and um and I think we're getting close in that well we are we've got a fantastic

[00:38:08] local company that is now renovating it and I've been inside a few times to see what they're doing

[00:38:12] and so on a very small scale what I want to see the next 10 years is a fantastic reopening of

[00:38:17] the hippodrome with some fantastic music coming out of it and a real hub for more creativity

[00:38:22] and um excitement in that bit of the city because that bit of the old city absolutely does need

[00:38:26] some renovation in terms of of a wider picture of what I want to see in the city I mean I

[00:38:33] want us to sort out this bloody waste problem because I think if we did it would be transformative

[00:38:38] in a way just because people's perception of the city would be better if it was a clean city I think

[00:38:42] people would feel even more proud of it than they do right now so I want us to get that sorted

[00:38:47] but I think the biggest challenge is the one I've touched on which is about inclusion and

[00:38:50] that's one where we've got to get even better and get the brains that are in this city around

[00:38:55] a table and I've tried before and I'll keep trying to do that to um to work at how

[00:39:01] even in the face of what looks like yet more austerity coming down the tracks from from government

[00:39:06] how we can make sure that the problems around homelessness and the problems around people

[00:39:12] not having enough food and the problems of people just being excluded from the dynamism

[00:39:17] that is the city centre but that is what we've absolutely got to crack and I know that people

[00:39:21] have been trying to do that for a long time but I sense that that sense of determination is

[00:39:25] is perhaps greater than ever before so I'd love to see a green majority on the council um who

[00:39:30] would absolutely be committed to that kind of vision of social and environmental justice

[00:39:33] and just harnessing with greater focus the extraordinary flourishing of of innovation

[00:39:40] and an entrepreneurialism for which our our city is rightly famous I'd get rid of west street

[00:39:49] I just yeah I just close it off there was a plan a few years ago where they were talking

[00:39:54] about turning it into like a Lathramblass style kind of tree-lined boulevard um I notice that hasn't

[00:40:02] come to fruition but I don't know um I mean I kind of miss things like quite night at Halloween

[00:40:11] well it wasn't on Halloween it was around that time of year there was a couple of times

[00:40:14] that it did coincide with Halloween and it was carnage but I love that idea of a festival

[00:40:19] that runs through the night and you can go to all these little arty pop-up events and things

[00:40:24] I mean it's it's a brilliant idea I don't know it's been on ice for about 10 years now I think so

[00:40:30] I would revive that and like I said earlier I would just stop stop developers building

[00:40:36] flats close to venues you've seen so many venues lost whether they're queer venues or not you know

[00:40:43] I'm very excited about the future of Brian I think it's in a really promising place at the

[00:40:47] moment I mean you can look at it from lots of different perspectives I'm a Brian and Hale

[00:40:50] Albee and Football fan right they're doing really well at the moment that's lovely to see as well

[00:40:54] but I think the general direction in which like work in particular is headed really serves

[00:41:01] Brian really well so like it's mad for the amount of people that like sometimes congregate

[00:41:07] in a place in order to be able to get to a place right so living in London to work in London

[00:41:12] to and all of the challenges that you've got around that and I'm usually excited about

[00:41:16] well when you only need to get into the office one day a week how does that change how we work

[00:41:21] in terms of we're a remote distributed team I think that's the way many companies are headed

[00:41:26] not all of them but that then allows people to have a better quality of life and I think Brighton

[00:41:31] offers quite a unique opportunity to have plenty of those benefits you've got a lot of the city

[00:41:35] stuff there you've got the the sea and the kind of that side of things you've got the

[00:41:39] the outdoor environment the downs and the countryside there as well that's a huge

[00:41:44] benefit to be able to have that along with flexibility of work you know that's a very

[00:41:48] promising place for the city to be in the future if we can sort of just take advantage of that really

[00:41:54] but I think the areas that I would be thinking about as we're coming through is

[00:41:58] and talking to our students that are coming through and the issues that they've got

[00:42:01] is I think there'll be a big growth in health because health has been a big issue we have

[00:42:05] a lot of students are interested in that and worried about it we've got the School of

[00:42:09] Sport and Health are moving from Eastbourne to Falmer so that will bring quite a lot of

[00:42:13] students are interested in that area the other area I think that will be

[00:42:18] growth areas there a whole idea of media and journalism and communication so not just the

[00:42:23] tech side of it but actually the content and the providing of content on what's going on

[00:42:29] and the final one I think is probably the whole idea of events and leisure not just the tourism

[00:42:35] type leisure but the aspects of people have come out of quite a horrendous time

[00:42:39] there's things going on then you do need their minds taking off things so the whole idea of festivals

[00:42:44] events activities as we move much more away from we say from hopefully you know I would say from a

[00:42:50] consumer physical society to an experienced economy I think that's where the stuff's going

[00:42:55] to come through and I think the as the generations move through my generation move on out or what

[00:43:01] have you as hopefully we managed to retain some of our students and the younger generation

[00:43:05] coming through because that's to be the lifeblood of the city that's the sort of things

[00:43:08] they're looking for and they will want it with an environmental sustainability and a responsibility

[00:43:15] to others around us and not just environment but people as well as being part of that so

[00:43:21] talking about you know micro um um manufacturing what have you and food and I think people

[00:43:25] want to know provenance that has become a bigger bigger thing so what is going on how can

[00:43:30] the local businesses local retailers actually build them and shall we say identify that

[00:43:37] and build on it because people want to have just what anything that's come from wherever

[00:43:41] and that fits into our supply chains that have been stretched recently we've seen that you know the

[00:43:45] world is in a bit of a turmoil time so actually how can through a bit of structure through a bit of

[00:43:52] working through things we can bit of resilience which with is also good for people and also

[00:43:57] good for the planet there's a lot of potential here I think the thing I'm really excited about

[00:44:02] is working with other businesses in Brighton I love the Brighton Chamber I think they do an

[00:44:08] amazing job and through them we've been we've been talking a lot about things like net zero

[00:44:14] and I know there's lots of groups of businesses in Brighton who are making a real commitment to

[00:44:19] change for me one of the really exciting things about Brighton is the number of purpose led

[00:44:24] businesses that we have if we sort of take a step back and look at the bigger picture of

[00:44:30] the world economy almost I think we've seen that shareholder capitalism has created an enormous

[00:44:36] amount of wealth but that wealth hasn't been equally distributed and it's pretty much destroyed our

[00:44:44] environment and set us on track for catastrophic global warming and that the profit motive

[00:44:50] has driven that and it's one of the things that's stopping us making the changes that we need to

[00:44:54] make to save ourselves in the 21st century I'm excited about the emergence of stakeholder

[00:45:00] capitalism as an idea that we can innovate we can create wealth and businesses but we can do it

[00:45:06] in a way that's more equal and we can do it with a way that helps us preserve what's good about

[00:45:11] our world and protect our environment and make sure all of our children are educated and we

[00:45:14] don't have people living in poverty and I think Brighton is at the forefront of that with

[00:45:19] businesses with those ideas put at the heart of their mission and yes they might be businesses as

[00:45:26] diverse as a wealth manager, a sunglasses manufacturer you know they might be ad agencies

[00:45:31] and technology agencies but they all think carefully about what it means to run a business and what

[00:45:38] the responsibilities of running businesses are in the 21st century and I really hope that Brighton

[00:45:44] can act as a model for that sense of ownership and change that's coming through these businesses.

[00:45:53] I would build in Brighton, I would build on the downs, I would build into the National Park

[00:45:59] I think this is one of those conflicts that Brighton has with itself we want to be

[00:46:06] agreeing with a small G city but we want housing the two have to collide at some point

[00:46:13] we wouldn't have half the homes in Brighton if we hadn't built into the downs in the past when you

[00:46:20] look at maps of Brighton from the 1850s and it hardly goes up as far as Preston Park and the rest

[00:46:27] is is downland I would build a new estate between Falmer and Woody Dean for example. I don't

[00:46:35] personally want to lose running countryside, I love the countryside yeah I'm really but

[00:46:42] if we're going to begin resolving some of these problems and at some point we will need to do that

[00:46:46] I used to be an advocate of taller buildings after Grenfell Tower I've had to rethink that because

[00:46:54] of the issues but then it's who is doing the building and what you had there is a lot of

[00:46:59] cowboy's building and putting in products that people now recognize were dangerous before they

[00:47:06] were installed I think a lot of that goes back to government tearing up some of the regulations

[00:47:11] we had I'm not keen on too much regulation I want the right regulation and the government seems to have

[00:47:16] torn up the right regulation and that's some of the wrong regulation but then that's the beginning

[00:47:23] sound like a politician here on fire of the red tape and all that nonsense so I would build

[00:47:31] I would also look at under occupied properties I think we need a lot of help from national

[00:47:38] government properties that are unoccupied should have a punitive tax imposed on them because housing

[00:47:48] is such a precious commodity we cannot allow people to sit on them I'm not heard of this happening in

[00:47:54] Brighton but elsewhere in Sussex I heard of a developer who built to leave not even built

[00:48:00] to let built to leave he built eight townhouses which he then didn't sell for five years knowing

[00:48:08] that the property price in that area was rocketing and then after five years he sold them and he made

[00:48:15] absolute killing on those because of the capital appreciation of their time now housing should

[00:48:21] be where people live it should shouldn't be an investment opportunity we largely agreed on

[00:48:29] what we need to do it's just the how the how do we do it is is the thing that we're not

[00:48:36] actually very good at so many people in the city are good at doing their own particular how

[00:48:42] and we've got a million examples of best practice in all sorts of different areas for example last

[00:48:48] week we hosted an event we've got a new bit in our depot at the big lemon by the old gas works

[00:48:55] and we've taken we've taken on a new piece of land there and turn we're turning it into a kind

[00:49:00] of EV works type place where businesses involved in sustainable transport or electric vehicles or

[00:49:06] sustainability or zero emission transport of some kind can all can work can network can offer their

[00:49:16] services and we're trying to create a bit of a hub so we had the first event last week and it

[00:49:21] brought together a lot of people doing lots of really cool things and then we had a another

[00:49:27] event afterwards that explored the conversation of how do businesses create climate action plans and

[00:49:36] tackle climate change seriously and then you know network and show the world what they're doing

[00:49:41] and and try and get other local businesses involved and we had so many amazing amazing

[00:49:48] examples of initiatives that are doing something incredible locally I mean there's Brighton

[00:49:57] Hove Energy Energy Services co-op doing amazing work not just making homes in Brighton Hove more

[00:50:05] sustainable but also tackling fuel poverty in the city which at the moment you know that these

[00:50:11] are the two great challenges of our time climate change and and the cost of living crisis

[00:50:17] we have a guy making compost and creating the most amazing compost from food waste

[00:50:25] looking for a hub to basically do it at scale with local residents but what this showed me was that

[00:50:33] actually there's no shortage of talent in the city and there's so many people

[00:50:37] that are experts in their field doing really groundbreaking stuff but what we lack is that

[00:50:43] thing that brings them all together Brighton's opportunity is to lean into the alternative

[00:50:50] is to be in every instance the alternative what you know there's this is happening over here what

[00:50:56] happens then this solution is being suggested what does Brighton do you know look at the

[00:51:01] alternative where is the opportunity I think in some ways we're in a similar situation to

[00:51:07] the infrastructure unlike the internet right or the railway that are being first has proven to

[00:51:12] not be the best solution you know Europe has larger tracks and larger infrastructure because it came

[00:51:17] later you know or did things a bit later than ours you know being first isn't always the best it's

[00:51:22] about looking at the alternative and going where can it be refined and Brighton needs to look at

[00:51:26] that in some ways I'm worried about the constant bringing of London ideas to Brighton it's like

[00:51:36] okay well it worked in London let's bring it here we're not London should be all the way

[00:51:39] around yeah and there should be a consideration of community here like nowhere else you know you say

[00:51:46] rightly that Brighton is known for its transience but but not right now it has a strong static

[00:51:52] population who are willing to try things and bring their ideas and I think that is a

[00:51:57] it's an opportunity that needs to be considered there's a lot of building work that is happening

[00:52:04] which I think you know Circus Street and others is great but they are large commercial projects which

[00:52:11] don't really have much community involvement there is the plus X and places like that who are doing

[00:52:16] great but I think there is there's opportunity to look at a real alternative and to look at more

[00:52:21] community-based options like people coming together businesses coming together supported

[00:52:26] to do these changes so yeah being being the proud alternative is where Brighton's opportunity

[00:52:31] is in my my estimations and finally part four how do we supercharge community power

[00:52:41] harnessing the talent and ideas from right across the city and beyond tackling social

[00:52:47] inequality head-on and protecting a culture of local civic and grassroots co-design

[00:52:54] I do worry about people you know if you're my dad who's right on the middle of this

[00:52:58] innovation space this corridor and it doesn't feel like where he used to live it's completely

[00:53:04] like it's like he's being sort of all these things coming up and he's been surrounded by this

[00:53:09] thing that he has no stake in he can't he can't go to university and learn

[00:53:14] isn't his pensioner almost he's like well why would he want to do that and

[00:53:18] when they design these things have to understand how everybody benefits or can have a stake in

[00:53:23] in that sort of thing I'm not adverse to change at all but I think

[00:53:26] um yeah sometimes change for changes sake is a bit ridiculous and doesn't work

[00:53:33] it's not about being perfect so Brighton's not perfect there's a lot of squabbling that goes on

[00:53:40] about what's right and what's not but that's great it's better to have that debate than not

[00:53:45] but it's lots of people doing good stuff that need to collaborate and join up

[00:53:50] and I think our job like you're doing now is to foster that that discussion and that debate

[00:53:56] and that knowing that we're in this bubble we are in a bubble we're in a bubble here where

[00:54:02] that stuff exists and it doesn't exist in other places so we need to that's our that needs to

[00:54:07] be our oxygen and together we kind of create the future through that

[00:54:13] I have there's a picture on my phone of a little girl who came to shop last October November I think

[00:54:22] and as she sat down on our big bean bags and opened a book and was looking at the book and said

[00:54:27] mommy mommy little white girl she's mommy mommy mommy mom's like what she goes there mom there's

[00:54:31] my friend she's in a book and I'm like yeah come on you know and I said come take your picture

[00:54:37] but they're the winds aren't they because it's not just black children that need to see themselves

[00:54:44] in books well white children need to go that's normal that's that's this is the norm right this

[00:54:50] is because we are the norm and I say this to people all the time everyone who's not

[00:54:55] you know doing what we're doing is abnormal this is what normal looks like because this is

[00:54:59] what people's real lives look like and answering your question in a roundabout kind of way is that

[00:55:05] integration is about making sure that all people groups have support systems and the things that they

[00:55:13] need to flourish within a community and when we do that we have healthy communities you know but if

[00:55:21] we have a community okay if we have a community of um a little village you know 80 people in the

[00:55:28] village and 15 of them are single parents but there's no support at all for those single parents and

[00:55:36] you know the the families that have got dual parents you know just like well they need to sort themselves

[00:55:42] up they created that problem themselves it wouldn't be healthy we would we would create

[00:55:47] a marginalised group we would create a problem where there doesn't need to be a problem

[00:55:52] but we put these infrastructures in around them we get dual parented families to say hey well

[00:55:57] we could watch the kids or let's put that event on in the day so you can come to it and just doing

[00:56:01] these simple things you know actually creates a more cohesive community than saying well

[00:56:10] you're not really like us um and surely consult that stuff out for yourself you know we're going

[00:56:16] to take the wealth of whatever the community village parish council's budget is which made

[00:56:25] you know that's all for us because you don't fit into these boxes nobody you know in 1942

[00:56:33] that's how we thought that single parents were just pariahs and etc we don't think like that anymore

[00:56:41] but yet that is how minority communities are so often treated and that's very evident I would

[00:56:48] say in writing ultimately anything that increases collaboration between neighbours I think is a positive

[00:56:54] thing you want to get on with the people you live next door to and you want to help them and

[00:57:00] they'll help you you know that's kind of how the world goes around in my mind so I don't to put it

[00:57:05] bluntly care what the model is for me it's just more a case of how do we go about creating that

[00:57:10] sense of collaboration and sharing the opportunity with everyone that's in our within our realm

[00:57:16] and if that makes Brighton a greater place brilliant but also if it makes New Haven a

[00:57:21] greater place and Shoreham a greater place and you know Worthing a great place well brilliant too

[00:57:28] and I think that in terms of the future I'd like Whitehall Football Club to get as close to the

[00:57:33] league as we can professional league the Albion I mean they've got a 2.2 billion global reach

[00:57:42] and I remember when I was at Watford the stats at the time said that

[00:57:46] one when Watford are in a Premier League it adds 10% to the GDP of the town so you can imagine

[00:57:54] that's exactly what it's doing to the city here it's probably more because they're in the Premier

[00:57:59] League and it's more exposed now so when you've got 5,000 Geordies coming down you know and you've

[00:58:05] got 5,000 Manchester United fans who don't all have a ticket they all end up on the seafront

[00:58:10] having a great time that that's boosting the economy massively in the city so you know

[00:58:15] the Albion Stammer they are generating that kind of international brand internally making sure that

[00:58:22] we connect our local people with the kind of events that are going on making sure that they

[00:58:28] benefit from what's going on as well. So what we've been talking about a lot of Brighton

[00:58:34] People's Theatre is how do we start our conversation with people that we don't know

[00:58:38] with people who might be really different from us and how do we enable people to really connect

[00:58:44] in a way that feels gentle and warm and safe and that's where we put a lot of our energy

[00:58:52] is into that so it's holding spaces where people feel safe and most of the time

[00:58:57] if I'm to believe the feedback that we're getting on our evaluation forms we're getting that right

[00:59:01] starting to get that more right and that feels really good and that has come about because

[00:59:07] a lot of the research so if you look at the Arts Council's own research

[00:59:12] into the way that public subsidy of the arts is used so public subsidy of the arts

[00:59:19] currently reinforces and recreates social division which I think is an extraordinary fact

[00:59:27] because I think what the arts really enable us to do is to transcend difference and to

[00:59:35] connect as human beings through an artistic experience and yet the way that public money

[00:59:41] is used stops that from happening and so in Brighton what we're doing is we're saying okay

[00:59:48] we know we've got a lot of difference in this city and we know that a lot of the time people

[00:59:55] who are different will hang out with people who are very similar to them and how can we bring

[01:00:02] people who are different together to connect meaningfully and to create theatre together

[01:00:07] in a way that feels not only safe but like a load of fun we're going to try and make a show

[01:00:14] about the crisis in mental health and loneliness and isolation that people want to come and see

[01:00:19] because it's a good night out for all the family because it's a musical and that's the challenge

[01:00:24] that we're currently grappling with but that's what that's what the arts can do right

[01:00:30] because the arts can transcend that heaviness and the difference and the isolation and can immediately

[01:00:38] very quickly make us feel a whole load better and can make us feel like we are part of something

[01:00:44] that is much bigger than ourselves and that's so important I think and I think that's a key

[01:00:51] challenge for Brighton because I feel like quite often people don't feel that sense of connection

[01:00:56] to something bigger than themselves and I think it's really important as human beings

[01:01:01] I think perhaps a few hundred years ago some people might have had that through religion

[01:01:05] I think not many people have that today and so I think people are yearning for that sort of

[01:01:11] connection to something bigger than themselves and you might experience it at a gig or when you go clubbing

[01:01:18] So I've toyed with the idea of leaving Brighton but I don't know where I'd go

[01:01:22] and it's partly sort of age

[01:01:26] partly to do with house prices as well it's kind of how do I help my kids like could I sell the

[01:01:32] house and make money on it and all those things it's very unattractive but also kind of yeah

[01:01:39] I'm not quite done I'm not done with Brighton yet so I've just taken on chairing the lighthouse

[01:01:46] and that feels like an opportunity for me to think about how an organisation can use art and culture

[01:01:55] in a way to affect some of the things that I've you know my my drums that I've been banging

[01:02:01] about how can it help people from different kinds of backgrounds get into digital making

[01:02:08] art making creativity that sort of thing so that feels like a good opportunity for me

[01:02:13] but in terms of what I'm thinking about Brighton I think that the biggest danger

[01:02:18] the biggest problem that I see in Brighton is smugness and a few years ago I hosted an event to

[01:02:25] talk about you know what is Brighton all that sort of thing and someone broke down smugness

[01:02:31] into two things and they said that smugness was pride plus complacency and that struck me as

[01:02:37] genius because it is a place to be proud of it's a great place to live I want more

[01:02:42] people to have access to that access to the opportunities it's afforded me and my family

[01:02:48] but the complacency is just because it's good for us and doesn't mean it's good for everyone

[01:02:52] and it can certainly be better and if we slide into smugness and just think what a lovely

[01:02:58] great place Brighton is then it dies because actually the the promise of Brighton is that

[01:03:06] newness about being welcoming to all sorts of different people and affording them opportunities

[01:03:11] but having fun while you're doing it. You know my goal with Brighton Jim is to try and create

[01:03:17] has been to try and create something that has a life well beyond my own I love that we've

[01:03:23] basically created an entirely new industry in town and I want to see it keep going keep doing

[01:03:29] things but also to make sure that it keeps feeding positively back into the community

[01:03:34] whether it's through the fundraising charity bottles that we release every year

[01:03:39] through our working practices through helping support mentors I really want to see and this is

[01:03:46] probably where my indoctrination into being a bit of a you know a Brighton hippie shows itself

[01:03:54] actually those formative years when you know earlier to to Fat Boys Slim doing his gigs on

[01:04:01] the beach and things like that they were formative experiences for me here and I think

[01:04:06] the the sense of community that Brighton has is really just unique and we need to use that

[01:04:13] for the force of for the force of good basically I've got no bloody idea but I really hope that I'm

[01:04:18] still here in the business is still here. Thank you so much for listening to the Brighton Paradox

[01:04:39] this labour of love has been a year in the making with generosity and support by so many

[01:04:43] people along the way if you want to keep in touch with project developments visit alwayspossible.co.uk

[01:04:50] forward slash paradox where you can sign up for alerts and updates this podcast investigation

[01:04:57] has been brought to you by Always Possible in collaboration with PlusX and Low Fight Arts

[01:05:02] the project is supported by Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club project partners have been

[01:05:07] united us the University of Brighton's help to grow program Silicon Brighton and Illyrety

[01:05:12] and media and communications partners have been Sussex Business Times and Fox and Bear

[01:05:17] with original music the Fat Boys Slim, Noray and Chris Thorpe Tracy we couldn't have done this without

[01:05:23] all of those and any of those people thank you so so much there were too many special guest

[01:05:28] contributors in this episode to list so I'm going to make sure that they are in the show notes

[01:05:33] and you can see who they are and where they come from over 60 people were interviewed for

[01:05:38] this project with many many more helping to open doors and to provide critical friendship behind

[01:05:43] the scenes thank you to everyone the Brighton paradox was written and presented by me Richard Freeman

[01:05:50] production and editing was by Chris Thorpe Tracy for Low Fight Arts with support from Ian Lauder

[01:05:56] production support and project management was by Stephanie Danvers and the Always Possible

[01:06:01] Events team and technical facilities and further support were provided by PlusX Innovation

[01:06:09] always possible.co.uk

[01:06:33] you are rolling rolling rolling rolling rolling rolling rolling rolling

[01:06:38] you're not going to sing raw hide again raw hide