WORDS: GRAEME ANDERSON
PICTURES: GRAEME ROWATT
The
Culture
King
Paul Callaghan is one of the leading lights of Wearside’s business
and philanthropic world.
The founder of pioneering internet specialists The Leighton Group and a key
driver of cultural projects across the North-East, he is chair of the MAC Trust,
whose goal is the creation of an inspirational Cultural Quarter in Sunderland.
Although those plans have been buffeted by Covid-19, Paul tells Wear Business's
Graeme Anderson he hopes the completion of the Quarter next year will lead the
city on to brighter days ahead.
This interview was six months
in the making.
The first time Paul and I
sat down to talk was in late
February for what would have been
the spring edition of Wear Business.
We shook hands in a bustling
Keel Square, the Bridges buzzing
with shoppers across the way,
and headed off to the packed
Fire Station pub and restaurant
where, amid the din of the diners,
he outlined the on-schedule
completion of Sunderland’s
exciting new Cultural Quarter.
I left with a notepad full of
optimism and opportunity, visions
of renewal and rebirth for an
edition destined never to see the
light of day.
Now, in August, we meet via
Zoom to revisit notes which already
feel like something from a different
era.
The Fire Station has been closed
since lockdown, as have near
neighbours, The Peacock and
The Dun Cow, while the jewel in
the cultural crown, the historic
Sunderland Empire theatre,
remains similarly shuttered – a
whole season cancelled.
Of all the sectors to suffer from
the ripple effects of Covid-19, few
have suffered so much as arts and
entertainment – one of the UK’s
most powerful and important
industries put on pause.
Across the UK, the damage done
has been catastrophic; in some
cases, the harm irreversible.
“It's heart-breaking,” agrees Paul.
“You feel for the organisations
and the struggles they're going
through, but you also feel for the
individual performers – the actors,
the musicians, the dancers, the
artists unable to work.”
Having acknowledged those
difficulties, though, there are now
reasons to be cautiously upbeat.
Paul reveals that the showpiece
new auditorium, rising next to the
Fire Station in High Street West,
remains on target for scheduled
completion next year, despite
building work being temporarily
suspended in March.
“It was originally due to open at
the start of May/end of June 2021,”
he says.
“On the quiet, we were on course
for the start of May, now it’s going
to be mid-summer, but that's OK
we can live with that.
”And, if we’re trying to stay
positive, well, it's better the
pandemic happened while we’re in
the building stage, rather than upand-running.
“That said, while I do like to
build things I also like to see them
completed!
“And as well as the new
auditorium, it's important to
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