BLOG: Dougal Paver on creativity by committee

The most glaring parallel was the city's love of large-scale art installations - and, like Liverpool, most of them looked like they'd been chosen by a committee late on a Friday evening. The comparison between private patronage and public endeavour was stark, as it is here.
Apart from Superlambanana - loved, nay, adored by the masses - can you tell me the names of any of the numerous public works of art that have so wowed the man on the Bootle omnibus that they are celebrated in popular culture? Thought not.
That's not to say that some initiatives supported with public money aren't a roaring success - witness the Superlambanana trail that was one of the highlights of our culture year, and the pending penguin festival. But aren't these just recycling Manchester's cow parade with an albeit appealing Liverpool twist? Heavens, they even had a pig parade in Vigo.
Creativity costs, of course, but the payback is substantial. Thing is, if you have a committee acting as arbiters of creativity the chances are you'll end up with much-maligned installations like those spikey finger things on Speke Boulevard. Expensive, but utterly un-loved.
The challenge, then, is for the holders of the public purse to have the courage to let go of the decision-making process and give it to a few iconoclasts with the vision, taste and experience to pick something genuinely appealing. There'll be no group-think and plenty of hard debate and, doubtless, a few decisions that don't meet with universal favour. But I bet the results will be better.
And before I get accused of bashing the good burghers of Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens or elsewhere let me gladly point to installations like Another Place and our funky yellow ovine as proof that the public sector can get it right. Sometimes.

Dougal Paver is managing director of Paver Smith in Liverpool