Let’s be confident about a Dundee culture trail

As wooping camera shot shows a construction site within which a soon to be breathtaking building is slowly becoming visible. Time lapse photography chronicles the progress to date of a structure some are pinning the hopes of a city’s regeneration upon.

A video released last week proved that, when it opens next year, the V&A Dundee will stand tall on the banks of the River Tay as a symbol of the transformation which has taken place locally.

Yes it is late and it is over budget, as is almost expected from public contracts.

Of course it does not solve the lack of jobs in Dundee, the greatest problem facing the city and one which was present long before Jack McConnell announced a plan to bring the design museum to Tayside while seeking re-election as first minister in 2007.

What it is doing, however, is breathing new life into an area that little more than a decade ago was being starved of the oxygen of belief by a great many people who looked down their noses at “scumdee”.

How those same self-important snouts were snapped out of joint when Dundee was named the UK’s first City of Design by the United Nations.

Yet while some of us sit here and trumpet lines about how we’ve always known there is more to our city than meets the eye, often we do not take advantage of what is in front of us.

Catching up with family on Friday night, my brother admitted he has never been to McManus Galleries despite having lived his entire life in either Carnoustie or Dundee.

It turns out I can use one hand to count the number of times I have been into the museum.

Added to that list could be the likes of Verdant Works, Broughty Ferry Castle Museum, D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum, the Museum of Transport, the Hannah Maclure Centre at Abertay University, the Cooper Gallery, Lamb Gallery, and Matthew Gallery at Dundee Uni, and the RRS Discovery.

All are excellent assets but most are also under-valued, or at least underused, by us, the people who live and work in the city.

So what can we do to inject a bit of joined up thinking between these potentially iconic and exceptionally interesting facilities?

As usual, it was my sister-in-law who had the brain wave. Why not set up a Dundee culture trail?

It could be done relatively inexpensively in this time of council budget cuts, using apps and leaflets to direct people around the city.

Consider the potential to take full advantage of the expected tourism boom from the V&A by spreading around what is on offer.

Think of the popularity and success of the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail and the eye-opening insight into how well-read Dundee is provided by the Literary Trail.

Why can’t we harness these ideas and create something which guides visitors to areas they might never discover otherwise, while also opening locals’ eyes to our surroundings?

Some things, such as the growing and thriving underground punk and rock music scene developed in no small part by the likes of Make That A Take Records, will always stay under the radar and off tourist maps.

There’s nothing wrong with that, some forms of art lose their edge with state-sponsored backing, but there should be an effort to link the disciplines that naturally benefit each other.

A lot of political capital has been put into the success of the V&A and with that comes risk.

So perhaps it is time to lessen that risk by broadening our own horizons.

Dundee’s catchphrase is “one city, many discoveries”. Let’s put those words into action with continued self-confidence.

Picture: Gareth Jennings. The V&A building is really beginning to take shape.