Tag: travel

By: Carley Divish

Southampton is a city that many feel underwhelmed in. People arrive on cruise ships, and leave for London or Oxford. Students arrive for courses and can’t wait to run for the hills (of London or Bristol) when they finish their degrees. The world is out there, and definitely not here. This city is lacking.

That sentiment is a problem for me, and for many people who grew up here, have chosen this city, or simply want to care about the place they live instead of sitting like the Little Mermaid dreaming about anywhere else. Anywhere else will always be there, but investing and caring about the place you live is a skill. Always eschewing the values of the place you call home only leads to a life spent sitting around moping. Southampton is a city with culture and with life. It is a city filled with people who live voraciously. It is a place where, sure, it feels like the rat population parallels the seagull one, but a city worth investing in nonetheless. All you have to do to see that is take the time to care (and play football in the Common).

As a newer resident of Southampton, and of England overall, I have taken some time to check out other cities. I understand why people are drawn to London, to Bristol; to places with easy concerts, genres of people, of music, of clothing, strewn across the streets, bursting as the city struggles to contain it all. Art is everywhere, but it is different. Those cities with struggle inbuilt, but venues ravenous are hubs of creativity, they bring the sun during the rainy winter. No one can deny the environment is different. However, Southampton is growing, it is shapeshifting and becoming just as hungry for life. As a creative, I feel that moving somewhere with an already-established scene can be dissatisfying. Is there space for a new voice, a new perspective in a place where every idea has already been heard? Romeo and Julie die over and over, Jane Eyre finds her feet every day; the twists and turns of novels, on repeat, in places known to circle those plots, creating fame and crushing it again. The opportunities of London, of Bristol, of Berlin are matched by their intense competition for specks of glory. Who doesn’t know someone who moved to London for a music career a year ago, who now works in a coffee shop, returning home every weekend to perform in the New Forest, or the Railway Inn? The life the big city promised has not been delivered.

In a city like Southampton, the scene is there, it is growing and becoming. Sure, effort is required, but it is in different ways. The effort is taking advantage of the opportunities, of the people living here who want to be involved, they just don’t know how. People are craving dj nights, rock bands, clubs and expression! I believe it is far more satisfying to build the scene, creating the community you dream of, catering to your friends, to what can be rather than what is already there. Creating magazines, event series, lifting local artists. We get to bring our own visions to life here, rather than fitting in to the ‘cool but unaffected’ mold of Bristol, the ‘fashion icon’ of London, or the ‘aloof but more interesting than you’ll ever be’ Berliner. We get to create it all. Music has been here, culture has been here. It doesn’t take Beethoven to notice the rock bands campaigning by WestQuay or to see the empty rooms at Heartbreakers, when bands are playing music smooth enough to melt you. To create a scene is to make the new mould, to create a scene is to participate in turn. Across the city, artists, programmers, excited citizens are choosing to work right now. If you aren’t going to shows, aren’t engaging in what makes this city a home, then you’re missing out.

Why leave for a city where everyone is fighting for the same three headliner spots, hundreds lined up down the block to audition? Why go somewhere with a specific genre of person, of clothing, of status? Southampton may not have it all yet, but that ‘yet’ isn’t far off. Art cannot flourish without community, and community cannot be built without effort.