Bristol’s Euro Green Capital director named

The £100,000 a year director of Bristol’s European Green Capital events in 2015 has been named as Kris Donaldson, the city council announced yesterday.

Mr Donaldson, who worked for Liverpool City Council on its European Capital of Culture events in 2008, has been charged with leading the city’s programme of events and, eventually, securing thousands of new jobs and millions of pounds in new investment.

Applications for the position of programme director took place in October. A “competitive, six figure” salary was on offer alongside “flexible terms and conditions”, and this drew criticism from councillors.

But the salary was defended by assistant mayor Cllr Gus Hoyt, who said this was an example where the city had to “spend money to make money”.

Mr Donaldson, who was at the University of Bristol last month in the audience to hear his new boss George Ferguson deliver his first anniversary state of the city address, said he was “incredibly pleased” to accept the role.

“Bristol’s year as European Green Capital is a huge opportunity to attract investment, business and tourism to the city, the region and indeed the country,” he said. “I am incredibly pleased to accept the role and I am looking forward to making the absolute most of 2015.

“Not only will we stage an exciting programme of events for 2015 that will involve every community in Bristol, but we’ll showcase the city as a true world leader for green business and sustainability. We’ll approach the year with a sense of fun, but behind that will be a rock solid commitment to use it as a chance to create new jobs and improve people’s lives.”

The mayor, Mr Ferguson, has set the British, American and Australian director tough targets, saying he needed to “raise millions”.

“European Green Capital is one of Bristol’s greatest opportunities and I wanted to find the best person in the world to run it. I am confident that Kris is that person,” he said.

“We must raise millions for Bristol and the result of this work, led by Kris, should be thousands of local jobs further down the line. In appointing this role I am making an absolute investment in Bristol’s future.

“He will be tasked with making the absolute most of European Green Capital, which is the best investment you could possibly have in the city. In this difficult financial climate we have all the more responsibility to invest wisely and to make sure that we create jobs in other sectors. The environment sector is one of our best opportunities and in Kris we have the right person to capitalise on it.”

Having won the title of European Green Capital 2015 earlier this year, at the third time of asking, far-reaching efforts will be made to put the city on the world map with international conferences, a global prize for green innovation and a Bristol Green Expo.

Among the ideas being discussed is the Bristol Prize – an international award for green innovation that would be regarded as the Nobel prize for in its field. This could be hosted on alternative years with Bristol’s Chinese sister city of Guangzhou.

Sir David Attenborough, whose pioneering natural history programmes have been produced in Bristol for decades, has been approached to give a lecture during the year and there will also be a tie-in with Bristol-based animation firm Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep character – which has a global audience and will star in his own movie to be released in 2015. This would link with Bristol’s tourism industry and with schools.