bid, like the new Civic and Cultural Quarter (CCQ), which includes the Sir Nigel Gresley Square, Doncaster’s first public square. And world events over the last few years have shown how important public squares can be! But with an uncertain economic future we can’t rely on big projects and outside benefactors to save the day. Why should we? We have to take the cultural, social and economic development of Donny into our own hands if we want to improve the town for future generations of Doncastrians. This may sound scary, but once you've been involved with smaller, grassroots projects in Doncaster you realise that, as a community, we're capable of a lot more than we think. One such project was a series of music, feasting, arts, performance and storytelling events called The Telling. With zero resources - but 'fake' aplenty - we managed to put on a fire-lit, power-down extravaganza which merged local and emerging talent with nationally and internationally respected artists, including the world-renowned muralist Phlegm and Bellowhead's Jon Bowden. Jon had played Glasgow Arena the night before The Telling and now, for a paltry £2, the people of Doncaster not only saw him play, but were treated to a singing workshop. We could only do this because everyone involved cared more about doing something new and building something better for Donny than they did about money, fame or other self interests. Phlegm himself is the perfect embodiment of this DIY attitude. He travels the world doing what he loves and is recognised as one of the best muralists in the world today. But he's no millionaire rock star artist giving it the big 'I am' (no offence to any millionaire rock-stars who might be reading this). He sells his own comics and prints to raise money for air fare and paint and refuses
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monetary payment from the people he paints for. He'd much rather be given good coffee than cash. He painted a fantastic mural for The Telling in the courtyard of Church View - the former art college behind the Minster, opposite Tesco car park - and he donated the images which make up the cover, back and centre of the magazine you are now holding, completely free of charge. Phlegm also loves Doncaster and has vowed to return to paint again. If Phlegm has faith in Donny, then so should we. Regardless of city bids, we need to start acting like a city, or at least a unified whole rather than lots of towns fighting for their own small slice of an ever-dwindling pie. We need to celebrate Doncaster’s culture, arts, style, music, people, fashion, lifestyle, architecture and even its coal-black underbelly. There's no better time to do this. All cities are at their most creative when they’re still raw (poor) and eager for change, a process which has a limited shelf-life thanks to the inevitable gentrification of once-bohemian areas. Who’s to say that those ‘brawling boys’ are not in fact angst ridden, hormone driven poets whose musings will one day put the city of Doncaster on the map. Why can’t a girl be a sociocultural heavyweight just because she chooses to spend her Friday nights ‘half naked’. And who’s to say a ‘cold kebab’… No, even I can’t find a way to redeem a cold kebab. The Doncopolitan will big up our little city (big town) as if it were London, Paris or New York, although Donny would be the ‘Big Rhubarb’ rather than the ‘Big Apple’. Even if Doncaster never becomes a city, this magazine will act as a showcase for what truly is an underrated gem of a town. So come on Donny, let's get together and get stuff done. Walk the walk. Talk the talk. Start every sentence with
“What if?...”, and if anyone answers with a “yes, but...”, leave them back in the 20th century. The future is unwritten. Why not be the ones holding the pen? Act like you're living in the best place on earth and one day you will be.
End