What would attract visitors to our city long term?

Hi MisterD-Di Whatever the intentions, the hourly service between Coventry & Nuneaton, which had a very shaky & slow start, with most single coach trains nearly running empty, the fact is that now the service is being well used, often a two coach train that is three-parts full. Not many join or disembark at the Ricoh yet, but a conductor told me last Saturday that numbers are increasing generally. I cannot go into the politics of council official failures, but if the Ricoh is converted into a park & ride station, which I keep hearing rumours about, maybe something will fire then. In the meantime, I continue to use the station, being so convenient for me. What is really good for me is I normally avoid late evening travelling, as that always involves two bus changes for me to get home through Coventry centre, but using the train, I can be home in 8 minutes from Coventry station right up to 9.40pm.

I hear what you are saying and that's all fine for people in the area. Public transport needs more investment and expansion. My point is that the station would never have existed but for the Ricoh Arena being built. Yet it is completely unavailable for what was its prime purpose which seems to me to be farcical. Sporting events in other countries see huge provision of public transport to get people in and out, yet in the UK we see situations like this.

With Coventry applying to be capital of culture, now's the time to think up ideas to make Coventry more interesting. I can't help feeling that those involved are ambling rather than running towards having a plan. I'd criticise them but Warrington has only just thought of entering

HelenF said: "With Coventry applying to be capital of culture, now's the time to think up ideas to make Coventry more interesting." Why don't we apply to get the cathedrals listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site? They have a unique history. The atomic bomb dome in Hiroshima is already on the list. It's a slow process to get added so if we start now, we might just make it by 2021. Some people actively try to "tick off" these sites, while others use it as a list of things to think of doing when they visit a country. It should also mean we get better coverage in guide books etc. Peter.

Someone said, you can always leave the city, that made me 'smart' a little. 1932 to 36 I and my family walked (carnival) the streets of Coventry 1982 and 83 I ran (marathon) the streets of Coventry In some small way it attracted large crowds to donate to the causes of Coventry, that was the way it was done in those days, personal and positive. Maybe we older people don't express ourselves so well, but anyone who lived through the thirties and forties could never be called 'selfish', it was not in our upbringing. Large families ruled it out and never was a generation taught honesty, respect, sharing and politeness more than those times, followed by five years of sharing meagre rations with strangers (soldiers) and the like. No, I would say it came out a little negative but honest in its meaning.

OK, wild idea time. Instead of trying to get people interested in the small amount of historical treasures the city has left, why not create new ones? If Coventry had a wealth of new things to see, you could link them up to the old sights a bit at a time. That doesn't mean spending a fortune on commissioned art works, but using the budding or experienced talents in the area and beyond. If there was a mini gallery in a city building (eg the old grammar school) with work produced by the public, would you visit it regularly if you knew the content changed every fortnight? It could be mixed media - poetry, short stories, photos, video, paintings, sculpture, music, a display about someone's hobby or research, or even bits of a model railway Whatever people think someone else might find interesting. The Herbert could even have first dibs on anything it fancies for its collection. It would be hard to maintain unless it joined up with clubs, schools and colleges. Sell it to them as a way to get noticed and/or sold. The art course I was on in 2000 produced enough decent pieces almost weekly to fill a small gallery on its own, surely the hundreds of courses and artists in the area could keep a gallery stocked? If someone likes a piece, they could pay for it and collect it after the fortnight was up if the owner agreed. The emphasis should be on quality and interest, rather than gimmick. Conceptual art only really works to pompous London elite. Unless it's very well done, the rest of us see it as pretentious tat. Tie it up with a regular spot in the newspaper. But most of all, advertise it regularly to the people who live in and around Coventry. Get them involved as much as possible. Something like a physical Facebook, but where people show what they can do to a wider audience than their friends and family. Eg I think there will be people who'd like to see those 3d reconstructions of the city, who might not find them on the internet. Stick them on a screen in a gallery and suddenly they're proper art (as they should be considered). While it shouldn't be wary of promoting Coventry and favouring locals, it shouldn't turn away good entries wherever they come from. Don't limit the exhibition by the space, limit it by what comes in. If one gallery space works, consider opening another. Call it the people's gallery. Like the Royal exhibition but genuinely open to all. What do you think?

Personally speaking, I wouldn't visit a building filled with amateur art. (Why? I can spend the time and money visiting somewhere like Compton Verney instead.) But then again, I like conceptual art, so I must be one of the Pompous London Elite.

Amateur doesn't mean bad and professional doesn't mean good. Personally I'd rather see a good unknown than a bad famous piece. What is much of Damien Hurst's work other than bad taxidermy/pickling with an advertising slogan? Is a Lowry really that much better than a amateur sketch artist that captures the feel of an area? There are Monet paintings that take your breath away and others that are plain junk. People want variety, not endless revisits to a limited collection of approved artists.

Real art is inferential of the inner reality. The divine within is the real part of the individual. This isn't religion. It is a living truth and we are all living examples of it. No charge.

Alas we can't rebuild Coventry as Compton Verney. You have to work with what you've got. And one of the things that Coventry owns is a magnificent set of amateur sketches of the city by Dr Troughton. I've had my own personal art exhibition looking through them. I've never enjoyed art more. I've seen a lot of the Turner sketches of the city. They're just scribbles to remind him of what he saw. To anyone else they say almost nothing. There is a collection of kids' sketches of the medieval buildings that are very childish but have captured buildings that nobody else thought to draw (if only they'd put more information on them to tell me where). They have a child like innocence that is genuine and not an affectation by some self absorbed adult. The Bunney drawings are exquisite but they're tiny, tiny paintings on bits of scrap paper. Some of them have office stationery on the back. If you were not interested in Coventry, chances are you'd never have heard of him or Troughton. To me, all those works are worth more than anyone's unmade bed or a pile of bricks.

But aren't all forms of art trying to allow others to take a glimpse through the artist's eyes.

Oh come on Coventry, if you were really serious you would build a Vegas or Burswood on the old power station grounds. Shows, food, entertainment, money and people, all in one spot, even the street shows in Vegas were as good as Orlando for kids, not degrading, not drunks these days. People would flock from all over the Midlands, and it would bounce out to the Ricoh. Coventry would become richer and more entertaining then any time in its existence.

Hi Perhaps such a site may work Kaga but I think there would be some opposition. Local residents would likely protest, also the casino at the Ricoh. There is also the Genting not far away that has its own hotel and theatre. I think there are other places around Coventry such as the old Standard cinema and I think there is another in Hillfields. Don't know if they are still in business but if they are they wouldn't be to happy about more competition. Whatever the site becomes I hope it's funded by private money and not from my council tax.

Norman C. The site is too far away from houses (or was) to be a nuisance. But Vegas has loads of hotels competing, they also create work for thousands of people, and a safe city to walk round at night, so much security. There are hundreds of hotel rooms and they filled them all for a fortnight with a 'shoe' convention. Coventry has had some great sportsmen and women, so why not try and host the 'Euro' (veterans) games, they have the money and time to spend in Coventry when the games end. The Coventry Transport Museum looks like a long concrete box. I expected the building to be in the shape of an old Coventry car, something like the thirties A-Siddeley box-car, guess I got that wrong.