The cultural feeding frenzy of 2008 has subsided and many of us are looking for a hook. Maybe the story of how a teenage punk runaway saved the city's floundering authorities from humiliation is a little too Hollywood.

It is very Liverpool though. Its real heroes have always been driven by a desire to challenge perceptions and to right wrongs. These qualities seemed to be in short supply as plans for the year of culture were being finalised. And that is where Jayne Casey came in.

Jayne's CV was, of course, a little more than her role in punk legends Big In Japan. She has always been heavily involved in Liverpool's cultural scene for three decades, most notably as co-founder of Cream and the setting up of Liverpool's Independent District. Her role as artistic director for the opening ceremonies should have been a natural choice but it would not have happened without a last minute personal intervention.

“The Australian theatre director Nigel Jamieson had been approached by the culture company to deliver the creative vision for the 08 opening. When he was offered his role he said; 'I'll accept the job if I can have Jayne Casey as Co-Creative Director.'

“When he talked to me about it he used the same blackmail tactics. It was scary stuff, the city was in a mess and it wasn't a situation that I would have chosen to walk into, but I knew I couldn't turn it down. I was thrilled to work with Nigel and my hope was that I could go in, snatch the award, give it back to the artists and get out alive.

“The original brief was to create a ticketed show for the new arena but I felt really strongly that a ticketed show for 10.000 people was a really bad move given how isolated the people of the city were feeling. Also, it would have been impossible to create the type of world wide media images that were needed.

“So I bought the city round to the idea of a big peoples' opening. We then had 8 months to create an arena show and a large scale outdoor event. It was such hard work but it was worth the extra effort because as predicted it was the 'The Peoples' Opening' that attracted the media. The show was eventually broadcast to 400 million people worldwide and within a few hours 'Liverpool' became the most searched for word on Google.

“When I arrived the Culture Company were under attack and the CEO was on the verge of being sacked. To add to their misery the national press were camped on the doorstep and having a field day. Jason Harbough who was the CEO at the time recently said in a radio interview that; 'from the minute Jayne Casey walked through the doors of Millennium House all the criticism stopped ' So although I wasn't necessarily their type of person they appreciated the respite and they were respectful and listened to what I had to say.

“Being the only Liverpool person on the opening team, I knew I would be the flak catcher if it all went wrong. This really influenced my management of the situation so if an idea didn't work for me- it didn't work - end of story. My attitude was 'those who lived the story own the story'.

“2008 was really important in terms of audience development - I think more people in the city are open to arts and culture then they were before. The big cultural organizations worked together and used the year to develop their infrastructure, which sadly didn't happen in the independent sector.

'The Independent District' was my personal legacy project for 2008, and its seems to be going to plan. The estate which includes 40.000 sq. ft of warehouse property has just been handed over to an independent trust. The Independent District will hopefully go some way to securing/developing independent culture in the future.

“In the future I think there will be a massive backlash against corporate capitalist culture and music and independent culture will be the vanguard. I hope that the road map my generation of artists have left behind will be of some use to practitioners in the future.