Celebrity Interview – Adam Buss
Are we going to spend the rest of our lives bemoaning the fact that something’s not happening or are we as a city going to do something collectively about it? Critics have found it comical that Derby, whose leading entertainment venue has been closed for more than seven years, has submitted a bid to become UK City of Culture in 2025. They may also titter at the fact that the executive leading the bid was once classed as Derby’s funniest man. But Adam Buss who runs QUAD, Derby’s £11 million art gallery and cinema, isn’t laughing. He regards it as a “massively tough” competition, especially as a record number of applications, 20, have been submitted for the 2025 accolade. So, does Derby have a chance of success? “Absolutely.” Adam, a former actor, stand-up comedian and marketing expert, explains how Derby can come out on top despite being without the Assembly Rooms since March 2014 because of a fire that caused extensive damage. “City of Culture isn’t a beauty contest. In terms of the challenge that Derby’s got, we’ve been very open about them in our bid and said we want City of Culture to be a catalyst for change. “In terms of the Assembly Rooms, it would have been great if it was all sorted six months after the fire happened but it wasn’t. “Are we going to spend the rest of our lives bemoaning the fact that something’s not happening or are we as a city going to do something collectively about it?” Adam, Derby’s City of Culture interim bid director, is loath to criticise previous UK City of Culture winners Derry-Londonderry, Hull and Coventry. He points out that Derby would do things differently. “What other Cities of Culture have done is they’ve largely brought in a group of culture professionals to deliver a year of exciting stuff. What we’re saying is we want to build from within, so we want to prioritise the talent that exists within Derby.” This is from a man who grew up on a council estate in Hastings, East Sussex, with little access to the arts. When he was at secondary school Adam showed an aptitude for drama and his teacher impressed on him that he could have a career in the creative industries. When it came to choosing a university that offered a drama course, Adam drew up a shortlist of four. He rejected Winchester – “not the sort of place you want to go to when you’re 18 or 19” – before turning down Birmingham because it felt “too big” and Bretton Hall, part of the University of Leeds, which was “too remote”. “Derby was the only place that I didn’t go and visit. I chose Derby because I didn’t want to go to the other places! “It wasn’t a big city but it was a city and it had a course that was a bit more flexible that gave me the opportunity to try out different things. “It was by far the best decision I’ve ever made in my life, coming here in the first place.” While at university Adam met a lecturer who was a former stand-up comedian. He started up a group for budding comics. He had contacts which enabled Adam to get short slots as a stand-up and he was on the comedy circuit for about three years. The pinnacle was when Adam reached the final of the Leicester Mercury comedian of the year contest in which he came up against Jimmy Carr, John Bishop and Miles Jupp. “Basically everyone else who was in the final is now a very successful, professional stand-up comedian and I’m not. So that tells you all you need to know!” Adam didn’t win the competition, so he decided a change of career was necessary. But there’s one title he hasn’t relinquished. “The university and the Students’ Union ran a comedy competition for about three years. I was the last person to win it, so I’m still Derby’s funniest man!” Adam then secured a job at a London marketing agency working with big companies including Sony PlayStation, mobile phone provider Orange, Top Man and Air France. “Our job was to turn commercial brands into live experiences for people to be able to understand the brand and ultimately sell more stuff. “It was a great experience and I learned a lot. But one of the key things I learned was that I’m not well suited to the commercial world. I understand it but I don’t care enough about it, to be honest.” Adam began to look at other jobs that were not in London. A vacancy for a press officer at Derby Playhouse, as it then was, brought him back to the city. “It just felt right straightaway because it was a venue I knew from my time at the university, I knew the city and I still had friends here. Fortunately I got that job and I’ve been in Derby ever since.” Adam had been doing odd acting jobs which enabled him to get his Equity card and an agent. But he never fully committed to being on stage. “I was able to do work with people like 1623 theatre company and do some really interesting Shakespeare stuff. Artistic director Ben Spiller is the person who got me to understand Shakespeare and love it.” Adam performed at the National Theatre and in a Royal Shakespeare Company festival but he still regarded it as a second job. His full-time work changed again when he joined Q Arts, the organisation which merged with the Metro Cinema to become QUAD, although it would be another two years before its £11 million building took shape and became its Market Place home in 2008. There was a feeling at the time, says Adam, that there was a lack of ambition in Derby. “Maybe that’s unfair. Maybe it was a sense of ‘things are okay as they are’. QUAD was a disruptor to that and said we can
