HAVING lived in Worcester for more than a decade, a visit to its counterpart in Massachusetts, USA, was an eye-opening experience.

There are geographic and demographic similarities between the two, but it is almost as if the cities made a conscious decision to go their separate ways.

The Faithful City clings to its history and is heavily reliant on tourism buoyed by the Cathedral, Commandery, Worcester Porcelain and Victorian Fayres.

While it is right to be proud and celebrate these, refusal to develop a new football stadium and five years of stalling over a site for Christopher Whitehead High School are the negative effects of a city looking as much to the past as the future.

Perhaps Americans are more pro-active or maybe, because of the country's shorter history, it is not so distracted by its past but Worcester, Massachusetts, seems more dynamic.

It grew during the Industrial Revolution, in the 1820s and 1830s, when the Providence Rhode Island Canal gave it a vital transport link to the sea.

It now has a population of around 170,000 and there are clear signs of the different eras of industry that have peaked and troughed through the years.

The freight yards, factories and workshops outside the town are testament to its former manufacturing strength - especially in "Worcester wire" or steel, used in San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.

By the 1970s it had developed with computing firms and today it has kept ahead of the times by thriving in bio-medicine, technology and quaternary industries.

One of the impressive ways it has redeveloped these disused factories is to encourage art workshops to move in and turn former glory into modern culture.

In this area, the Worcester Center for Crafts - a non profit-making arts college - is a market leader, attracting students from across the world.

It has courses in printing, photography, pottery, ceramics, drawing and every form of creative art in between.

In the past two months, it has also developed a glass-making workshop, which gives opportunities to disadvantaged children as well as unique facilities for aspiring artists.

The centre also supports itself - and Worcester's budding artists - by holding exhibitions and selling their work. In this aim, it is in good company.

Another scheme, ARTSWorcester, has more than 500 registered members and strives to provide gallery space and exhibitions for any up-and-coming artists in the area.

The organisation also offers advice and help to anyone looking to display their work or start out in the business.

"We like to have work for sale from Worcester artists but we do help others set up galleries elsewhere or tell them how to deal with exhibitions," said Anne McTigue, from ARTSWorcester.

"We send newsletters, organise "Now and Then" displays of work from current and former artists of ours and send specialists to promote visual, performing and literary artists.

"There is such an undercurrent of talented artists in Worcester that interest and membership is always growing."

Typically, ARTSWorcester is also holding an exhibition of sculptures made from material salvaged from old factory sites in the town - the blend of old and new encouraged at every turn.

While the infrastructure is clearly there to promote young, local artists, there is no shortage of established culture in the city.

The Worcester Arts Museum, one of the finest exhibitions in New England, has 36 galleries and a 40,000-piece collection spanning 5,000 years of world culture.

Founded at the end of the 19th Century, it was the first in the US to buy works by Claude Monet - of which it now has two - and also boasts paintings by Gauguin, Goya and Whistler.

However, even where museums are concerned, Worcester invests in the future.

The museum's library is affiliated with the College of the Holy Cross, one of 14 colleges in the surrounding area, and also has a multi-million dollar art conservation department - one of the first in America to use radiography.

With more than 140,000 visitors a year, an annual budget of $6.5m - all from private gifts - and a collection worth $75m, it is every bit a national treasure.

And there is no shortage of local heritage packed into the region's relatively brief history.

Barbed wire, the monkey wrench and Neil Armstrong's space suit were all invented in Worcester, Massachusetts, while birth control pills, shredded wheat, American-style diners and Valentine cards are also attributed to the city.

Perhaps most famously of all, Worcester artist Harvey Ball drew the first "smiley face" in 1963 (contrary to what Tom Hanks would have you believe in Forrest Gump).

He was paid around $50 for the work, which has gone on to become one of the most universally recognised symbols in the world.

Worcester Historical Museum charts all these discoveries, inventors and industrial leaders, offering a fascinating record of the city's past.

As I spoke to scores of historians and curators I had an overwhelming feeling that, because the city cannot rely on several hundred years of history to attract and impress people - as we can, and do - it strives to promote modern culture at every turn.

And this is surely where the twin-town initiative can prove most instructive.

While we are right to preserve the treasures of our city's past, a leaf from Worcester, Massachusetts' book could make sure we do not forget to invest in the future.