Curtain rises on race for UK’s first Town of Culture

For the first time, fifteen towns across the UK have been shortlisted to become the UK Town of Culture. 

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced the shortlist on Thursday after it received 398 applications for the new competition, which launched for the first time this year. 

The shortlist has been divided into three categories based on population size. 

Ilfracombe, the Isle of Bute, Lerwick, Sandown, Strabane and Stockton Town Centre Ward have been listed in the small town category. 

Corby, Great Yarmouth, Leith, Pontypridd and Port Talbot make up the medium town category, while Basildon, Birkenhead, Grimsby and Rotherham have been shortlisted as large towns. 

Towns will now receive £60,000 to develop a full bid before an independent judging panel selects one finalist from each category. The overall winner, who will be awarded £3m, will be announced early next year. 

The two remaining finalists will each receive £250,000 to deliver parts of their proposed cultural programmes. 

• News of the shortlist follows Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy’s visit to the Museum of Liverpool to view a digital exhibition celebrating the towns bidding for the title

Modelled on the UK City of Culture programme, the competition forms part of the government’s Pride in Place initiative. Previous City of Culture hosts include Derry-Londonderry, Hull, Coventry and current titleholder Bradford. 

According to the government, former City of Culture winners have attracted more than £1bn in investment and around two million visitors. 

Sir Phil Redmond, who chairs the independent judging panel, said: ‘The response to the competition has been, to say the least, overwhelming, quite literally from all four corners of the UK.’

‘It has been fantastic that nearly 400 towns have come forward, sharing their sense of pride, ambition and desire to demonstrate how much they have, and continue to contribute to our national story,’ He continued. ‘That of course has made making the decision on the shortlist itself much more difficult, never mind the actual winners.’

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