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02
Feb
Harrogate considers bid to become first UK Town of Culture
Harrogate is to consider entering the first-ever UK Town of Culture competition.
The government announced last month bids were open for the contest, which will award £3 million to the town with the most vibrant cultural programme. Two runners-up will receive investment worth £250,000 each.
Harrogate Town Council will decide whether to submit an entry to the large town category at a meeting on Wednesday (February 4).
Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Aldred, the town’s inaugural mayor, has held informal talks on the idea with the arts charity Harrogate International Festivals.
Cllr Aldred said the competition was “an exciting opportunity to highlight — and grow — Harrogate's already considerable cultural and artistic offering".
He added:
Harrogate Town Council has already acknowledged the importance that events and cultural activities have in making our town the unique place it is and part of our strategy for the year ahead is to appoint a full-time events officer to support our own programme of year-round events, as well as working collaboratively with others.
Whilst the deadline for providing an official expression of interest in the Town of Culture initiative is quite tight - it needs to be with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport by the end of March — and would obviously need to have the buy-in and blessing of North Yorkshire Council to deliver a substantial programme, I personally feel we, working together, could deliver something memorable and exciting which would really reinforce our place on the national cultural map.
We have an item on the town council agenda on Wednesday to discuss this further and I would hope my fellow town councillors would have the vision and faith in the town’s creative community to back an official partnership bid into this scheme.
Cllr Aldred highlighted Harrogate International Festivals’ crime, music and literary festivals, Harrogate Theatre, the Royal Hall, Harrogate Convention Centre and the various art galleries as examples of the town’s cultural offering.
Each shortlisted town will receive £60,000 to work up full bids. A panel chaired by Sir Phil Redmond will select three finalists — one small, one medium, one large town — before deciding on the overall winner and two runners-up.
Shortlisted towns are expected to be announced in spring.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said:
“We have seen the transformative power of culture through the UK City of Culture competition. I want to make sure that towns have the same opportunity to make a real difference to their local community and show the world exactly why their town is so special.”
The DCMS said Bradford, last year’s UK City of Culture, was “projected to benefit from £389 million in growth across the district” as a result of the accolade and experienced a 25% increase in city centre footfall.
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