A Town of Culture competition will be launched to highlight the “creativity, history and identity” of towns across Britain, the UK culture secretary Lisa Nandy announced at the Labour party conference in Liverpool earlier this week.
The new initiative follows the popular UK City of Culture programme, currently taking place in Bradford, which will next launch in 2029. However, the launch date for the Town of Culture competition is yet to be confirmed.
In a statement, the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said: “The UK Town of Culture competition will see multiple towns competing to win the title with the winning town delivering a cultural programme, which will help to boost pride in place by shining a spotlight on multiple towns and enabling them to tell their unique story.”
The UK City of Culture programme has seen “significant lasting impacts across winning cities of Derry/LondonDerry, Hull and Coventry”, according to the DCMS. In 2016, Hull was awarded the title, leading to £220m in investment, according to a report from the University of Hull.
Nationwide arts festivals are one way of accelerating regeneration in neglected areas, drawing public and private investment. According to the DCMS, more than 40,000 local people have so far participated in cultural events in Bradford this year.
Nandy also announced a £150m Creative Places Growth Fund. Under the scheme, the Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester are among six UK regions which will each receive £25m. The funding will go towards the film, TV, music and video games industries.
A further £132m will also go to arts and music programmes across UK communities. This funding was allocated to “Youth” in the Dormant Assets Strategy, a scheme which repurposes money from long-unclaimed financial products for public benefit.
