UK City of Culture 2025 bids

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The bidding process for

Derry~Londonderry^[a], Hull, and Coventry. The competition for the 2025 holder was launched on 29 May 2021, with the deadline to submit bids being 19 July 2021. On 18 March 2022, Bradford, County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham County Borough were the last four shortlisted bids in the competition.^[1]^[2]^[3] On 31 May 2022, Bradford was announced as the winning bid, with the three runners-up receiving £125,000, the first time the runners-up receive a prize.^[4]

Bidding process
By the deadline at the end of July 2021, it was reported that a record number of cities and areas had submitted bids to hold the title of UK City of Culture 2025, with the total reaching twenty, a quarter of which are from Wales. The then
Wolverhampton

Wrexham County Borough

Great Yarmouth & East Suffolk

class=notpageimage|

Locations of UK City of Culture 2025 submitted bids. Green designates the winning bid and red for failed bids.

Winning bid

Bradford Council, Susan Hinchcliffe.^[11] The chair of the bid committee, Shanaz Gulzar, said that Bradford would have an opportunity to "collaborate locally, nationally and internationally" to generate more support for the arts if its bid was successful.^[12] It won the contest on 31 May 2022.^[4]

Other shortlisted bids

On 18 March 2022, four bids of the eight which remained on the October 2021 longlist, was announced. No bids from Scotland and Northern Ireland made onto the shortlist. The four bids, three from England, and one from Wales are as follows:[7]^[8]

England

National Railway Museum Shildon (Locomotion).^[13]^[14]

Southampton – Southampton City Council first announced it would bid for City of Culture in 2018.^[15] The bid was officially launched in October 2020,^[16] with Claire Whitaker as its director.^[17] Solent University and the University of Southampton endorsed the bid in a joint statement in December 2020.^[18] In March 2021, the council unanimously approved the funding plan for a successful bid.^[19]

Wales

collieries." It is hoped that the recent takeover of the local football club can assist the bid.^[21]

Failed longlisted bids

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, released the list all of bidders who applied to bid for the title on 20 August 2021, totaling to 20 cities and areas. The longlist of bids was released on 8 October 2021, totaling to 8 cities and areas.[6]

England

Cornwall – Cornwall announced its bid in June 2021, coming after the hosting of the G7 in Carbis Bay and a change in administration on Cornwall Council due to the 2021 local elections.^[22]^[23] The bid was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership and had the support of the Tate and its director Maria Balshaw, the Eden Project, the Newlyn Art Gallery and Falmouth University and its chancellor, Dawn French.^[24]^[25]

Derby – Derby City Council announced its bid for the title on 6 July 2021, and stated that Derby had a strong standing for the title as "the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, site of the world's first factory and industry home to Rolls-Royce, Bombardier (now Alstom), Toyota and many others" to fuel its bid.^[26]^[27]

Northern Ireland

City of Armagh, but will additionally showcase heritage, culture, and creative industries from across the borough.^[28]^[29]^[30]

Scotland

Stirling – Stirling Council submitted their expression of interest for the title.^[31] On 25 August, the Stirling partnership was formed to assist the city's bid for UK City of Culture. The partnership includes arts, education, heritage and cultural organisations, such as Artlink Central, Big Noise Stirling, Creative Stirling, HES The Engine Shed, Forth Valley College Creative Industries, Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum, the University of Stirling, and Stirling Council.^[32]

Unsuccessful bids

Cross-border

Carlisle City Council, Cumbria County Council, and Northumberland County Council, together as the Borderlands partnership, announced they would launch a bid on 20 July 2021.^[33]

England

Great Yarmouth and East Suffolk – Great Yarmouth and East Suffolk launched their joint bid in July 2021. Steve Gallant, leader of East Suffolk Council said "this is an incredibly exciting opportunity for East Suffolk and Great Yarmouth and will reflect our continuing hard work to ensure the highest quality of life possible." Similarly, Carl Smith, leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council stated "our borough and the district of East Suffolk share a very special sense of place and a local distinctiveness which sets us apart as truly unique."^[34] In August 2021, street artist Banksy produced work entitled "A Great British Spraycation" across many sites in the region including Great Yarmouth, Gorleston-on-Sea & Lowestoft. Both councils were "delighted" with the work and believed it to be an endorsement of the bid.^[35]

Medway – Medway launched its bid in July 2019, with Medway Council leader Alan Jarrett calling it "an opportunity to actually increase the recognition of the area".^[36] The bid also had the support of the Labour opposition on the council.^[37]

Preston, and Blackburn with Darwen, and the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership. The county council had stood by its decision to withdraw its support for the bid.^[42]^[43]

Exeter Cathedral Library. The councils stated the bid would have aimed to create a "cultural corridor between the places, while also providing the opportunity to for other towns between Exeter and Torbay to play a major role in a focused programme of events".^[44]^[45]

North of England.^[46] The cathedral city hosts three events: Wakefield's Rhubarb Festival, Castleford's Roman Festival and Pontefract's Liquorice Festival, and the district is home to attractions such as the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Hepworth Wakefield, the National Coal Mining Museum, Sandal and Pontefract Castles, and Production Park.^[47]^[48]

Wolverhampton – City of Wolverhampton Council announced its bid for the title on 22 July 2021. The council stated that Wolverhampton's bid would be split into four themes. The Event City theme would have consisted of a partnership between private, public and third sectors, and local community groups to host local events to bring the culture of the city to life. The Music City theme aimed to showcase the city's music heritage, support local talent, artists, and the live music industry in the city. The Creative City theme would have been focused on creating a building to serve as a creative workspace and talent developing centre. The Digital City theme would have specialised in building the city's digital infrastructure, embracing technologies such as augmented reality and hologram technology, to deliver innovation to the city's cultural environment. Councillor Ian Brookfield, leader of City of Wolverhampton Council, stated that "Wolverhampton is a fantastic, culturally rich, diverse and dynamic city that’s going places. We have worked hard to create momentum on this to build on the very strong foundations we know we have."^[49] The bid was supported by the MP for South Staffordshire and then Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson, in addition to local arts groups. Although Mr Brookfield expressed concern that the judging panel may have been encouraged to award the title to city outside the West Midlands due to the 2021 holder Coventry also being in the region.^[50]

Scotland

Angus Council and Fife Council submitted their collective expression of interest for the 2025 title as the "Tay Cities", a city region where the River Tay, Scotland's longest river, connects the four council areas. Some cultural attractions in the region include: V&A Dundee, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Arbroath Abbey, and the University of St Andrews – the oldest in Scotland.^[51]

Wales

Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales World Heritage Site, and areas of Arfon and Anglesey
.

Conwy County Borough – Conwy County Borough Council submitted its expression of interest in the competition on 20 July 2021. The bid would have had its flagship town as Conwy, but the bid would have also extended to include various historical and contemporary assets across the county borough, including the town's 13th century town walls, Conwy Castle (part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site), the Great Orme goats of Llandudno, and Gwyrch Castle near Abergele. Wales rugby head coach Wayne Pivac had announced his support for Conwy's bid.^[52]

Newport – Newport City Council submitted their bid on 20 July 2021, and stated that in the event of a successful bid, that the benefits of holding the title would be spread out across the city and wider Gwent region.^[53]

Powys – Powys County Council's bid covered the entire county of Powys, and was one of the larger bids in the competition.

Unsubmitted bids

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough – The new Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Nik Johnson proposed a bid from the combined authority in June 2021.^[54]

Chelmsford City Council announced its intention to bid for City of Culture within a decade and its interest in bidding for the 2025 designation.^[55]^[56]

Plymouth – Nick Kelly, the new leader of Plymouth City Council after the 2021 local elections, suggested in June 2021 that the city may submit a bid for the 2025 City of Culture and that the council would "explore in detail" what benefits the city would gain from it.^[57]

Withdrawn bids

Northampton – Northampton Borough Council expressed interest in bidding for City of Culture in April 2018, seeing it as part of its initiative to "brand Northampton as an exciting place to visit". On 11 June 2019, it deferred its bid to the 2029 title.^[58]^[59] In June 2019, the town's bid team chose to instead focus on winning the 2029 City of Culture, seeing it as more "pragmatic".^[60]^[61]

Norwich – In November 2017, Darren Henley, the Chief Executive of Arts Council England suggested that Norwich was well placed to launch a City of Culture bid and that it should be "a very strong contender".^[62] Norwich City Council ruled out a bid in May 2021.^[63]

Tees Valley – The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) first announced its bid for the 2025 City of Culture in July 2015.^[64]^[65] A plan allocating £1.8 million in funding for a bid was approved in March 2017.^[66] In January 2021, it was reported that a formal bid had been met with "a lot of apprehension" when plans were set before the TVCA scrutiny committee. In June 2021, the TVCA announced they had dropped their City of Culture bid after continued hesitation on plans for the bid process, especially over the cost (estimated to be between £20–25 million).^[67] Shane Moore, the TVCA cabinet member for culture and tourism, said that the region would instead seek to strengthen its cultural sector without making "any type of formal bid" for the City of Culture title.^[68]

Luton – Luton announced it was preparing to make a "credible and attractive bid" for City of Culture in February 2017.^[69] In January 2020, Luton dropped their bid after poor attendance at events aimed at boosting the town's profile; a "town-wide creative skills project" was announced instead.^[70]^[71]

Gloucester – Gloucester City Council announced their expression of interest on 7 July 2021, described as the "Gloucester for Gloucestershire" bid, it is being led by the city of Gloucester.^[72] On 22 July 2021, the bid was withdrawn.^[73]

Table

UK City of Culture 2025 bids
Area Constituent Country Submitted Longlist Shortlist Winner

Bradford England

County Durham England

Southampton England

Wrexham County Borough Wales

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Northern Ireland

Cornwall England

Derby England

Stirling Scotland

The City of Bangor and Northwest Wales Wales

The Borderlands region ^[b] England &
Scotland

Conwy County Borough Wales

Lancashire England

Medway England

City of Newport Wales

Powys Wales

The Tay Cities region ^[c] Scotland

Torbay and Exeter England

Wakefield District
England

City of Wolverhampton
England

Great Yarmouth & East Suffolk England

Notes

^ Branded using this name for the city to avoid the naming dispute.

^ ^a ^b Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, City of Carlisle, Cumbria, and Northumberland were collectively bidding as the "Borderlands region", it was the first bid for UK City of Culture that crossed a border between the Countries of the United Kingdom

^
Dundee City, Perth and Kinross, Angus (roughly corresponding to the former region of Tayside), and Fife
, were collectively bidding as the "Tay Cities"

References

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^ ^a ^b "UK city of culture 2025: Southampton and Bradford among those on shortlist". The Guardian. 2022-03-18. Retrieved 2022-03-18.

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v
t
e
UK City of Culture

Derry
2013

Hull
2017

Coventry
2021

Bradford
2025

bidding process

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