Scarborough is set to receive expert advice on its bid for the new UK town of culture competition which comes with a £3.5m prize.
Scarborough’s initial bid for the recently unveiled town of culture competition is set to be written by Jim Carley, the project director of Doncaster’s successful bid to achieve city status in 2022.
At a town council meeting on Wednesday, December 17, members were given an update by town mayor, Cllr Thomas Murray.
Mr Carley’s bid for Doncaster “prevailed against many other prospective towns across the country” and he wrote a book, The Race for City Status’, recounting the campaign, councillors were told.
The winning town will be awarded £3.5 million to help it deliver a cultural programme during the summer of 2028, harnessing what makes the town special, while shortlisted towns will receive £60,000 to help deliver full bids for the competition.
Scarborough has received support for its planned bid from various cultural organisations locally and nationally, as well as from MP Alison Hume.
“Within North Yorkshire Council, the process is being led by the council’s cultural lead, who can provide updates on the process from NYC’s side and work through the next steps with the working group that Cllr Murray is part of, ahead of the submission in the new year,” an officer said.
Applications for the competition will be judged on three main criteria, which are ‘your story – the unique story of the town’, ‘culture for everyone – how the town will design a cultural programme for all’, and ‘making it happen – how the town will then deliver a successful programme’.
The three “most impressive bids” from towns that reach the shortlist but are not selected as the winner will receive £125,000 each to help them to take forward elements of their bid and “deliver real change for their local area”, according to the Government.
Speaking at the town council meeting, an officer told members:
“The council is expecting the details of the competition to come from the Government before Christmas, and they’ll provide an update once that’s come.
“Once they’ve got a clearer understanding of what the process is and what the requirements are to basically score highly to become town of culture, then hopefully they’ll arrange a working group that, for example, will get together and look at this.”
Kathryn Ferry, chair of the Seaside Heritage Network, said:
“One of our most successful cultural exports is the modern seaside resort, and that started in Scarborough.
“These days we’re not very good at recognising the cultural value of our seaside places, but over the centuries they’ve contributed a huge amount to our nation’s health, wellbeing, art, architecture and entertainment.”
“It’s about time this story was shared with a wider audience and as a town of culture, Scarborough could really be a beacon for other coastal communities that have been overlooked for too long.”
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