Scarborough is among the potential candidates for a £3.5 million Town of Culture award bid.
North Yorkshire Council has said Scarborough has received support for its planned bid from various cultural organisations locally and nationally, as well as from MP Alison Hume.
In the new competition, 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.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for culture and the arts, Cllr Simon Myers, said: “North Yorkshire is filled with vibrant communities that are rich in culture with proud histories and traditions, any one of which would be worthy of the title of UK Town of Culture.
“Scarborough is certainly among those and as it prepares to celebrate its 400th anniversary as a spa resort, we are part of local partnership discussions in relation to a potential submission.”
The contest was launched by the Government last year, and cultural leaders have called for Britain’s first seaside resort to be crowned the UK’s inaugural Town of Culture.
Cllr Myers said:
“In line with the criteria set out by the government, we are supporting credible bids that have the backing of their local community and cultural sector through a local bid partnership.
“Local authorities are required to play a key role with any partnership and so we would like to encourage representatives from interested towns to come and speak to us about their involvement in the initiative.”
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.
Scarborough’s initial bid for the 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.
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