Durham to bid for UK City of Culture

Leeds, Plymouth, Birmingham, Leicester and Durham (pictured) are among the first cities to express interest in competing to be nominated as the UK’s first ‘City of Culture’ in 2013. The winning city could host high-profile media events including the Turner Prize, The Brits and the Stirling Prize as part of their year in the spotlight. Admitting that “we have been too London-centric for too long in our cultural life”, Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw said the competition aimed to find a city or area outside London “that has the wow factor, with exciting and credible plans to make a step change in its cultural life and engage the whole country”. It will be up to bidders for the new title to find the necessary resources from their existing budgets: Liverpool Capital of Culture 2008 worked to a budget of almost £110m, around £30m of which came from public sector grants, and a further £70m from the City Council. Durham has committed to hosting a Year of Culture in 2013 even if the city and county are unsuccessful in capturing the coveted title.