One of the leading figures behind County Durham's bid to be named UK City of Culture 2025 says winning the coveted status for the North East "would shine a spotlight on a place which for too long has been in the shadows".
The county was one of just four locations from across the UK to be shortlisted - alongside Bradford, Southampton and Wrexham County Borough - and would be the first place in the North East to hold the prestigious title. Previous winners Derry-Londonderry, Hull and Coventry have also seen significant social and economic benefits after their years in the spotlight in 2013, 2017 and 2021 respectively.
And Alison Clark, head of culture, sport and tourism at Durham County Council, told The Northern Agenda Podcast that winning would be "a huge deal...not just for County Durham, but also for the whole of the region."
Listen to the full interview here...
She added: "Until now the North East has never won the competition. And it's about time we did. It would bring visitors, it would shine a spotlight on a place which for too long has been in the shadows.
"And it would support the ambition, it would support a sense of agency that really ties in so closely to the Government's levelling up agenda."
Durham County Council, Durham University and Culture Durham say that a winning bid for the county would bring 15m visitors, £700m in extra spending and 2,500 jobs in the creative industries. Ms Clark said: "So as well as the focus and the spotlight being across the whole North East, the benefits will be felt too and not just in the 2025 year but beyond, which is what we've seen particularly in those places which had a city of culture some some time back now.
"So Liverpool, in 2008 [when Liverpool was the European Capital of Culture] the legacy of that is still absolutely happening. And that's why Liverpool is such a strong and powerful city now."
At the heart of County Durham’s bid is a year-long programme of arts, culture, sport, science and economics, including: spectacular opening and closing events including an international celebration of the bicentenary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway with events at Locomotion in Shildon and elsewhere.
Lightyear, a 12-month space programme, will celebrate the region’s 1,300-year history of astronomy and space science. And a series of broadcast and digital programmes will bring the county and its stories into front rooms and festivals across the whole of the UK.
The programme is inspired by the Durham Miners Association motto "the past we inherit, the future we build", which Ms Clark said was a "perfectly apposite" set of words for a county known for its industrial past and being the site of the world’s first passenger railway.
She said: "Because one of the things about County Durham is it does have this immense past, there's a real pride in place of our past, we've got a lot of history, we need more future. So really actually building on the fact that you honour the past, you understand where you come from, but that focus on what's next, where we're going, what the future is, just gave us the perfect balance.
"And a lot of the bid, a lot of the programme is really based around that concept. And it's so authentic, because it has come from the place. "When we were putting the bid together, there was a really strong focus for us on why County Durham and why now and the more we thought about the county and the more we thought about the place, we do have this incredible past but there's also a lot of green shoots for the future."
In the Commons this week, MPs from Imran Hussain used a Commons debate to set out why his city should be chosen by the expert panel.
He told MPs: "We sometimes forget that culture means far more for people than just art, sport, film, TV and music; it is something that goes to the very core of who we are as people and communities."
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