Liverpool is waiting with bated breath to find out if it will host next year's Eurovision Song Contest.
An announcement is expected in the coming days, with the competition to host the showpiece event now down to just Liverpool and Glasgow. The two cities were whittled down from a wider shortlist last month.
Traditionally the song contest is hosted by the country that wins the previous year's event. This year's event was won by Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra but unfortunately it was decided that the ongoing invasion of the country by Russia means it is not safe to host the event there next year.
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As a result, the UK will host after its entrant Sam Ryder came second in this year's contest. Having beaten off hopeful cities like Manchester, Leeds, London and Birmingham only Glasgow now stands in Liverpool's way.
With a final announcement from the BBC expected very soon, Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson and Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram have written to the government's Arts Minister Stuart Andrew, urging him to back the city's imaginative and spectacular bid.
The letter states: "Pre-pandemic, Liverpool City Region’s visitor economy was worth over £4.7bn, welcoming 67.3m visitors and supporting over 57,000 jobs. As a direct result of the pandemic, overall expenditure fell by £3bn. We wanted to write in the final two days of the Eurovision competition to reiterate how Liverpool and the region would deliver for the Ukraine and for the wider UK.
"We are resolute in our ambition for the event to showcase our great country and City Region on the world stage. We will show great compassion and humour and be the very best ambassador you could wish for to work alongside the BBC and EBU in this glorious celebration of unity.
"We know we are up against a brilliant city in Glasgow, but we believe that Liverpool, with its music, its people, its humour, and its compassion, will work with your teams collegiately, and in the best interests of the country, to deliver something remarkable.
The mayors added: "We know this is not a political decision, but in the last days of decision-making, we wanted to reaffirm our commitment to the competition and to our ability to deliver this great, once in a generation opportunity which has the potential to be so much more than an event in an arena."
Liverpool has already released some details of its planned cultural programme, which would begin months before the actual song contest next May.
At the core of this will be a major programme of artist exchange and co-production between Ukrainian and Liverpool-based artists.
Working specifically with its sister city Odesa and their creative community, Liverpool's bid aims to 'deliver an extraordinary celebration of Ukrainian culture' that will shine a spotlight on the country and also create a major community outreach programme across the city.
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