“What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the UK City of Culture and UK Town of Culture competitions on local communities.”
Asked by
Andrew Cooper
Answering Minister
the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Answer from Hansard
The Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Arts (Ian Murray)
Strong evidence from the city of culture programme proves that supporting local culture pays both economic and social dividends for those areas and the wider public. The town of culture is a new competition to ensure that smaller places can share that real impact, by shining a spotlight on places and enabling them to tell their stories. The winner of the new town of culture competition will receive £3.5 million and, for the first time ever, as confirmed from the outset, the city of culture winner will receive £10 million. There has been much excitement about the new town of culture competition and I look forward to those bids coming in.