A special working party is being set up to embark on a fact finding mission to prepare Warrington’s bid to become UK City of Culture for 2021.
Great Sankey North Cllr Dan Price has been tasked with chairing a panel of six people on looking at the feasibility of bidding for the title, which if successful would generate millions of pounds worth of investment for the town.
Hull has successfully bid to be UK capital of Culture in 2017 and is already receiving £18m in direct funding from the lottery, national government and other sources as a direct result of winning the bid.
Warrington doesn’t have to offically be a city to make a bid and Cllr Price believes if Hull can be successful, so can Warrington.
Coventry, Sunderland and Stoke on Trent have already indicated they will be bidding for the title in 2021 and Cllr Price believes Warrington has just as much chance of being successful.
As exclusively revealed by warrington-worldwide last week, work has now started on a fact finding mission to put together a bid.
“This is our opportunity to set the record straight following the report which suggested Warrington was bottom of the league for culture,” said Cllr Price.
“Lots of towns and cities throughout the country would crave to have our social demographics.
“If we were successful and became UK City of culture it would have a seismic shift in the way people view our town.”
Cllr Price says he is confident Warrington could win a bid.
But before one is officially made the working party of six people, including two councillors, will carry out research which will be presented to the council’s executive board to make a final decision.
The working party will carry out their research over the summer and present their findings to the board, with the aim of making a bid next Spring.
They will be working closely with Culture Warrington.
“We have plenty to be proud of in Warrington and this presents a great opportunity for our town,” added Cllr Price.
1 Comment
From most of Cllr. Price’s comments, here and elsewhere, it would seem there is a world of difference between what he perceives as “Culture” and what the assessing panel will be looking for when it makes its selection. The application form includes this description:
“Culture is generally taken to include the following areas: arts (including visual arts, literature, music, theatre and dance), architecture, crafts, creative industries, design, heritage, historic environment, museums and galleries, libraries, archives, film, broadcasting and media. The assessing panel expects to see a range of these areas included in bids and cultural programmes. The applicant may also choose to include sport and science, but these should not be major elements of your bid and programme.”