Derby to bid for City of Culture
Derby has entered the race to become City of Culture 2025.
The city will use its heritage as the birthplace of the industrial revolution, the site of the world’s first factory, and industry home to Rolls-Royce, Bombardier and Toyota to back its bid for the title.
Tony Butler, executive director, Derby Museums, said: ”For over 300 years Derby has been a centre for creativity, experimentation and making. Here, on the banks of the Derwent, the industrial revolution first took hold, fuelled by the ideas of scientific discovery and enlightenment. That legacy resonates today as a city that is global in outlook committed to economic innovation.
“Every citizen has the right to participate in cultural life. It helps define who we are and our place in the world. It provides citizens with the agency to create and contribute to making the places where they live. Being inspired by a rich cultural life unlocks individual ambition and generates a sense of collective joy.”
Derby already has plans to enhance its cultural offer; delivering the new 3,500 capacity venue at Becketwell, transforming the Market Hall, remodelling the Market Place and redeveloping the Assembly Rooms site.
Cllr Chris Poulter, leader of Derby City Council, said: ”The city is at a turning point, and this is an opportunity for Derby to come together with a collective focus like never before.
“We’re already working to understand how culture-led recovery and regeneration can strengthen our communities and drive economic growth through work like our Cultural Heart scoping.
“Alongside these, and our recovery aspirations, the City of Culture offers a monumental opportunity for Derby to level up; to inspire local pride and attract new investment and tourism.”
Poulter added that the bid was a “springboard” for the city. “We’re not suggesting that Derby bids as ‘the best cultural city’ in the UK; we’re bidding as a city of aspiration, and a city of potential, which we know Derby will be able to get behind,” he said.
“I have taken the opportunity to visit Hull both on business and on private cultural visits and experienced the continuing cultural legacy of their year as City of culture. The two city are culturally very similar including an arena similar to and run by the same people as the Becketwell site.”
Derby’s bid has the backing of all three Derby MPs.
The CoC competition is UK wide.
Other bidders include Conwy in Wales, Armagh in Northern Ireland, Inverclyde in Scotland and Southampton and Bradford in England.
