Government boss urges city to apply for culture capital

AMBITIOUS plans to put Stoke-on-Trent forward as a UK cultural capital came from a top Government adviser, it has emerged.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) sent a delegation to the city on May 1 to see what attractions and facilities were on offer.

During the visit, DCMS director of culture Mick Elliott told representatives from Stoke-on-Trent City Council that they should submit a bid to become UK City of Culture in 2017.

If the programme goes ahead, a different city will receive the title every four years – beginning in 2013.

The city council's head of community services, Ian van Arkadie, said praise from a senior Government figure was a huge boost for the city's hopes of taking the title.

But he stressed that success would require an enormous effort by the authority, its commercial and voluntary sector partners and local communities over the next eight years.

He said: "We had a meeting with the DCMS and they mentioned that the Government was working on the City of Culture programme.

"The conversation came about after they had seen and heard about everything we are doing here in Stoke-on-Trent.

"Mick Elliott, the director of culture, told us he was very impressed by what he had seen and that we should bid for City of Culture in 2017.

"Obviously there will be a formal application process to go through, but the fact that they told us to go for it is certainly very encouraging."

Yesterday's Sentinel described how the Government was looking at creating a national award to capitalise on the success of Liverpool's European Capital of Culture status last year.

Mr van Arkadie added: "Of course it is very easy to be cynical about this kind of thing.

"People in Liverpool were cynical about their city's bid for European Capital of Culture, but they can now see that it has been really successful and raised the city's profile.

"Our bid for UK City of Culture is in the very early stages, but we wanted to make sure we put a marker down early to show we are interested.

"We also want to stimulate discussion locally to get the appropriate support, so that when the time comes we will be ready to go forward with our bid."

The council's interim culture manager, Peta Murphy-Burke, said the city already had a wealth of cultural attractions and activities on offer and would also benefit from a number of major regeneration projects by 2017.

She said: "This is not something which is happening next year, so we have got time to really work on this with our partners and the community and get it right.

"At the moment, the arts and creative sector is one of the fastest growing areas of the economy and Stoke-on-Trent is attracting more and more creative industries and jobs.

"We already have six theatres in the city and four museums, all of which are either of a national or international standard."

She added: "It is difficult at the moment to say what form our City of Culture bid will take, but it will be a massive programme of activities, much of which will involve local communities."

Councillor Hazel Lyth, portfolio holder for enterprise and culture, said: "We have got some fabulous things happening in the city now and we need to push them so that people in the city understand the real value of what they have got and we can develop it for the future.

"It's about building up people's hopes and aspirations and helping them to see the fantastic skills and facilities that we have to offer."

City to make bid to be UK Capital of Culture (and reader comments)