If you want people to feel good about their hometown, bidding for UK City of Culture is one way to whip up some love.
by Jenny Gibson
Bradford is beyond delighted to be chosen as UK City of Culture 2025 – but it’s the taking part, not just the winning, that counts.
A record 20 locations threw their hats into the ring last summer, as Coventry got its covid-delayed UK City of Culture 2021/2 party started.
It seems the home of 2Tone, concrete and Lady Godiva’s fresh renown as a truly banging, multicultural destination inspired every other middle-ranking centre to dream that bit bigger.
UK City of Culture was first awarded to Derry-Londonderry in 2013, then Hull in 2017, and is ever more coveted – especially since Brexit ruled out our cities from being European Capital of Culture.
Central to a solid bid is community backing, which requires meaningful consultation – that tricky domain of grass roots comms that can be so hard to pull off.
For my recent MA (Res), I talked to 20 project leaders, PRs and community representatives involved in the bids for all the shortlisted 2021 locations – Paisley, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Swansea, as well as Coventry – about how they won the hearts and minds of their residents.
I learned that bidding without winning is never a waste of effort – and can serve as a successful communications campaign in itself. Here is a taster of my interviewees’ considerable wisdom.
When you first say: “We could be City of Culture!” people will say: “What a joke! What culture!?”
Any location announcing an intention to run for UK City of Culture will need to brace itself for a barrage of cynicism. You want people have their say and a minority will let you know, loudly, that their hometown is a shithole, and that this is a shit idea.
Townsfolk will need time to warm up to the prospect, and this will happen via careful messaging, town hall meetings and – even better – campaign buses rolling around the neighbourhoods, with conjurors and musicians.
Within a few weeks, blanket derision will likely give way to “Well that isn’t quite right,” or “It’s the wrong colour, in the wrong place.”
It’s an opportunity to redefine the essence of who you are and where you’re from
Heritage and legends figure prominently in UK City of Culture bids, as the magic that offers authenticity amid the high-street chains and glassy, identikit redevelopment that could be anywhere.
Lively community consultation is a forum for people to re-tell tales and collaborate, to underline and progress the best elements of a place’s identity. For Paisley, part of that was a history of strong women and a very iconic pattern.
Stoke-on-Trent brought pottery lore to the fore, but also made the yellow duck a fun, unifying emblem – inspired by the term of endearment so synonymous with this part of the West Midlands.
Emphasising and celebrating such civic identity is galvanising – and can elevate the narrative beyond everyday local preoccupations of bus shelters and bin collections.
Arts people can be the hardest to enthuse about UK City of Culture
You might think that artists and musicians would be all over something so close to their life’s passion. But unless they feel confident that their work will be part of the action, they can become big detractors.
An inclusive, free-for-all ethos for community consultation is great for families excited about lavish fireworks or open-air opera – but it doesn’t work as well for those with more cultural capital, who don’t want to just be counted in with everyone else.
Happily, UK City of Culture does bring funding and local artists can get some, but as Susan Clarke of B Arts in Stoke-on-Trent told me, “This is not the thing that everybody wants, which is money will come and rain from the sky and all my dreams will come true. It’s not, and unfortunately it feels like it’s going to be.”
And, of course, culture isn’t just paintings and performance – it’s food, football, fashion, and everything else that people do for fun.
Bidding can make people see their hometown with fresh eyes and fall in love with it anew
My interviewees told me, overwhelmingly, their UK City of Culture bid was a dramatic local mood lifter.
In coming together, stepping up and striving for new status, a town or city is very likely to earn a flush of new love from its residents. What’s not to feel pumped about when you have Rhys Ifans delivering your city’s bid to the UK government in person?
Swept along with fun events and a flurry of lovely branding, people will be aghast if their bid doesn’t win, and will declare their hometown a city of culture regardless – without the need for a badge to prove it.
Though this wave of emotion will not be felt by everyone, or last forever, the difference can be marked. Alan McNiven of Engage Renfrewshire said: “I do think there was a rediscovery of the bohemian quality of Paisley, as a niche wee town with a cool vibe.
“Yeah, there are some difficulties and issues, but there are amazing buildings and a great art scene. There’s been a change in perspective.”
UK City of Culture comes around every four years, so the next chance to shine is 2029.
The winning location will not necessarily be a city, it could be a town, a couple of towns teaming up, or even a county – Lancashire and Cornwall have been contenders.
Bids will be submitted mid-2025 and the winner is expected to be revealed as part of Bradford’s no-doubt magnificent finale in December 2025. Good luck!
Jenny Gibson is a teacher of PR and journalism at the University of Huddersfield and an account manager at Scriba PR. Say hello on Twitter @1JennyGibson
*Sign up for the comms2point0 eMag*
The comms2point0 eMag features exclusive new content, free give-aways, special offers, first dibs on new events and much, much more.
Sound good? Join over 3k other comms people who have subscribed. You can sign up to it right here
.jpg){kind=link}