The UK City of Culture competition is a key part of the DCMS’s broader offer to level up opportunity across the UK – using culture as the catalyst for investment in places to drive economic growth and regeneration, promoting social cohesion and instilling pride in places and making them more attractive to live and work in and visit.
They expect bids to be from a partnership for the area and include the relevant local authorities. There will need to be a lead organisation for information and communication purposes during the competition process, and, if successful, be the accountable body for any grant. Lead applicants must be a formally constituted organisation but they do not need to be the local authority.
The partnership should demonstrate commitment to work collaboratively and include a wide range of partners from different sectors such as: local businesses, industry and civic leaders, higher education institutions, cultural bodies, voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations and be aligned to other regional strategic bodies.
The expression of interest (EOI) stage of the competition is designed to be a light touch approach asking places to demonstrate that they meet the core criteria of a UK City of Culture bid and have the potential to make a significant contribution to the aims and objectives of the programme.
Further details including how to register as a bidder for the UK City of Culture 2025 title and then receive information about the workshop for prospective bidders can be found here.