Recommendation 2

HM Government Acknowledged

The UK City of Culture title galvanises local, national and international partners, boosts local pride and attracts considerable inward public, lottery, philanthropic and private sector investment. The Government is committed to working with and supporting the winner of the 2025 competition, Bradford, on future funding opportunities, just as we have been proud to invest in previous title holders - £15 million in Hull to host in 2017 and over £18 million in Coventry, the outgoing City of Culture 2021, including support for Covid-19 recovery. This additional public investment has helped to unlock a hugely successful year for Coventry UK City of Culture 2021, despite the major challenges of the pandemic. The city has seen more than £172 million invested in funding large-scale outdoor performances, grassroots-led co-created festivals, music concerts, public art commissions, the UK’s first permanent immersive digital art gallery, transformed public realm and improvements to music and performing arts venues, and the new Telegraph Hotel. In addition, £500 million has been invested in urban regeneration and public transport projects. Hundreds of jobs have been supported and people and organisations have developed long-lasting partnerships and skills through volunteering, apprenticeships, and sector development programmes. Coventry City of Culture Trust, the organising body for the year, also set out to address the multiple and intersecting inequalities in the city through increasing cultural access for those communities and neighbourhoods who historically have benefited the least from public investment in arts and culture. There have been events, participation, and engagement in all 18 Wards and 43% of tickets issued for the events have gone to residents who are financially stretched and facing adversity. Coventry City of Culture Trust has engaged just over 1 million audience members through more than 700 ticketed, unticketed and online events since 15 May 2021. These events were supported by 1,515 fully trained City Hosts who contributed 35,913 volunteering hours. The 2025 competition has been bigger than ever before, with a record 20 places across the UK expressing their interest. For the first time the Government provided grant funding for the bidding process. The eight longlisted bidders for the 2025 title received £40,000 to help level the playing field and strengthen places’ long applications. Bradford was announced as the winner of the 2025 UK City of Culture title on 31 May by the Culture Secretary. Again, for the first time in the history of the competition, the three runners-up – County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham County Borough – will receive £125,000 to take forward some aspects of their bids and Bradford will receive £275,000 initial seed-funding to maximise their early impact. We are already in discussions with Bradford 2025 on a business case, just as with Coventry, Hull and previous winners. The UK City of Culture competition is a key part of DCMS’s broader offer to level up opportunity across the UK. It is a proven model for using culture as the catalyst for investment in places to drive economic growth and regeneration. The competition process itself has a positive impact on bidders - bringing partners and the community together, and attracting media coverage, putting places on the map. UK City of Culture has now become a regular event in the UK’s cultural calendar, running in 2029 and beyond. The Government will factor the Committee’s recommendation into its longer-term, strategic work on the competition.