Hull has been named the UK’s next City of Culture, beating Leicester,
Dundee and Swansea Bay to the right to hold the title in 2017.
Hull, known for being the home of poet Philip Larkin, the Ferens
gallery and the Truck theatre, will follow the 2013 City of Culture,
Londonderry.
The UK government chooses a new destination every four years, with the
aim of helping tourism and the economy.
Hull council leader Stephen Brady said winning was “a real game-changer”.
He added: “It will give Hull a platform to tell the world what this
great city has to offer, transform perceptions and accelerate our
journey to make Hull a prime visitor destination.”
TV producer Phil Redmond, who chaired the City of Culture panel, said
Hull was the unanimous choice because it put forward “the most
compelling case based on its theme as ‘a city coming out of the
shadows'”.
“This is at the heart of their project and reminds both its people and
the wider world of both its cultural past and future potential,” he
said.
Swansea’s city council said losing to Hull was a “bitter disappointment”.
In an apparent swipe at the winners, council leader David Phillips
said the residents of Hull “had to have something to look forward to”.
He added his team wouldn’t “give up”, as “there were too many good
ideas in the bid, we’re not going to let them slip through our
fingers.”
Leicester’s Mayor Peter Soulsby expressed similar sentiments, saying:
“We don’t need to wait until 2017 to show ourselves off. We are going
to do it now.”
In Dundee, bid director Stuart Murdoch simply said the city was
“broken-hearted”.
Being City of Culture has brought Derry events like the Turner Prize
and BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend.
But income from sponsorship and ticket sales has failed to live up to
expectations and there have been tensions among organisers.
Ministers created the UK City of Culture title in an attempt to
replicate the success of Liverpool’s year as the European Capital of
Culture in 2008.
However, the winner does not receive direct funding from the UK government.
Culture secretary Maria Miller said Derry’s tenure was “encouraging
economic growth, inspiring social change and bringing communities
together”.
But she admitted she had not visited Derry herself since its tenure
began in January.
“It’s not been possible to go,” she told the BBC. “It’s always
difficult to fit every single thing into the diary.”
Hull’s most famous cultural figure is Larkin who, while not born
there, lived in the city for 30 years and found fame while working as
a university librarian.
He produced most of his published poetry while living in the city and
Hull’s bid is partly based on his work.
A statement from Hull City Council said: “Inspired by Larkin’s poem
Days, the ambition is for each day of Hull 2017 to make a difference
to a life in the city, the UK and the world.”
The council said it expected the events to bring a £60m boost to the
local economy in 2017 alone, as well as a longer-term legacy for the
city.
Hull is already home to the Ferens Art Gallery, which broke visitor
records with a Da Vinci exhibition last year, and the Hull Truck
theatre company, which became a national force in the 1970s and ’80s
and moved into a new £14.5m home in 2009.
The city’s plans for 2017 include an opening ceremony involving
theatrical elephants, dancing white phone boxes and four “rivers” of
light, people and sound flowing into the city.
Hull’s annual Freedom Festival will incorporate a special aerial show
taking its theme from the last line of Larkin’s poem An Arundel Tomb:
“What will survive of us is love.”
There will also be a stadium sound and light concert that will see
lighting designer Durham Marenghi work with 500 dancers on the theme
of illusion and fairs.
Phil Redmond added that the panel was “particularly impressed with
Hull’s evidence of community and creative engagement, their links to
the private sector and their focus on legacy, including a commitment
to enhance funding beyond 2017”. – BBC News
