Friday, December 8, 2017

Culture: Coventry Named UK City of Culture 2021

Coventry bid team
Image copyrightPA
Image captionThe winning city was announced in the current UK City of Culture, Hull
Coventry has been chosen to be the UK's City of Culture for 2021.
The bid team said their plans were "about changing the reputation of a city" as well as hosting a year of cultural celebration.
The title is awarded every four years and Coventry will hope to emulate the success of Hull, which is UK City of Culture this year.
The other places in the running for the title were Swansea, Paisley, Stoke-on-Trent and Sunderland.
Philip Larkin, Delia Derbyshire and The Specials
Image captionLeft-right: Philip Larkin, Delia Derbyshire and The Specials
Famous sons and daughters
Coventry is the birthplace of Philip Larkin, one of England's finest poets, electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire and best-selling author Lee Child. It's also the home of the Two Tone ska movement through bands like The Specials and The Selecter.
Venues will include Warwick Arts Centre, the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum and the Belgrade Theatre, which launched the Theatre In Education movement in 1965. It's also the home of the UK's first Shop Front Theatre and boasts the UK's largest free family music festival with the Coventry Godiva Festival.
Coventry's bid team said the city had "constantly reinvented itself to survive".
It has suffered from the decline of its status as the heart of the British motor industry, and it was devastated by bombing during the World War Two.
It will hope to learn from Hull, whose status as UK City of Culture has boosted the local economy by an estimated £60m.
Hull has also seen more than £1bn of investment since being chosen to hold the 2017 title four years ago, and the year's artistic programme has been a hit with both residents and critics.

Coventry will be the third UK City of Culture - after Hull and Londonderry, which held the title in 2013.

The UK City of Culture scheme is separate from the European Capital of Culture. The UK was due to have a turn choosing a city to hold that title in 2023, with Leeds, Dundee, Milton Keynes, Belfast/Derry and Nottingham all bidding.
But the European Commission recently confirmed that the UK will lose the right to have a host city after it leaves the EU in 2019.

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