Kendal’s bid to become the UK’s first Town of Culture has failed.
If successful, the bid, co-ordinated by the Kendal Town of Culture Partnership, would have unlocked £3 million for the South Cumbrian town to put on a programme of arts and cultural activity.
The Government invited towns to bid for the 2028 status and over 400 applied.
The UK Town of Culture competition was part of the Government’s ambition to restore pride in local areas in every part of Britain and deliver a decade of national renewal, following the announcement of the Pride in Place Programme last year.
Yesterday it released its shortlist of 15 towns – Ilfracombe, Isle of Bute, Lerwick, Sandown, Strabane, and Stockton Town Centre Ward, Corby, Great Yarmouth, Leith, Pontypridd, and Port Talbot and Basildon, Birkenhead, Grimsby and Rotherham
Kendal’s Town of Culture bid team said they were disappointed not to reach the shortlist for the coveted status.
Kendal mayor Helen Ladhams said: “Naturally we are very disappointed not to make the shortlist, but it’s no reflection on the fantastic effort made by our Town of Culture team.
“We look forward to building on the work of our bid to develop Kendal as a vibrant cultural town.
“We offer our congratulations, too, to the shortlisted towns, and look forward to seeing how they propose to take on the mantel of Town of Culture.”
Kendal’s Town of Culture Bid team brought together cultural groups from across the Westmorland market town and its wider area, with festivals and arts organisations taking a leading role.
Supported by Kendal Town Council, the bid group was widely recognised as putting together a very strong offer, and the summary postcard submission, using an image from the Lakeland International Comic Arts Festival will still appear in a special exhibition of bid-related art in the National Museums Liverpool collection.
The Town of Culture bid team said it would reconvene after the summer to look at ways of building on the many connections it made with local communities, arts and cultural groups.
