Middlesbrough makes UK City of Culture 2029 longlist
Receiving £60,000 to further develop its bid, the local authorities will compete against the likes of Sheffield, Blackpool, and Portsmouth to claim a £10m cash prize.
The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport announced its longlist for the 2029 UK City of Culture on Wednesday. Of the 17 cities and communities that submitted bids for the title, nine made the cut.
The full longlist is:
- Blackpool
- Inverness-Highland
- Ipswich
- Middlesbrough
- Milton Keynes
- Portsmouth
- Sheffield
- Swindon
- Wrexham
Taking over from Bradford, the 2029 UK City of Culture winner will be charged with putting on a year’s worth of cultural events, such as exhibitions, concerts, theatrical productions.
Bradford set the bar high in 2025, hosting 5,000 events of which 75% were free. The programme of activity had a collective audience of 3m people, with more than 650 artists and organisations involved.
Applications from the longlisted cities and communities will be due this summer.
The ultimate winner of the 2029 UK City of Culture title will be awarded a £10m prize to support its year of programming. The three runners up will receive £125,000 for cultural activity.
Middlesbrough, which is not a city, had its case to be awarded the City of Culture title argued by Mayor Chris Cooke.
“Our bid takes Middlesbrough’s motto, ‘Erimus’, – which translates to ‘We Shall Be’ – literally,” he said.
“It brings together our history as an industrial powerhouse with our ambition to become the UK’s most creative place.”
Cooke added: “I am delighted that we’ve been longlisted for what would be a once in a generation opportunity to celebrate the creativity of our residents, artists and businesses and change how people view Middlesbrough.”
Sir Phil Redmond chaired the advisory panel that crafted the longlist.
“Once again, the UK City of Culture competition is providing bidders the opportunity to both demonstrate and experience a focused year, using culture as the creative catalyst for change, raising awareness and changing perceptions,” he said.
“Derry-Londonderry, Hull, Coventry and more recently Bradford, have all demonstrated the quality and depth of cultural activity embedded across the UK, as well as the benefits of simply taking part,” Redmond continued.
“The competition brings people together, to talk to each other rather than at each other, sharing commonality and tolerating difference. Above all, allowing places to demonstrate their own pride in their places.”
The UK City of Culture competition is running at the same time as the first-ever UK Town of Culture contest. Bids to become the UK Town of Culture in 2028 are due by the end of the month. Blackpool has already announced its intent to enter the running, alongside more than 230 other towns.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said: “For far too long, opportunity has not been shared equally across the country. The UK City of Culture and new UK Town of Culture competitions recognise the enormous contributions made by communities all over the UK who are all part of the story of who we are as a nation.”
