02/04/2026
On Tuesday we announced that we at Tees Valley Arts had submitted a Town of Culture bid on behalf of Redcar & Cleveland Cultural Partnership and Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council. Here’s a little more about what that means.
Town Of Culture is a new initiative announced last year by the UK government. The first town will be announced for 2028. We are hoping that this could be Redcar. If we are successful the town will have £3m to deliver a programme of activities over the course of the year that will have been decided upon by the residents of our town.
Even if our town is shortlisted, we will receive funding to develop the full bid. We would use this to create a new Citizen’s Assembly so that the people of our town have every opportunity to decide upon the kind of cultural activities they want to see in Redcar, not just for 2028 but on an ongoing basis.
Whilst Tees Valley Arts has led on writing the bid it has been a collaboration between over 30 different community based groups and discussions with over 200 people. We have focussed the bid on the TS10 postcode, bringing in Redcar Seafront and High Street (from the Gare to the Stray) as well the residential areas through to Kirkleatham. It is a chance for us to celebrate some of the great culture we have here already and to dream about what else we might want to see. The application has included a new story of the town which we commissioned from local author and fisherman’s daughter Carmen Marcus, who has explored the importance of the sea to our communities over the town’s history.
Can we win? competition will be fierce but we have a good bid and do you know what - Let’s do this!
