Town of Culture

Sidmouth Town of Culture

We may not have made the shortlist - but the town pulled together to demonstrate our collective cultural offer and our potential to grow stronger together.

The Department of Media, Culture and Sport announced their shortlist on 10th July.  Congratulations to those towns who got through the first round from Ilfracombe to Rotherham.  A uge thanks to all those who helped with putting our bid with Sidmouth Town Council together - SSA were proud to lead the way.  The story doesn't end there - and we look forward to developing new projects and funding applications to take forward some of the elements of our bid.

Expression of Interest 

Sidmouth School of Art led the way working with Sidmouth Town Council to develop our town's Expression of Interest (EOI) for the UK Town of Culture competition.

For the first time, the government launched this £3m prize competition - similar to the UK City of Culture competition with a view to Showcasing towns’ local visions and voices - through new arts venues, performances, workshops and more - this competition brings local investment, creates a lasting sense of pride in towns, and opens doors to the arts for everyone.

The strongest bids will progress to a shortlist, with each shortlisted town receiving £60,000 to help deliver their full bids for the competition.

Three finalists - one small, one medium, one large town - will be chosen. The winner will be crowned UK Town of Culture 2028 and receive a £3 million prize. The two runners-up will each receive £250,000 to deliver elements of their bid, from refreshed community infrastructure to electric music festivals.

Since the March 31st deadline for EOIs, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has asked for all those entering to submit a postcard of an image or artwork to express something of each town's culture along with a 100 word postcard message.  

Sidmouth's postcard is an iteration of A Sidmouth Map, our previous community culture consultation project.

Each postcard will be added to an interactive digital map which will go live on Thursday 2 July. 

Read the Sidmouth Herald piece to find out more about our town's EPO.

Sidmouth's Postcard to the nation...

Hi,

The local cultural scene is bursting with life here: public art galleries, phone box museums, riverside art, cinema and theatre all buzzing, stunning Jurassic cliffs, the Festival Coast for all ages apparently. So good for my wellbeing – just what the doctor ordered!

I spotted this postcard, a 12-layer screen print by Emma Molony, digitised by artist Sam Eyre, a Sidmouth School of Art collaboration - inspired by Mark Lombardi's drawings, from conversations with 40 community groups, shows the cultural connections here and creates a beautiful artwork - Constellation of Culture - how cool is that?!

Visit soon,

Love Sidmouth!