Stirling submits UK City of Culture 2025 bid
- Published
Lines from a collective poem by the people of Stirling are being projected onto the National Wallace Monument
Stirling has officially submitted its final bid to become the UK's City of Culture 2025.
Lines from a collective poem by the people of Stirling are being projected onto the National Wallace Monument to mark the occasion.
Local residents had been asked to contribute 25 words for 2025, external, which were then turned into the poem.
Bradford, County Durham and Wrexham are among the places in the running for the City of Culture title.
The longlist also includes Cornwall, Southampton, Derby and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon.
The winning city, which will succeed Coventry, is due to be announced May.
Thornhill Primary School pupils contributed to the Stirling collective poem
Stirling's bid team, external said winning the title would bring investment and international attention to the city and promised a "breathtaking programme of events and activities for 2025 and beyond."
The city's Makar Laura Fyfe launched the collective poem project at the end of last year.
She said it was "an opportunity to create something special together and to focus on what we love about this amazing place where we live.
"Stirling's rich heritage and stunning landscape feature strongly in the poem, but there is also a real sense of hopefulness and excitement about the next chapter in Stirling's history."
More than 240 local businesses have backed the bid, in addition to tourism, arts, and heritage organisations.
Local businesses have thrown their weight behind the bid
Each of the places in the running for the title has received £40,000 worth of investment ahead of the final bids being submitted.
An initial list of 20 places was whittled down to eight potential winners by an independent advisory panel.
All bidders were asked to explain how they would use culture to grow and strengthen their local area, and how they would use it to recover from the impact of Covid.
As well as Coventry, other previous winners have included Hull and Derry/Londonderry.