Perth to launch bid to be UK City of Culture
The official bid will launch Friday, August 19, outside City Hall, with a programme of interactive entertainment, featuring music, dance and art, during the interactive introduction to Scotland’s oldest and newest city.
Perth is bidding to be UK City of Culture 2021.
A programme of interactive entertainment, featuring music, dance and art, during the interactive introduction to Scotland’s oldest and newest city outside the City Hall.
The bid is built around a community-developed programme of arts and culture linked to the themes of a great, green city, celebrating Perth’s place at the heart of a rural community.
It will also highlight connections and emphasise the city’s role as a meeting place and melting pot, as well as the rivers linking the area.
Community involvement will be supported by ambitious new projects including loaning the Stone of Destiny for display, commissioning a new ‘digital tapestry’ interactive visual display, as well as celebrating and recording the experiences of rural, dispersed and migrant communities.
Provost Liz Grant said, “We want to give everybody in Perth and Kinross the chance to take part in culture and creative learning, connecting our rural and urban communities through inspiring arts programmes which bring people and places together.
“We have such a fantastic wealth of culture and heritage here: I can’t wait to showcase it to the world.
“The bid will allow us to cultivate new talent and make the area a place where artists, creative industries and business innovation can flourish.”
Charles Kinnoull, Chair of Culture Perth and Kinross offered his full support for the bid saying, “This is a great opportunity to showcase and further amplify the unique character and culture of the region to both existing and new audiences.
“Culture Perth and Kinross is delighted to have a key role in helping to support and connect communities, creative practitioners, local businesses and others in backing the bid and securing the success Perth so richly deserves."
Magnus Linklater, chair of Horsecross Arts, the creative organisation behind Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre said: “With two world-class venues in the heart of the city, Horsecross Arts is proud to be a part of Perth and Kinross’s special and distinctive cultural landscape. "Perth Concert Hall just celebrated its 10th anniversary and Perth Theatre will reopen in 2017 following restoration and redevelopment.
“With our varied entertainment programme and our extensive creative learning work throughout the community, we are well-placed to support Perth’s bid to become City of Culture in 2021, giving voice to the area’s great and sometimes unsung cultural offering."