Spalding bid to become Town of Culture
The government initiative aims to honour towns for their cultural contributions
Spalding has entered the UK's first Town of Culture competition for 2028.
The government initiative aims to honour towns for their cultural contributions and provides communities with a platform to showcase their towns.
The town's entry will outline a program of activities that reflect Spalding's culture.
In it, they'll mention renowned sites like Spalding Gentlemen’s Society, Ayscoughfee Hall, and the South Holland Centre.
They'll also highlight notable cultural moments such as the town being home to Gilbert Scott’s last work, and BBQ 67, the first music festival.
The competition is aimed at small and medium-sized towns.
The deadline for towns to enter is 31st March.
The winning town will receive £3m to support their cultural program for the summer of 2028. The two runner-up towns will each be granted £250,000.
"people are rightly and clearly proud of our town’s culture and heritage"
Robin Hancox, Chair, Spalding Town Board said: “We know from community feedback that local people are rightly and clearly proud of our town’s culture and heritage, and we believe we have a strong case to be the UK’s Town of Culture.
“By working together with partners, we can come up with an entry that not only capitalises on what we already have in Spalding, but also sets out a case for further investment in our historic spaces and cultural assets which we also know from consultation matters to people."
“We want to celebrate what makes the town and district special"
Councillor Nick Worth, leader of South Holland District Council, said: “Spalding has an incredibly proud cultural identity and heritage, and I am really pleased for us to support any opportunity to showcase that on a national stage.
“We want to celebrate what makes the town and district special whilst also unlocking new opportunities for investment, growth, improvement and cultural activities, and the Town of Culture competition is a brilliant platform through which to achieve this. I look forward to working with partners and residents to help bring it to life.”