Birmingham UK City of Culture 2013

23/04/10

In February this year, Birmingham became one of just four cities in the UK to make it onto the shortlist to be the first UK City of Culture in 2013.

This is an exciting time for the city because if we win, it will bring many benefits.

We will get an opportunity to host a range of high profile events such as the Brits, Turner Prize and MTV Awards.  Additionally, a new Autumn Festival, an 8 – week long international festival, will enable the city to showcase talent from across the globe and will run alongside a variety of community based activities taking place across the city. During 2013 we will also see the launch of the new library of Birmingham, the largest cultural library in Europe.

Winning the title brings with it an estimated £200 million to the local economy, creating thousands of jobs up to 2013 and beyond.  It also gives us an opportunity to showcase the best of what is great about Birmingham – our wide range of diverse cultural highlights.

The Big City Culture theme of the bid reflects the city’s combination of large scale major and international events as well as the more community based activities.

This is a city bid and it important that everyone is given an opportunity to get involved.  You can join Birmingham’s Big Conversation by helping us decide what you would like to see happen in 2013.  You can also back the bid by becoming a friend on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or upload your favourite videos and photographs on Vimeo and Flickr.  Just log onto the website at birminghamcutlure.org for details.

The winning city will be announced in the summer.