Plymouth to bid for UK City of Culture 2029

Plymouth is aiming to become the UK City of Culture 2029.

The city council has announced in a cabinet meeting its intention to bid for the title.

If successful, the winning city is awarded £10m in funding to create a year-long celebration of arts and culture. Portsmouth, Ipswich and Wrexham have already declared an intention to compete for 2029.

Plymouth City Council said the bid had come after more than a decade of sustained investment in the arts, would be a chance to “showcase the city” and it also aligned “with plans to regenerate the centre”.

Jemima Laing, council cabinet member for culture said: “This gives us an opportunity to put culture at the heart of our city plans, supporting regeneration, new jobs and investment while ensuring growth is inclusive and benefits communities across the city.”

Five years ago, the council invested £47m in The Box museum and gallery as part of a plan to make culture an economic driver for regeneration.

An assessment by Counterculture LLP estimated visitors to The Box, which celebrated its millionth visitor in 2025, contributed £28m to the city economy over those five years.

It has secured relationships with the British Art Show, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and showcased the work of renowned artists such as Grayson Perry and Beryl Cook.

Box CEO Victoria Pomery and Hannah Harris, CEO of Plymouth Culture, said they were working together on the bid to secure City of Culture status.

Pomery said: “This is a real now-or-never moment for Plymouth.

“We have spent years building the cultural partnerships and infrastructure that will enable Plymouth to live up to the title of City of Culture.”

The national competition is organised by the government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and runs every four years.

Long-listed cities will receive £60,000 to support the development of their bids, with the overall winner receiving £10m in prize funding.

It would be spent organising a year of events and activities involving festivals, music, film, heritage and performance in the hope it will attract further investment, support tourism and the local economy of Plymouth.

Bradford won the title in 2025.

Hannah Harris said she wanted the bid to be an opportunity for Plymouth’s coastal community to show off its waterfront identity, history and engage more with the arts in an accessible and affordable way.

She said: “We think we are already a city of culture.

“There is activity happening across the whole city, in every neighbourhood and every community.

“What we’d love to see is more of those brilliant things happening.

“So it will be programmes for schools, communities and neighbourhoods… some at small scale and some large-scale events as well.”

Other stakeholders range from the Theatre Royal, to the NHS, Plymouth Community Homes and Plymouth Argyle Football Club.

Jasmine Rohve, who is studying for a degree in fashion design at Arts University Plymouth, said she thought the bid had “needed to happen for a long time”.

She said: “The more eyes and ears that are focused on Plymouth, the more opportunities will arise for everyone in the city.”

Any initial expression of interest has to be submitted by 8 February, with a full bid to follow in summer should Plymouth be long-listed.

The organisers said they were to hold creative pop-up and drop-in events to ask the public what would be on their wish list of cultural events and activities for 2029.