Culture judge says: Don’t forget to party

After the celebrations...’now the really hard work starts’

COVENTRY has been told “don’t forget to party” by one of the judges that our city “was the place to be” in 2021.

Phil Redmond, was one of the judges for the UK City of Culture 2021 competition, and the Brookside creator was in the city on Friday, that day after Coventry was announced as the winner of the title.

Coventry beat strong competition from Paisley, Sunderland, Stoke and Swansea to win and can now look forward to events leading up to 2021 - as well as a year-long celebration when the eyes of the world will be on the city and the wider region.

Mr Redmond said it was an unanimous decision and that Coventry’s bid was the one that would have the biggest impact on the UK, with 40 million people living within a two-hour drive of the city.

He said: “It was very, very close but in the end it was unanimous, that Coventry would actually make the biggest impact for the UK.

That’s fantastic, that’s brilliant that’s great, but as Laura said you all need a lot of sleep. Because it’s a big challenge too. Myself and the panel will be coming back now and again to keep an eye you. But the other thing to remember is that you did it.

“We said to all of the five cities, what we were looking for was the city that would make the biggest impact on the UK. Also the city that would have the chance to raise the bar on what Hull did. It’s a tough decision, really close, but unanimously that came out in Coventry.

“It’s intangible, something that you recognise when you see it in a writer or photographer, it’s the same in culture . Don’t ask me to write it down, but it’s a combination of enthusiasm, and commitment, the presentation of the actual bid. And all those things just convinced us this was the place to be.”

“The thing that I love about the bid is the two-mile poem on the ring road, that was the ringer. At last someone came up with an idea that every city across the UK can actually think ‘we can do something with those hugs slabs that were dropped on our heads in the 60s and 70s.

“So just go, push it, see where you can get to and make it even more difficult for us to choose 2025. Go, have a fantastic time, but don’t forget to party.” ONE of the brains behind Coventry’s successful UK City of Culture bid says that the hard work starts right now.

After a night of celebrations - and a few morein the morning - the city must now prepare for its time in the national spotlight.

And Andrew Dixon, an adviser to the bid, knows that there is a very long to-do list awaiting him and his team.

He said: “You can expect today that everybody’s going to be on the phone to Coventry.

“We’ve already had BBC, the British Council, Hull and other cities wanting to congratulate us. But the really hard work starts now because we’ve got to recruit a full team to deliver.

“So next week we’ll be advertising for a creative director and an executive director for the year.

“We’ll be starting to put in place a tourism strategy for the city and we’ve recruited a team already to do that.

“We’ll be building our first event, which is going to be the Shop Front Festival, in March next year.

“Because that’s going to have to be bigger now, it’ll have to be a mega Shop Front Festival!

“The great thing is we’ve raised money through the Arts Council and Heritage Lottery - great places to do a two-year program of events.”

The Shop Front Festival is described as “transforming the experiences and perceptions of residents, visitors and shoppers in celebration of the UK’s first pedestrianised shopping centre”.

A pilot in 2018 will build to a major international festival in 2021, which is expected to include the likes of galleries, sound installations, pop-up cinemas and curious window displays.

Although it may seem a long way away, Mr Dixon added: “Stuff is starting, it’s happening now. It’s going to be very real very quickly.

“We’ve got to put a marketing plan in place. Got to put together a whole plan for how the city is ready for inviting visitors. We’ve got to persuade some hotels to be built in the city. So lots to do.”