Stars back Swansea’s bid for City of Culture
PROJECT backers behind Swansea’s bid to be named the 2021 UK City of Culture are in Hull in a lastditch bid to win over judges to their claim.
The team which includes council leader Rob Stewart and chief executive Phil Roberts will reveal the final details of their bid tomorrow. They will also join in a Q&A session with the judging panel paying a one-off visit to the 2017 holders of the title. It will come just hours ahead of the vote being declared live on BBC One’s The One Show at 7pm tomorrow evening.
Rival bidders Coventry, Stole, Paisley and Sunderland are each doing the same.
The deal could be worth millions in investment to Swansea as well as bringing an estimated 5,000 jobs with it and massively driving forward the city’s economy in all sorts of ways.
Meanwhile, Gavin and Stacey and The Trip star Rob Brydon and actor Michael Sheen have thrown their weight behind the Swansea bid.
Brydon said yesterday he had spent “a lot of my childhood in Swansea – at school there, going there on a Saturday, going around The Quadrant, going to the theatre to see pantomimes.
“The city holds a very special place in my heart. So I would love to see Swansea getting UK City of Culture 2021 status and I think it deserves it,” he added.
Michael Sheen has taken part in a promotional video in which he quotes Swansea’s famous son, Dylan Thomas, “in support of Swansea, the ‘ugly, lovely town’, where ‘ambition is critical’ and we all ‘sing in our chains like the sea’. Come on Swansea!”
Jane Simpson from the Swansea 2021 team and owner of Galerie Simpson, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the number of people – from celebrities with a love of the city, like Rob Brydon, Bonnie Tyler, Wynne Evans and Rhys Ifans, to choirs, community groups, schools and others – who have given their wholehearted support to Swansea 2021 throughout our campaign.”
“We are so grateful for the way the city has got behind Swansea and the buzz surrounding the whole campaign has been really pleasing.”
Back the bid at Swansea 2021 on Facebook and Twitter.