Description

Admin History:

The UK City of Culture is a designation given to a city or small region in the United Kingdom for a period of one year. It is administered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and took on a similar shape to the already existing European Capital of Culture scheme.

Eleven places put their name forward for the 2017 title: Chester, East Kent, Hastings and Bexhill-on-Sea, Hull, Leicester, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Southampton, Southend-on-Sea, Swansea Bay, Aberdeen and Dundee. These were reduced down to a shortlist of four: Dundee, Hull, Leicester and Swansea. An independent panel, chaired by Phil Redmond considered the candidates and on the 20th of November 2013, Hull was announced as the winner of the 2017 title by Culture Secretary, Maria Miller.

The City of Culture bid was a collaborative effort between the City Council, cultural institutions, local artists, non-cultural organisations, businesses and residents. Once Hull had been announced as having had the winning bid, Hull UK City of Culture Ltd (The Culture Company) was established as a private limited company (No 09106231) at Companies House on the 27th of June 2014. Its purpose was to deliver the Hull 2017 programme. It was also set up as a charitable trust, with the Charity Number 1162199. Rosie Millard was appointed Chair of the Board of Trustees, Martin Green was appointed Chief Executive and Fran Hegyi Executive Director.

The year's cultural activities were split into 4 distinct seasons that shaped the programming of events - Made in Hull, Roots and Routes, Freedom and Tell the World. Made in Hull aimed to welcome people to Hull, challenge preconceptions and to shine a light on people, ideas, art and industry that originated in Hull. Roots and Routes focussed on Hull's status as a gateway to Europe and the rest of the world. The summer season, Freedom, was inspired by William Wilberforce's contribution towards the abolition of slavery and encompassed Hull's existing festivals, Humber Street Sesh and the Freedom Festival. The final season, Tell The World was about looking towards the future and questioning what the legacy of the year would be for Hull.

Some of the larger projects included: Made in Hull, a trail of projection installations across the city featuring historical images and footage projected onto landmark buildings; The Land of Green Ginger, a community engagement project based around folklore designed to engage people with innovative art and culture in neighbourhoods outside the city centre; Back to Ours, a series of half term festivals held in community venues such as schools and shopping centres and featuring music, comedy and film; The Royal Ballet: Opening the New, a special performance by The Royal Ballet for the reopening of the Hull New Theatre; The Turner Prize 2017, held at the Ferens Art Gallery; the Radio One Big Weekend; Humber Street Sesh, a music festival held around the Fruit Market area, Freedom Festival, an annual arts festival; One Day, Maybe, a site-specific interactive play performed in a disused office block; New Eyes Each Year, a biographic exhibition on Philip Larkin held at the University of Hull and Flood, a year-long, multi-platform play performed at Victoria Dock.

The Culture Company was intended to be time-limited but in September 2017, due to the success of the year's events, it was announced that the company would be relaunched the following year as a Hull-based national arts organisation. In May 2018 the company was officially relaunched as Absolutely Cultured with a new management team and largely new staff.

Description:

Records relating to Hull's tenure as UK City of Culture 2017.