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City can still be a place of culture, says director

Joanna TaylorCambridgeshire
News imageHARRIET HEYWOOD/BBC Louise Chantal is standing outside the Cresset building. It has brown bricks and electric glass doors at the entrance. She is smiling with her hands behind her back. HARRIET HEYWOOD/BBC
Louise Chantal said "good things" would come of Peterborough's failed bid to be named UK City of Culture

A city that failed to make the longlist for UK City of Culture 2029 could "make its own city of culture", a theatre director said.

Arts and culture groups in Peterborough said that while the city would not receive the £10m prize, putting forward a bid has "built momentum, ambition and confidence".

Louise Chantal, the director of The Cresset Theatre, said: "Just going through the process was very positive and good things will come of it."

Ipswich, Milton Keynes, Blackpool, Inverness-Highland, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Swindon and Wrexham all made the longlist, which was announced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on Wednesday.

The title, which is awarded every four years, aimed to drive growth in the chosen city, as well as pride and social cohesion.

Louise Thirlwall, from Peterborough Cultural Alliance (PCA), said the bid was not "wasted".

"The ambition of the sector is really growing," she said. "We want to take that momentum forward into something."

News imageLOUISE THIRLWELL Louise Thirlwall is smiling at the camera. Behind her is a field and trees. LOUISE THIRLWELL
Louise Thirlwall, from the Peterborough Cultural Alliance, said the bid was not "wasted"

The PCA, which is funded by Arts Council England, said it was supporting the implementation of a strategy for arts and culture in Peterborough, adopted in 2021.

As next year would be the 60th anniversary of the city being designated as a new town, Thirwall said that more celebrations would be planned for Peterborough.

But, she added, the city still had a lack of "spaces and places" for arts and culture groups to meet, which should be considered when planning new developments.

Karima Shah, from Diaspora Arts and Education, said that Peterborough "doesn't do very well in terms of inclusivity" and that winning the City of Culture bid could have helped.

News imageEMMA BAUGH/BBC Karima Shah is looking at the camera. She is wearing a grey T-shirt and a black jacket, looking into the camera. She is photographed standing in front of a colourful mural painted on a wall of an underpass. EMMA BAUGH/BBC
Karima Shah, from Diaspora Arts, said the award could have helped Peterborough's art scene become more inclusive

"This is the one opportunity they had in Peterborough to diversify the scene and enable people who are new to develop their creative practice," Shah said.

Shah also emphasised the need for investment to be fed back into community arts groups.

Shabina Qayyum, the Labour leader of Peterborough City Council, has previously said the city would come back "bigger and better" after losing the bid.

"We will take the many positives from the process so far and use this to push forward, with 2033 in our eye," she added.

Andrew Pakes, Labour MP for Peterborough, said the city had "started a new way of working and promoting the city that will benefit us all".

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