57\2003 4 June 2003
Liverpool Wins Competition to be UK Nomination for European Capital of Culture In 2008
Liverpool has been chosen to be the UK's nomination for European Capital of Culture in 2008, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell announced today. This follows a long and exhaustive assessment process carried out by an independent panel, under the Chairmanship of Sir Jeremy Isaacs.
The city's name will now go forward to the European Union who will respond next year.
Tessa Jowell said:
"Liverpool is a worthy winner of this honour. Their vision, passion and enthusiasm – coupled with a really spectacular year-long programme – impressed the judges, who chose them from a very strong field. Indeed, the judges made it clear that each and every one of the six short-listed cities would have been a worthy nomination for the title.
"The Prime Minister and I have now considered the panel's recommendation, and fully support it.
"Liverpool can now look forward to a great deal of hard work, making their vision a reality and, I know, hosting a truly fantastic festival in 2008.
"But I also want to ensure that all the hard work and inspiration from the other bidding cities is not wasted. For them, today should be a beginning, not an end, to their aspirations. Despite not winning today, the runner-up cities have shown that they are going to be great cultural centres. We will encourage the development of a cultural programme, encompassing all 12 cities that bid, and we will be talking to Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund and others with an interest in order to take this forward. I will provide more details of this later in the year."
Notes to Editors
Since 1985, there has been a programme of Cities of Culture, selected from EU member states and ratified by the Council of Ministers. This runs until 2004. From 2005, the EU will run a series of European Capitals of Culture, with different member countries allocated years up to 2019.
Previous and future holders of the title European City of Culture are:
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1985 Athens |
1986 Florence |
1987 Amsterdam |
1988 Berlin |
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1989 Paris |
1990 Glasgow |
1991 Dublin |
1992 Madrid |
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1993 Antwerp |
1994 Lisbon |
1995 Luxembourg |
1996 Copenhagen |
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1997 Thessaloniki |
1998 Stockholm |
1999 Weimar |
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In 2000 nine cities joined under the common title "European Cities of Culture in the Year 2000": Avignon, Bergen, Bologna, Brussels, Helsinki, Kraków, Prague, Reykjavik and Santiago de Compostela.
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2001 Rotterdam and Oporto |
2002 Brugge and Salamanca |
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2003 Graz |
2004 Genoa and Lille |
Countries to host the European Capital of Culture:
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2005 Ireland |
2006 Greece |
2007 Luxembourg |
2008 UK |
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2009 Austria |
2010 Germany |
2011 Finland |
2012 Portugal |
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2013 France |
2014 Sweden |
2015 Belgium |
2016 Spain |
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2017 Denmark |
2018 Netherlands |
2019 Italy |
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The Panel of Judges The judging panel was appointed last year and is chaired by Sir Jeremy Isaacs, former Chief Executive of Channel 4 and General Director of the Royal Opera House. It also includes, as Deputy Chairs, the journalist and broadcaster Sue MacGregor, and Dame Judith Mayhew, City and business adviser to the Mayor of London; Provost-elect of King's College Cambridge; and Director of the Royal Opera House. Other members are:
Barry Douglas - concert pianist,
Marc Jordan - art historian and businessman,
Hilary Lade - Royal Parks Advisory Board Chair; BTA Board Member,
Magnus Linklater - columnist and former Chair, Scottish Arts Council,
Stewart McGill - Artistic Director of The Playbox Theatre, Warwick,
Tessa Sanderson - Olympic medallist and Sport England Vice Chair,
Miranda Sawyer - journalist and author,
Peter Stead - academic, journalist and broadcaster,
Ruth Wishart - journalist and broadcaster.
Press Enquiries: 020 7211 6276\6272
Out of hours telephone pager no: 07699 751153
Public Enquiries: 020 7211 6200
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