In January 2017, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) launched the competition to find the UK City of Culture 2021.

The Guidance for Bidding Cities explains that:

The UK City of Culture programme was developed by the UK Government to build on the success of Liverpool as European Capital of Culture 2008 by creating a national cultural event spread over a year and focused on a particular city or area.

… …

UK City of Culture is a UK-wide programme, developed by DCMS in consultation with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The competition process to select the UK City of Culture is managed by the UK Government.

The overall aim of the programme is to:

encourage the use of culture and creativity as a catalyst for regeneration, to promote the development of new partnerships, and to encourage ambition, innovation and inspiration in cultural and creative activity. Cities and areas that bid for the title will need to spell out their own vision for UK City of Culture and how they will use it in making a step change in their area and creating a lasting legacy.

The website for Swansea’s bid for 2021 is: swansea2021.co.uk. This refers, among other things, to successful investments that have been secured for the city “including a new City Deal and, subject to government approval, the world’s first Tidal Lagoon, both of which will create a new digital and innovative cultural infrastructure for Swansea by 2021”. 

Swansea is competing with Coventry, Paisley, Stoke-on-Trent and Sunderland.

The submission of the final bid was made in September 2017. The winning city will be announced in December 2017.  

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