Enter the competition to make your town the first ever UK Town of Culture
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is inviting towns across the UK to enter a competition to showcase the cultural contribution of towns to our national story. In order to ensure the DCMS are able to showcase towns of different sizes, it is introducing small, medium and large-size category winners and from these three designations, an overall UK Town of Culture winner will be selected.
The winning town will be awarded £3 million to deliver a cultural programme in 2028 of around six months. Additionally, the two finalists from their category will receive £250,000 each to deliver elements of their bid.
Timeline
- Deadline for Experssions of Interest - 31 March 2026
- Shortlisted places develop bids to autumn 2026 (funding available)
- Winner announced early 2027
Categories
- Small town - population under 20,000
- Medium town - population 20,000 - 75,000
- Large town - population over 75,000
Briefing
- Wednesday 21 January 2026. For more details email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
