Cornwall ready to talk up culture

EUROPEAN leaders were last night urged to "look beyond the city walls" and recognise the arts in rural areas, writes WMN London Editor Matt Chorley.

A major conference is being held in Cornwall next week to further plans for the county to become the EU's first Region of Culture.

Ahead of Friday's event, council leader Alec Roberston said the bid would put Cornwall's "quality mark" on the world stage.

It is hoped the creation of a European Region of Culture (EROC) – championed by Cornwall across the continent – could mirror the success of Liverpool's status as Capital of Culture in 2008, which benefited the city's economy by £800 million.

Coun Robertson said the EROC bid, which has cross-party support, offers "potentially a fantastic boost for the county".

"If we can pull this off, the benefits would be enormous," he said. "We already have a strong cultural industry in Cornwall. This would take things up another gear. It's complemented by the fact we've got a fantastic local indigenous culture of our own. It's very distinctive and that's a huge asset.

"Equally important is the boost to Cornish prestige and confidence – it just puts us up on the world stage. Cornish is a quality mark, the more we promote that the better."

Cornwall Council is leading the EROC bid which is now backed by more than 30 regions from across the continent. The international conference, being held in Falmouth, comes after year-long pilot programme involving Cornwall, the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region of Poland and South Ostrobothnia in Finland.

Ann Branch, head of the culture unit of the European Commission's director general of culture, will address delegates. She is expected to signal the campaign is gaining momentum across member states. Campaign director Miranda Bird said: "This week is a vital opportunity to showcase the work we have achieved over the past year and look at how it will progress.

"Getting this new designation would bring major benefits to rural regions across Europe, many of which – like Cornwall – have been economically-deprived and overlooked in terms of their cultural assets. It is time the EU looked beyond the city walls. They can no longer dismiss the inherent value and passion within regional culture."

Meanwhile, Cornwall is also in the running for the UK Government's new initiative to award City of Culture status to an area of the country for 2013.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport yesterday announced 22 areas had been invited to submit formal bids by December 11.

Other areas on the list include Manchester, Brighton, Hull, Swansea and Sheffield.

Culture minister Margaret Hodge said: "The city or place winning the title for 2013 will enjoy a golden opportunity to have the spotlight of national attention focused on them.

"They will have the chance to show the rest of the UK what they have to offer. So there's everything to play for, and the prospect of a really good competition in the weeks to come. I can't wait to see what each place has to offer, and which ones go into the next round."

The scheme is separate to both the long-running European Capital of Culture process and the campaign for a European Region of Culture.