Smeaton’s Tower to light up the Hoe for City of Culture bid

Plymouth’s iconic landmark Smeaton’s Tower will become a beacon for culture on Tuesday 30 April.

The tower will be lit up by the Council that evening to mark the deadline for the bid for UK City of Culture 2017.

Council Leader Tudor Evans said: “We wanted to do something symbolic to mark the handing in of the bid. Smeaton’s Tower is such a well-known landmark it only seemed appropriate that we use it on this occasion to literally shine a light on culture and the bid. This is a really exciting time and I hope that over the next few months even more people will get involved in our campaign.”

Plymouth Culture Board is leading the bid in partnership with Plymouth City Council and Plymouth University. The initial bid outlines the city's great heritage and fantastic location between the sea and the moors. It sets out the vision for engaging communities in cultural activities and how winning UK City of Culture 2017 would bring great lasting benefits to Plymouth.

Adrian Vinken OBE, Theatre Royal and Pavilions Chief Executive and Bid Chairperson said “Our team has worked incredibly hard to put together this initial bid and I’m very excited that we’ve now reached this part of process. Between now and the shortlisting in June we want to build on the momentum we’re seeing in the city and get even more people involved and talking about culture.”

The ‘Back the bid’ campaign has galvanised the city and Plymouth is leading the charge in the social media stakes. Thousands have so far shown their support on sites such as Facebook and Twitter and Plymouth is way ahead of the competition.

In June, the judges will announce the cities that have been shortlisted. Those cities will then submit a final bid in the autumn.

You can vist the Plymouth City of Culture website here.