‘Boston is amazing and it just needs that better publicity at times’ - Boston's Town of Culture bid will help to challenge negative perceptions, senior councillor says
Boston’s leaders wants to shake off its negative reputation and prove the doubters wrong by becoming the first Town of Culture.
Boston Borough Council portfolio holder for heritage, culture and tourism, Coun Sarah Sharpe told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the town’s bid was a chance for it to showcase its significant cultural history.
Coun Sharpe said the town has so much history to offer – from its role, centuries ago, as the second most important port in England, to its connections to the US through the Pilgrim Fathers’ story, and beyond.
“Boston is amazing,” she said. “It’s just got so many stories to tell.”
Coun Sharpe went on to say that Boston’s bid for Town of Culture will help to challenge its negative perceptions.
She added: “I think it’s another way of putting Boston on the map and showing how special Boston is.
“Boston is amazing and it just needs that better publicity at times and it will just shine the light on how brilliant Boston really is.
“It will give us a chance to involve key stakeholders, get children in the area, teaching them the stories of Boston.
“It will just be a really fantastic opportunity to shine the light on Boston and give people more opportunity to come and visit.”
Coun Sharpe believes that the town just needs the chance to showcase its heritage in order to present it in a more positive light.
She said: “Boston is not unique in the challenges that it faces, but what it has got is a unique selling point of its heritage, of its history and its stories.
“It gives us a chance to go ‘hey, look at this element of Boston’, so it shows it from a different angle.”
The Government has asked towns across the country to enter into a competition to be crowned ‘Town of Culture’ in 2028.
The competition is led by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and aims to celebrate the culture and identity of towns across the UK.
The winning town will be awarded £3 million to deliver a cultural programme in 2028 for about six months.
Two runners-up will receive £250,000 each to deliver key elements of their bid.
The DCMS will come up with a shortlist of towns and these areas will receive a £60,000 development grant to use to put together a full application.
A final decision on which town has won the competition is expected to be made next year.