Alistair Hardaker | Image: The Quay, Exeter, Devon (Spencer Eccles_Jones)
DCMS competition concludes in 2028, with bids encouraged to include museums and heritage sites in telling local stories.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has launched the first UK Town of Culture 2028 competition, opening an expression of interest process for towns across the UK.
The programme, published today (14 January 2026) is positioned as a new, UK-wide competition designed to recognise and support the cultural contribution of towns of three different sizes.
It builds on the UK City of Culture model and will, for the first time, select small, medium and large towns before naming an overall UK Town of Culture for the first time in 2028.
The winning town will receive £3m to deliver a cultural programme of around six months during 2028. Two further finalists will each receive £250,000 to deliver elements of their proposed programmes, alongside £60,000 development grants for shortlisted places to support full applications.
DCMS said applicants are encouraged to include activities encompassing a “broad definition of culture and its creative industries” and “how it relates to the town’s history, story and community”.
This includes but is not limited to heritage and the historic and natural environment, museums and galleries, libraries and archives, visual arts, theatre, and combined arts.
In a ministerial foreword, culture secretary Lisa Nandy said “Great culture is not confined to our largest metropolitan centres; it is everywhere, rooted in communities across the country.”
“Everybody deserves the chance to share their pride in the place they call home and to have access to quality art, music, dance and drama wherever they live.”
The guidance states that the competition is open to towns across the UK, excluding areas within Greater London. Bids are expected to be led by local partnerships that include the relevant local authority, with a single accountable lead applicant identified for the process.
Towns will be categorised using Office for National Statistics population definitions, and applicants will not be required to select a category at the point of bidding.
The guidance sets out assessment criteria covering a town’s cultural story, accessibility and quality of the proposed programme, and the capacity to deliver and manage the programme, including governance, partnerships and financial planning.
Expressions of interest are now open and must be submitted by 31 March 2026. Shortlisted places are expected to be announced in spring 2026, with full applications developed over the summer and autumn. The final winner and category finalists are due to be announced in early 2027, ahead of programme delivery in 2028.
