Greenwich bids for London Borough of Culture

The Royal Borough of Greenwich is bidding to become London Borough of Culture 2025.

According to a statement released by the local authority, the bid “will be a co-created programme of imaginative and exciting activity” informed by residents, partners, community groups and cultural organisations.

It announced the bid alongside a call to residents to get in contact with stories about what brought them or their families to Greenwich, to help inspire a prospective programme of arts and culture events.

Leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Councillor Anthony Okereke, said becoming the London Borough of Culture would “celebrate the collective identities of Royal Greenwich residents, boost our local arts and culture economy and provide an even richer cultural offering for future generations”. 

“Its legacy would create jobs, infrastructure and learning and mentoring opportunities for years to come,” he added.

“Culture opens our minds to new ideas, and we’re committed to listening to the ideas of our residents, partners and community and arts organisations, so that together we can build an exciting future for culture in our borough.” 

The Borough of Culture programme of events is held every two years, with the chosen borough granted £1.35m of Greater London Authority funding specifically to run a year-long programme of cultural events

The 2025 edition will be the fifth iteration of the event, which is being held in Croydon this year.

Greenwich’s bid follows that of Wandsworth, which became the first borough to publicly declare its intention to bid earlier this year.

The chosen borough is expected to be announced in March 2024.