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1st November 2019
Categories: Visitor News
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It was announced this week that Exeter has been awarded UNESCO City of Literature status.
This comes as welcome news to the people of Exeter after people and organisations around the city collaborated to bid for the prestigious award. Exeter Culture, Devon County Council, Libraries Unlimited, The University of Exeter, Literature Works, Exeter Cathedral and Exeter Canal and Quay Trust were all involved in the bid, it was also endorsed by best-selling author Sir Michael Morpugo. The bid centred around Exeter’s 1,000 years of unbroken history around reading, outlining the city’s efforts to improve residents’ wellbeing through culture, and citing the Exeter Book, which is generally acknowledged to be one of the great works of the tenth century, an anthology of Old English poetry. It also drew attention to the collection of Exeter University which holds the archived works of Agatha Christie, William Golding and Ted Hughes.
The announcement came on the occasion of World Cities Day, celebrated on 31st October, UNESCO designated 66 cities to join their Network of Creative Cities, with Exeter being the only UK city to be awarded City of Literature status this year. The network brings together cities that base their development on creativity, whether in music, arts and folk crafts, design, cinema, literature, digital arts or gastronomy.
The city will now apply for Arts Council funding to help them embark on a four-year programme of cultural transformation with the aim of making Exeter a destination for writers and readers, as well as engaging the community in cultural works. The programme will focus on storytelling as a way of encouraging literacy in young people, combatting loneliness in older members of the population and connecting Exeter to other UNESCO cities.
Sarah Campbell, Associate Director for Arts and Culture at the University of Exeter said: “It is absolutely wonderful that Exeter has been recognised in this way for its rich heritage of culture. The UNESCO City of Literature status celebrates not only the rich variety of cultural and creative activities that are crafted and cultivated in Exeter, but also the close collaboration between so many people and organisations to ensure Exeter strengthens its flourishing arts and culture reputation not just in the UK, but across the world.”
Dom Jinks, Director of Exeter Culture, said: “This is so positive for Exeter. The bid made much of the city’s wide variety of historical assets. But it is actually much more about culture supporting the well-being of everyone in the city today, including those who may not currently see themselves engaging with culture.”
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